![]() ![]() Clad in solid black from head to foot, with a strong brow and charcoal-colored complexion, even with limited screen time, he looks the part of somebody who’s not to be crossed.Įven more than the graphics, the game’s soundscape really transports you into its world. His appearance does make an impression, however gone are the garish cloaks and flamboyant attire he is sometimes depicted in. The vampire lord himself takes a bit more of a backseat, generally preferring to let others carry out his orders rather than directly intervening himself. Of special note are the character models that feature in the game’s cinematics being confronted with the homely innkeeper’s pallid, warty face, fine red capillaries showing, early in the game lent the character some visual personality. Nothing spells “ominous” quite like seeing a bird nailed to the top of a graveyard cross, or opening a subterranean dungeon door only to see a hooded shape enshrouded in shadow directly in front of you. The game’s visuals won’t take your breath away, but they certainly convey the proper foreboding mood. ![]() Jonathan’s harrowing journey is split into three main sections of exploration: the nighttime forests surrounding an isolated Romanian inn, an abandoned underground mine system, and Dracula’s forbidding castle itself. ![]() This forces you to spend time memorizing the layout of where the on-screen hotspots are in each area to expedite navigation. ![]() The panoramic camera lets you rotate in a complete 360° view at each stop, but actually traveling often becomes a bit annoying – I was repeatedly forced to maneuver through several screens within a room to get to its exit, even though I could clearly see the door from my starting point. The player moves through static scenes to explore both indoor and outdoor locales, interacting with hotspots and clicking navigation points to advance a few steps in a given direction. Although the plot setup is rather hackneyed (copied almost verbatim from the original tale), it seems appropriate enough given the franchise the game is based on.ĭracula: Resurrection uses a first-person view to handle navigation. If this sounds a tad familiar, that’s because it is. Enter the knight in shining armor, Jonathan Harker, who will stop at nothing to retrieve his missing bride. His first order of business is to abduct Mina Harker to his remote Transylvanian castle lair by means of the link the two share, due to Mina having previously been bitten. The problem of continuing a story in which the title character has already been killed off is solved with little aplomb or ingenuity: Six months after having been slain in the mountains of Carpathia, Dracula inexplicably rises from the (un)dead. The game’s straightforward approach to puzzle solving and inventory management made it clock in around four hours for me – and that’s counting an entire hour stuck on a single puzzle late in the game! It does come up lacking in length, however. But no list of villains, no matter how much it reads like a Who’s Who of detestable dastardliness, would be complete without the grandfather of them all: the Prince of Darkness, Vlad the Impaler himself – Dracula.Īnd what better time to revisit the roots of the long-running point-and-click horror series? With a two-part sequel just released, let’s travel back to the year 2000, when it all began… or rather, when Dracula: Resurrection picked up where Bram Stoker’s original novel left off.Īs it turns out, Resurrection is more of a well-presented, fun and atmospheric diversion than an epic trek into the depths of hell, but there are some noteworthy positives along the way. In fact, most modern games today would be hard to imagine if the stalwart protagonist didn’t have a vile opposing foil to play off of. Since the wooden stake and sunlight didn't do the trick, you'll have to discover how to destroy the timeless Prince of Darkness.Everybody appreciates a good villain. A zoom function allows you to pick out details and collect inventory items as you search for visual clues to solve the mystery. Directional buttons move the cursor around the screen with the X button used for action. Now, Jonathan must prevent her from foolishly unleashing a deadly power on the human race.The game features detailed, hand-painted backgrounds, accompanied by atmospheric sound and music, which set the proper mood for this dark tale of gothic horror. Mina, still under the master's influence, has gone to Transylvania to fulfill her own yearning for Dracula's bloodlust. The story begins in London, seven years after Dracula's "final" defeat, where protagonist Jonathan Harker and his love, Mina, have married and settled down. Visual Impact Productions handles the PlayStation conversion of this first-person adventure originally released as Dracula Resurrection for the PC and Macintosh. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() Unlike the VA-based Odyssey monitors, there's no VRR Control setting as it's not required. The range of features here is decent, including several color controls and some game specific stuff, like crosshairs for cheating. The OSD is controlled through a directional toggle, and uses the same format as other Samsung monitors. This means support for the full panel capabilities with inputs like game consoles. The HDMI 2.1 ports are 40 Gbps ports, not the full 48 Gbps, but this makes no real world difference, as these HDMI 2.1 ports have more than enough bandwidth at 40 Gbps for full 4K 144Hz at 10-bit RGB. The Odyssey G7 S28 includes one DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC as well as two real HDMI 2.1 ports. I do like the design on the rear, Samsung have gone with the same type of "gamer" influenced style but the patterning is pleasing and the RGB LED core lighting element in the center looks pretty cool, certainly a better-than-average implementation of RGB.Īs a 4K 144Hz display, port selection is important, and Samsung have delivered here. The stand is a basic affair, it does support the full range of motion including height, tilt, swivel and pivot support, however the stand legs and pillar are entirely coated in a fairly average black plastic, so it's nothing special from a build standpoint. The chin on this monitor is a little too large, but at least the rest of the bezels are normal in size. Other areas like the front-facing RGB LED elements have also been refined. Obviously this monitor isn't curved, unlike the 1440p 240Hz variants, and that's a huge improvement in our book since we weren't huge fans of the 1000R curve for this format of display. The design for the Odyssey G7 S28 model is similar to the original Odyssey G7, except refined in several ways. Instead of arranging this review sample from Samsung, we bought this monitor from retail for testing. Given Samsung's recent history of quality control issues, we wanted to test this display to see if any of the same issues are present. This new 4K panel generation is the most affordable yet, and the Odyssey S28 is no exception, usually available at around $700, which is in the ballpark of its competitors and more affordable than the $900+ 4K monitors from years prior. The Odyssey G7 S28 is one of several new generation 4K 144Hz IPS displays for gaming, mirroring the specs of popular monitors such as the Gigabyte M28U, and the panel used here appears to be the same model from Innolux. It's a little disappointing how Samsung has ruined the naming scheme for the Odyssey G7, but with that cleared and out of the way, we don't want to get caught up in that too much. In contrast, the original G7 is a 1440p 240Hz 27" curved VA display, otherwise known as the LC27G75T, so clearly these are two very different products and you don't want to be confusing the C27G7 with the S28AG7 model. Samsung also advertises it as the "Odyssey G70A 28-inch" or the "Odyssey G7 UHD 28-inch" in various countries. It's called the LS28AG700 (usually with even more letters and numbers after that depending on your region), but for this review we'll be shortening it to the S28 model. The new Odyssey G7 brings to the table a 28-inch 4K 144Hz IPS panel aimed at gamers. Now you might be wondering, hang on a moment, didn't you already review the Odyssey G7 way back in 2020? And you'd be correct, but last year Samsung released a new Odyssey G7, which is a little bit confusing, however it's a very different monitor in terms of specifications. Today we're reviewing the Samsung Odyssey G7. ![]() |