Often, two games with the same title on different systems are pretty much the same. The finer details can make between a good game and a bad game. Normally, I would just play one version of a game and assume the others to be the same, but in this case, I played Bram Stokers Dracula for the SNES and Genesis, and the differences surprised me. They weren’t subtle changes either, the music and effects added to it greatly changed how I looked at this game. This is Bram Stokers Dracula for the SNES.

The story is you need to go off and defeat Dracula, only it isn’t Castlevania, and you fight Dracula several times. To start off, the title screen is more or less the same. Upon pressing start you are greeted with that familiar selection of lives and health, only you aren’t limited to how much life you can have due to your lives and vice versa. To be honest, I liked the Genesis’s version of balancing more health with less lives and all that. Here you can just deck out with the highest value and not give it a second thought. The same difficulties are there, of course.

As you start off the same, that same book is there with its little turn page effects and is a general slow down to the game; however the music used here is far superior to the Genesis version. This suits the mood better than the Genesis music. The sound effects are more enjoyable in the way defeating enemies is satisfying and fun. Overall the sound track is better than decent. I dare say it’s good. However, the music doesn’t stop when you pause, and there’s an annoying hiccup sound in the first level that doesn’t stop ever. It really gets on my nerves.

The graphics are a little different, but make a huge change to how you look at the game. They are a little brighter, and seem to have a better detail around them. It’s clearer and there isn’t as much fog, which was something the Genesis version really annoyed me about. There was fog in the second level, and it was dark. It was very unpleasant (which to be fair suits the mood of the game. It was just executed poorly). In this version, however, they were more forgiving and made it seem less terrible with clearer graphics, showing the interior and exterior of the levels design so you could see the terror in the walls and feel the horror around you, something the Genesis version failed with its somewhat blurred graphics. It’s not as effective or as impressive as the other games I have played, but you can see they at least tried to add something there. I would even say they were good.

The game play is also an improvement, and a fairly large one at that. You start off with some sort of knife or short sword to begin with, despite the difficulty. This is way better than the Genesis version because in the Genesis version, you were given the big sword on Trainee and Normal. Top this with a quick and repetitive attack movement and you got a spamming strategy in your mine. This lead to reckless attacks as when an enemy hits you, you don’t fall back or anything, making you think you can just plow through the level and not give it a second though.

Here in the SNES version however, is a different story. You have a small range weapon to begin with. And although the short recovery time is still there and you can spam the attack button as much as you like with the same cheap game play and such, the game at least tries to make you think twice before barging through a hoard of enemies by making it a pain to kill them. You need to be genuinely be careful with the short sword. You can’t use long range just yet just to plow through the enemies because you don’t have a long sword. Later, you do get a longer sword in the first level, but at least the game teaches you how you should be playing. Also I like jumping and swinging my sword, in which the SNES version is better once again at, as turning and attacking is much more responsive, as in you can just tab the attack button to attack. It feels more natural this way. Also you can hit enemies that are on the ground while standing up, last time I checked. Perfect.

What I really hate about this game still is the traps. They pop out of nowhere with no warning what so ever, and are just there to land a cheap hit on you. I hate them, but this is more of your fault for being reckless. I mean yeah, how were you supposed to know a rock would land on your head there? But since the game taught you to be careful with enemies and a stubby weapon without rushing through it all, it would be a bit like having your Mother telling you not to stab yourself with a needle while you sow, and then get careless with a knife and prick yourself with the tip of that knife. It’s the same thing, just in a different form.

Now something I really am glad for in this game are the bosses. In the Genesis version, they were a complete joke. Not challenging at all and very easy tor read. In this game however, they are moiré challenging. Sure, their patterns are still easy to read, but they are still more challenging, especially if you try and to defeat one without getting hit. The first boss forces you out of your comfort zone and into the reach of the boss’s attacks. Trying to run out of them will just push you back, forcing you to dance around his attacks and learn his pattern fast. I like that about a boss.

Overall, I give this game a 6.7/10    If you’re going to play this game, play the SNES version. The Genesis one just doesn’t compare. This has better graphics , better music, better conveyance, better level design, better bosses and most importantly, better game play. This is just superior to the Genesis version in every way possible. Even so, this game still suffers the same flaws as the Genesis version, with a spammy game play and very little recovery time and unfair traps. Even with these better graphics and music and all that, this is still a pretty poor game. It’s worth playing for a bit, and the better everything really does help give this game some justice.

Great game really loved the way it played and the graphics weren't too bad at all, not a bad play at all, everyone should give it one try at some point, it least once, great game overall, just not a 5 out of 5 though.

These movie games were always made for just about every system. Have you played all the different versions? There was even a MAME version (That I haven't played yet)

The Master system game is decent (For 8 bit) and the Sega CD game is hilarious in a totally different way. Still worth checking out though.

Great job on the review though. I really appreciate the detail that you go into while reviewing these games. Keep up the great work!

Jordanv78 : Seriously? There's a MAME version? I'll have to check that out.

And thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate any and all comments on my reviews.