[b]Note:[/b] An awesome friend gifted me a copy of this game. ^^
[h1]Welcome to the Academy of Shadows![/h1]
[h2]Introduction[/h2]
[i]Incredible Dracula: Academy of Shadows[/i] is a time management game developed by Game Mixer and published by Alawar Casual. It is the 11th game in the [i]Incredible Dracula[/i] series. (There are lots of games by now, so it's difficult to keep track. :o) As usual, you play as Count Dracula, and this time, you're invited to be the honorary examiner for the Academy of Shadows, a prestigious school for those with magical powers, and it happens that Dracula graduated from that school. However, before Dracula can even begin to fulfill his role, the students that he's supposed to be supervising have run away, causing chaos and whatnot. Thus, it's up to Dracula, along with his wife Elizabeth and his helpers, to stop the students before the graduation ceremony starts.
As for the gameplay, there are the usual 50 main story levels, along with 15 bonus levels that are unlocked after you complete the main story (which makes sense since this is a collector's edition). You can choose from among the usual 3 difficulty levels: relaxed, novice, or expert. (For review purposes, I chose to play in novice mode.) In each level, you're given a list of tasks to complete, ranging from brewing potions to calming enraged supernatural beings. You have the usual production levels, power-ups, etc. Depending on how quickly you play through the levels (and assuming that you're playing in timed mode), you can earn up to 3 stars. Lots of Steam achievements are present, and they count towards a user's global total.
[h2]Review[/h2]
Having played all of the previous games in the [i]Incredible Dracula[/i] series, this one can feel more of the same, with no new gameplay mechanics. However, I don't mind that there's a feeling of familiarity when it comes to these games as long as there's some sort of twist. With that said, I like the story premise. Dracula has to be this responsible mentor figure, but if you've followed his adventures up to now, you know that his antics will tend to get him into trouble. Still, he's a good vampire at heart. Anyway, I enjoyed learning how he ends up with a load of trouble in the form of graduating academy students who try to ruin his name by exposing his fears. The students are quite troublesome, like Dracula, but they don't mean any harm. It was fun to follow him, Elizabeth, and his helpers as they clean up the students' messes and find them. I like how the main story wraps up and especially, the twist at the end. With the bonus levels, an additional story is provided in which Dracula has been cast in an action movie, so it's separate from the main story. It was very fun to follow that story, too, and I liked the exciting cliffhanger at the end.
With the gameplay, I was able to play through most of the levels and earn 3 stars without problems. It certainly doesn't hurt that there's an in-game guide. However, I noticed that for a few levels, the guide isn't entirely accurate, so you have to work around the steps to pass the levels. I was able to obtain all of the Steam achievements without any problems although I noticed that there was an additional in-game trophy that isn't present among the list of Steam achievements, so there's a bit of a discrepancy. Also, one of the Steam achievements, Persistent Collector, has an inaccurate description since it should refer to the prophecy cards, as there are no dwarf figurines present.
Regarding the art, it has a fun cartoony style that is very familiar in these games. The backgrounds and sprites are drawn well, and the colors never feel overly bright. I like how there are various locations, ranging from the shadowy academy to the bright, hot desert. (Here is where I'd usually show off screenshots. Unfortunately, I noticed a problem in that whenever I took a screenshot, info about FPS and game build would show up on the upper left game screen, ruining the immersion. I took screenshots of another game to figure out whether this was a problem with my computer or the game itself, but as I didn't encounter this with another game, I'm assuming that this is a programming issue, which I hope that the devs will fix.)
Wrapping up with the music, the tracks are the same as in previous games in the series. Although the tracks fit well with the game's theme, I do wish that there would have been some variety, perhaps with one or two new tracks.
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Overall, would I recommend [i]Incredible Dracula: Academy of Shadows[/i]? Despite the screenshots issue that I had and the few troublesome levels that I encountered, I'd say that this is a pretty fun game, albeit more of the same. For the asking price, it's worth getting, as it took me around 16 hours to complete all of the levels and earn all of the achievements. Also, it's in a couple of Steam bundles, so you can save some money if you have the other games in them. ^^
[quote]For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url], prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^[/quote]
