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Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi

Score: 50%
ESRB: Mature
Publisher: iGames
Developer: Idol FX
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: First Person Shooter/ Survival Horror/ Adventure

Graphics & Sound:

Over the years, Man versus Vampire has slowly become a staple of video game scenarios. While it hasn't reached the point of cliché like, say, rescuing the princess from the dragon, it more often than not involves a superhuman going arcade badass on some vampire. If you, yes, the one reading this, walked into a vampire's castle with the intent of killing him, don't you think it would likely play out more like a survival-horror game? Well that's what Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is, a first-person survival-horror game.

Well let's start with the nitty-gritty; that'll become a pun in just a few lines, so forgive me. From a technical standpoint, the graphics in Nosferatu aren't great, but the developers employed a few clever tricks to make the game look better than it actually is. Basically, since Nosferatu plays like one of those old-fashioned vampire movies, they decided to make it look like an old-fashioned vampire movie. It's not in black or white, but the colors are definitely muted and given a washed out look.

They also applied an interesting touch to the overall presentation of the game. There is an effect to make the graphics look like a really old movie. If you've ever seen a movie that's a few decades old, and hasn't been digitally remastered, you'll know what I mean. The gritty look caused by those little lines and circles that wash around on screen due to the age of the film actually hide a lot of graphical flaws. Have you gotten the pun yet? No? That's a shame...

The music in this game is really hard to remember. It's usually there just to convey the current level of suspense, or to flare up when an evil baddie finally does break out of the floor and attack you. So simply put, the music helps scare the pants off you and any survival-horror game worth it's salt will continually scare the pants off you. The audio is similarly geared for scaring you. However there is a ridiculously annoying sound effect that pops up throughout the game. I'm not sure if it was a bug or something the developer's intended, but it's really irritating, and you'll immediately recognize it if you hear it.


Gameplay:

While Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi gets the atmosphere and suspense just right, the gameplay leaves a little something to be desired. Let's begin with the story. You are the son of an aristocratic British family that's slowly losing money and favor. Your father decided to have your oldest sister marry the son of a wealthy family from Eastern Europe. Yeah, we all know how that decision usually turns out, don't we. You arrive a few days later than the rest of your family and find them all getting slaughtered by various undead creatures.

You travel around the castle trying to rescue the various members of your family. Of course, no rich Eastern European vampires live alone in their castle, and so you'll be fending off various monsters while you explore the castle. In addition to the usual vampire hunting weapons (stakes, crosses, and holy water), you'll also come across some more unconventional weapons like the revolver.

Oh, did I mention you'd better be doing all of this pretty quickly? Your family members can't fend off the various evil monsters forever and will end up dying after a certain amount of time. Every family member you find will give you various items and weapons to help you, as well as various bits of information. Since pretty much everyone can die in about 3-4 hours, you can assume the game doesn't take that long to complete. However, since the layout of the castle and the positions of monsters and items are randomly generated every time you play the game, there's a bit of replay value, but not much. The game is really way too short.


Difficulty:

Oh yes, it's also way too hard as well. The difficulty curve in Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is backwards. Staying alive becomes steadily easier as the game progresses and you accumulate more weapons. At the beginning, you really only have a cross and, if you're lucky, a sword. The problem is, using the sword generally results in death as getting up close with just about any creature results in almost certain death. The cross is good for keeping vampires away, but not great for killing them. If the creature in question isn't a vampire, well, you had better run. I know that survival-horror games are more about staying alive than killing things, but when the things in question are about to kill your grandfather's personal doctor, you have take care of business.

Game Mechanics:

As I mentioned before, the castle and the objects inside are randomly generated. Aside from the central area of the castle, everything is different whenever you load a game. Yes, that's correct; the castle is randomly generated not only when you start a new game, but also whenever you load a saved game. So that safe and empty room you saved in now has three zombies all around you that will kill you more or less instantaneously. Isn't that fabulous?

So yes, while Nosferatu does a good job of creating a creepy atmosphere, the short length, difficulty and random castle generation grind this game into the ground.


-Alucard, GameVortex Communications
AKA Stephen Triche

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Pentium III 733mhz, 128 megs of RAM, Direct3D compatible hardware
 

Test System:



Windows 98 SE, Pentium III 700mhz, 448 megs of RAM, GeForce IV MX420

Sony PlayStation 2 NHL Hitz Pro Windows Tropico 2: Pirate Cove

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated