Finally a publisher willing
to give adventure games their due respect has arrived. Iceberg Interactive
– headquartered in The Netherlands – has picked up the
adventure banner in a big way with their new Adventure Classics collections.
Iceberg Interactive was formed in 2009 and management is comprised
in part by numerous veterans from the now defunct publisher, Lighthouse
Interactive who were responsible for the wonderful Darkness
Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder, Overclocked
and Belief
& Betrayal among others. As Iceberg Interactive does
not have a North American office, these new compilations are currently
only available in parts of Europe or online from either Iceberg
Interactive or the JA
Online Store.

Adventure Classics:
Dracula Trilogy is a collection of arguably the best adventure
games ever based on Bram Stoker’s iconic vampire. The three
games can be installed from two DVDs that come in a luxury slipcase
with an eye-catching embossed title outlined with dripping blood.

Dracula
Resurrection was originally reviewed
by JA in the year 2000 by yours truly: The latest and probably
the best in a long line of adventure/horror games featuring vampires.
Dracula Resurrection is actually presented as a sequel to Bram Stoker’s
novel. The opening movie reenacts the climatic events of the 1897
novel as we watch Jonathan Harker attempt to destroy his arch-nemesis.
His weapons prove futile, though, and only the rising sun saves Jonathan
and Mina, his fiancee, from a life of eternal darkness. Seven years
pass, and we watch as Jonathan reads an unbelievable letter from Mina,
now his wife. She has been overcome by an irresistible urge, a yearning
for the sexual bloodlust of the vampire, and has returned to Transylvania.
Jonathan, as we learn through a letter he composes to his friend Seward,
journeys to save his beloved, and thus our game begins. This is not
a Hammer film, though. There are no subplots, no vampire hunters,
no Christopher Lees. It is simply you, playing in a first-person perspective
as Jonathan Harker, attempting to reach Dracula’s castle and rescue
Mina. Much as the novel dripped of atmosphere over a hundred years
ago, so also does the computer game. A feeling of loneliness prevails
as you wend your way through catacombs and hidden passages. The fear
of the townspeople is reflected in their eyes and etched in their
faces. The game’s creators, Jacques Simian and Francois Villard, do
not hammer you over the head with the obvious, but have instead let
loose their talent to create a world of shadows and darkness that
speaks volumes. Like a good novel, the story relies on the characters
and their personalities.

Dracula
2: The Last Sanctuary was reviewed
in 2001 by Ray Ivey who had this to say: From the very first sequence
in which Harker explores the vampire’s decrepit London house, the
game is drenched in a richly creepy atmosphere. The sunlight streaming
through boarded-up windows, a corpse propped up against a door, and
the dark shadows all around contribute to a profound sense of unease.
A gaggle of werewolves doesn’t hurt, either. This quality is the game’s
great accomplishment: few games have created such a consistent feeling
of creeping horror from beginning to end. It’s yummy.

Impressively, this
feeling of dread and danger permeates every single sequence of the
game. Whether it’s the (obligatory) sewers, the evil movie theater
owned by Dracula, Highgate Cemetery, or a dungeon prison filled with
skeletons, the hairs on the back of your neck get quite a workout
while playing this game.

The cut-scenes are
also fluid and beautiful and, as in the first game, frequently deal
with novel means of transportation.

Dracula
3: Path of the Dragon – previously unreleased in the
UK – is by far the weakest entry in the series as noted by JA
reviewer Bobbi Carlini: The
final five minutes of Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon is a tense,
suspenseful confrontation between the game’s protagonists, Father
Arno Moriani and the Prince of Darkness (no, not Ozzy Osbourne). In
what is a welcome change from the norm, Dracula himself has been visualized
by the developers in a manner unlike any I’ve ever seen before.
After his defeat – and has any book, game or movie ever not
ended with the ‘death’ of the vampire – there is
a wonderful cinematic that jumps to the future and opens new &
mysterious avenues for sequels.

But what about the
previous six to eight hours of gameplay that led to this point? Where
was Dracula? For that matter, where were any vampires at all? Oh,
there are some revelations made along the way that some of the supporting
characters may be vampiric, but their nocturnal tendencies never really
figure into the game. There is not even a single cinematic of the
Count, though it is later revealed that he was the shadowy character
skulking in the shadows. No Dracula, no vampires – frankly, that sucks.

Whether you’re
a collector (like myself) or just a casual adventurer who may not
have played one or two of these games, this is a great opportunity
to expand your collection at an affordable price.

System Requirements:

• OS: Windows® 2000/ME/XP/Vista™
• Processor: 1 Ghz 32-bit
  or 64-bit processor
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• Graphics Card: 64 MB
  DirectX® 9.0c Compatible
• Sound Card: DirectX®
  9.0 Sound Card
• DVD-ROM: 16x
• Input: Keyboard, Mouse
  and Speakers
• Hard Disk: 4 GB Free
  Disk Space
• DirectX®: Version
  9.0c