Dracula: Path of the Dragon - Part 3
Score: 70% ESRB: 9+ Publisher: Anuman Developer: Tetraedge Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure/ Puzzle/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: Players that successfully completed the first two parts of Dracula: Path of the Dragon will find no surprises here, but the quality remains consistent. Much as in the last chapter, several new locations are introduced, including some in the little town you've been knocking around in since the game began. There are definitely some darker undertones at work here, moments when you'll expect something spooky to jump out from a dark corner. Then you realize that this game is a point-and-click adventure where that kind of shocker just won't happen. With all the great atmosphere, it is easy to mistake Path of the Dragon - Part 3 for some kind of third-party action, RPG, or survival-horror game, but in the end it largely just sits on the screen looking and sounding good and waiting for you to tap. Even considering the static environment, Path of the Dragon - Part 3 just can't find its way to deliver an awesome fear-payload. We've been building up to some crazy stuff through this series, so it's not unreasonable to expect real scares in this last chapter. If you're accustomed to PG-13, you may get what you need, but the real horror that stays with you after you turn off the iPad never shows up. The other gripe we had was this episode's use of puzzles that refer to collected documents, but without the ability to zoom or see details.
Gameplay: Father Arno has had a rough ride, hasn't he? It's like hazing for a priest, what they've put this guy through... First, he's shipped off to some remote village in Transylvania, supposedly to certify the sainthood of a local legend. He quickly discovers that this woman is central to a mythical belief in vampires that is widely held among the townsfolk. The Church quickly redirects the young priest to focus his efforts on disproving the stories told by these villagers, which leads him to Budapest and Turkey, on a pilgrimage to follow the so-called Path of the Dragon. By the end of the second chapter, Arno returns to Budapest to make a shocking discovery, which is where Part 3 picks up. Some elements of the original PC version of the game have been simplified for this release, including some of the more involved puzzles. After returning to Transylvania, the game is on its downslope, and you are closer to discovering the truth behind the myth you've been working to debunk. Perhaps it's because there were some elements culled from the original version of Dracula: Path of the Dragon, but we just didn't find the end-game especially coherent or compelling. Some interesting elements to the plot include the way the town starts to turn against Arno in this chapter, and his sudden aversion to garlic, but this doesn't go anywhere interesting. New people arrive in town, familiar faces disappear, but they all seem like window dressing. The main event is Arno's impending date with Dracula, and Path of the Dragon - Part 3 starts to feel like a one-trick pony without other surrounding action. What seems like non-linear gameplay is ultimately very limited, and you end up walking around town looking for something to do with your collected items. Goals and objectives just aren't that clear, and there aren't objectives you can do on the side, so the best way to play Dracula: Path of the Dragon - Part 3 ends up also being the straightest distance between two points.
Difficulty: The finale throws more puzzles at you, and many of them are obscure. At times, you'll fumble with the controls, as you try to match up several good item candidates with whatever puzzle sits in front of you. Throw in sequences that seem ripe for puzzle action that never materializes, and you have a bit of a strange mix. Boiled down to their essence, most of the puzzles in Path of the Dragon - Part 3 are about logic or matching, so they aren't incredibly dense or intellectual. Where players will struggle is in connecting the dots between puzzles, searching around for that next thing to do. A journal or some type of guidance from the characters you encounter would have helped immensely, but all you have is your memory of where you left off, and whatever snippet of dialogue was supposed to lead you toward the next area. Luckily there isn't a wide area in which to lose yourself, and Father Arno tends to give you little hints in his responses to your fumbling.
Game Mechanics: Part of what makes Dracula: Path of the Dragon - Part 3 so nice to look at is that it allows for free rotation of the camera at any time, just by placing a finger on the screen and moving it around. Items you can interact with show up with a very obvious gear symbol, while objects you can pocket have an equally obvious hand symbol. You would think that with all these icons littering the landscape, you wouldn't have a hard time finding your way to the next puzzle, and it's true that if you experiment enough with objects you'll complete the game. Where this experimentation becomes tedious is in the awkward way that Path of the Dragon forces you to manage your inventory. Instead of sliding slickly from one side of the screen, the menu is equivalent to a Pause menu, and using items feels like equipping them. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for sustained use, but we're talking about one-time use items that force you to break away from the game. It's a drag, and there seem to be lots and lots of items this time around, so the problem never goes away. If these were nitpicking comments on an otherwise amazing game experience, it would be one thing, but Dracula: Path of the Dragon - Part 3 just can't get all the pieces in the right places. It's fine for willing gamers that are craving an adult adventure series on the iPad, and it may thrill younger players simply for being forbidden fruit, but it will leave the rest of us cold.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
Related Links: Game Vortex's Review of Dracula: The Path of the Dragon - Part 1 Game Vortex's Review of Dracula: The Path of the Dragon - Part 2
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