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My first impression of Dracula Resurrection was not exactly stellar. My true nature is a computer geek, so naturally when Apple released the new 9.2.1 OS it was running on my desktop machine (one of the first generation g4 gig-a-flop Macs). I went ahead and installed Resurrection, low and behold when I went for my first run of the game my system crashed. I fiddled around with my computer for a little while and finally gave up.I then turned to my Titanium G4 laptop which is still running 9.1 and the game loaded up without a hitch. I checked Dream Catchers web site and did not find any mention of incompatibilities with 9.2.1 as of the writing of this article. I emailed their tech support over a week ago and have not heard back from them. They do provide a phone number in their documentation to call, which I did not do. Now for the game, as the title eludes to, this is a game based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, or rather, the game takes place where Stoker’s book Dracula leaves off. It even uses the characters Jonathan and Mina Harker. The intro starts off with text that reads Borgo, 1897, then a cut scene of three men pulling a sleigh carrying a large crate. The camera pans, there are two men and a woman hiding behind a snow embankment, one with a handgun, the other with a rifle. The people hiding behind the embankment are our heroes, Jonathan Harker, his wife and Harker’s friend Quincey. Pop!, pop!, pop!, one of the henchmen escorting the sleigh falls, the other two run off. Harker steps up to the crate and jabs a dagger into it, the crate bursts open with Dracula springing up with his hands clutched to where the dagger entered his heart. Then from behind Dracula’s throat is cut, and he falls on the dagger then disappears into a shower of sparks. The camera turns to Harker’s wife Mina, with a close up of the bite marks on her neck, they disappear. The next scene, 7 years later, Harker returns home to find a dear John letter, (sorry folks, you knew that one was unavoidable), the letter explains why she has left. She is feeling an uncontrollable urge to return to Dracula’s castle in of course, Transylvania. This is where our hero enters the story. Harker has to set out to rescue his wife from the newly resurrected undead Dracula. Resurrection showcases a technology called Phoenix VR. Phoenix VR gives the unique capability to overlay animations in the VR environment, which crops up on several occasions throughout the game. This technology has the ability to display full 360 degree environments running at 30 frames per second as well as boasting highly detailed 3D environments. That is where the game comes into play, on the rich 3D environments. The game is filled with beautifully rendered scenes that complement the mood of the game. In comparison to Apple’s Quick Time VR technology the game allows you to pan in 360 degrees. In addition to the 360 degree panning, the Phoenix VR technology adds the ability to tilt the camera in extreme angles I.E. 90 degrees up, or 90 degrees down, the camera is in the position of first person, so that you are either looking up at the ceiling or stars, or you can tilt down to look at the floor or ground.
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