Dracula Origin

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• A bone-chilling journey straddling the dividing line between myth and reality
• Set during the interwar years, an omen of the demons waiting to be unleashed
• Point and click gameplay
• Travel to London, Egypt, Austria, and, of course, to Transylvania
• A combination of 2D environments and animated 3D characters

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0017AJMX8
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: May 28, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,040 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Discover the origin of the Dracula curse...Product InformationYoung charming and devout Dracula was once an ardent defender of Christendom but lost his faith in God when he is abandoned by his one true love after she marries. Count Dracula then makes a pact with the Prince of Darkness and becomes a vampire with an insatiable thirst for blood and vengeance cursed to eternal damnation.  In the game you play the role of Professor Van Helsing the celebrated vampire hunter on the hunt for Dracula while Dracula himself is on a quest for a mysterious manuscript which will give him the power to raise the dead. Product Features An unrelenting pursuit of one of the most terrifying figures from fantasy literature. Confrontation between two antithetical heroes: Van Helsing the restrained scientist and spiritual hero and the young and high-spirited Dracula whose inhumanity matches his malevolence. Superb graphics combining 2D environments and 3D characters. A deep storyline focusing on Van Helsing's quest to kill the king of all vampires and Dracula's quest to find the manuscript to raise the dead. Interact with over 40 characters. Combine and use over 150 objects associated with the vampire-themed storyline (stake statue garlic mirror etc.). A romantic bloody and violent Gothic ambiance which is true to the original world created by Bram Stoker providing total immersion into the adventure. A progressive Help System leads players to the solution with increasingly accurate hints.Windows Requirements Windows XP SP2 Vista 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 / Athlon XP 1500+ 512 MB of RAM 2.5 GB free Hard Drive space 128 MB DirectX 9 Video Card DirectX 9 Compatible Sound

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dracula is blood thirsty for adventure..., June 7, 2008

By 

Kris Laurino (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dracula Origin (CD-ROM)

Dracula Origin is a point and click adventure game (Third person view) made by Frogwares Game Development Studio.

In my opinion I think this is the best adventure game since the classic old Sierra games. The graphics are great and adjustable. The puzzles are hard right from the beginning, but are fun and feel very rewarding when you complete them, but you have any trouble you can just hit the space bar and it will give you hints.

It also has amazing spooky ambient music always playing. Composed beautifully.

The game follows the story written by Bram Stoker "Dracula".

The game runs with no problem on any decent computer. You can adjust the graphics to fit your liking.

So If you enjoy spooky adventure, great storytelling, puzzles and vampires this game is for you.
Great game.

Amazon didn't have the requirements posted so here they are...

System Requirements:
* OS: Windows® XP SP2/Vista(tm)
* CPU: 1.5 GHz Pentium® 4/Athlon(tm) XP 1500+
* RAM: 512 MB
* Video Card: 128 MB DirectX® 9
* Compatible Graphics Card
* Sound Card: DirectX® 9 Compatible Sound Card
* DirectX®: DirectX® 9.0c or Higher (Included)
* CD-ROM: 4x
* Hard Drive Space: 2.5 GB
* Peripherals: Keyboard, Mouse
and Speakers

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexy bloodsucker battles sleuthing scholar..., June 28, 2008

By 

Sarah - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dracula Origin (CD-ROM)

In yet another PC adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula (Microids: Dracula 1 & 2 DJC, Microids: Dracula III), Frogwares has created some interesting twists on a beloved tale. You take the role of Van Helsing, vampire hunter, on the bloody trail of Count Dracula. The game begins in London, where Van Helsing has just received a letter from Jonathan Harker.

Dracula: Origin is plenty dark and gory; the game is rated T, and there's certainly a lot of blood and gore (including graphic torture, mutilation and satanic rituals). The game's locations (London, Vienna, Cairo, Transylvania) sparkle and really add depth to the story; puzzle-wise, you spend a large amount of time in Cairo exploring the market, museum, and several residences. Sadly, the section in Transylvania felt more like a tacked-on afterthought. The ending is super-brief, but I enjoyed it.

Graphics: the prerendered backgrounds are generally very intricately rendered, with period touches (detailed paintings, tapestries, etc.). The character animations are somewhat less successful; Van Helsing's movements are wooden (this is a third-person perspective, so you're watching Van Helsing move *a lot*). The cutscenes are beautiful, though. Lip synching is somewhat off in cutscenes, but it's generally not a distraction. The load screens are more of a watercolor wash instead of rendered (and load times are short).

Sound: the background music is generally unobtrusive, with a piano-based score that includes fear-drenched organ and quivering strings from time to time. For some reason, the music in Cairo reminded me strongly of Big Fish's soundtrack to their Blood Ties game. Sound effects are very good. It's obvious that English was the second language; there are some subtitles in particularly that don't mesh with the recorded dialogue. Also, Van Helsing got on my nerves; his melodramatic, gasped "Closed!" at finding doors locked was grating.

Gameplay: Dracula: Origin is an inventory-based game. You only pick up what you need, and it's generally pretty obvious what goes where (although some solutions are a bit of a stretch). There are several puzzle varieties including decoding, sliders, logic puzzles, and find-the-items. The game leans towards the easy side, with plenty of hand-holding; on many occasions, I longed for a more difficult solution. It would have been nice if two different difficulty levels had been included (beginner and advanced), but I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzles.

Are there some shortcuts in design and graphics that I found annoying? Yes. But Dracula: Origin looks great, plays well, and is certainly one of the better-looking adventure games to come out recently. Because of its intuitive puzzles, this is a perfect first game for those new to adventure gaming. And fans of vampire lore will find plenty to sink their fangs into as well.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars adventure gem !!!, June 24, 2008

By 

S. Zaitz "adventure fiend" (ny) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dracula Origin (CD-ROM)

This is adventure bliss.....well done.I am shocked i didnt see this coming, i thought this was going to be like the last few dracula games that were bland and dark and not exciting, boy was i wrong, this has to be one of my favorites..say definetly top 10 maybe even top 7.This game is almost perfect in every aspect.

great story, draws you in the further you go.10 times better than any dracula game in the past..they took something that had a great story and made a great game that nobody else has been able to do for the dracula series.

if you love games like tunguska, crime stories, agatha christie games, jack keane, black mirror, you will enjoy this.The puzzles are great,you combine objects in your inventory, you can press the space bar anytime to see all the hot spots if all else fails...always helps if you dont like to pixel hunt ,there is a lot of pixel hunting but the graphics are so good its fun.I had to look at a walkthrough 3 times..there are a couple tough ones..but once i saw the answer i was sure i would have gotten it had i stuck it through.There will be plenty of easy and medium puzzles to enjoy.The part i really like is when you go in a house say with a few rooms, and you get stuck..they wont let you leave the house, which is good because who wants to go searching a million places to see if they missed something.You know the answer is within your inventory or the few rooms you can search.

I really liked this game,well done to all involved,i couldnt stop playing it.the controls are fine,the voice overs are fine,the speech is fine,the dialoge is short and sweet, no boring conversations that you dont care about...what more can you ask for!