To many onlookers, the App Store isn't capable of producing anything but puzzle games and tilt controlled racing titles - because these are ideally suited to the device limitations. It takes a skilled developer to buck the trend, and instead create a hardcore frag fest for those who want gratuitous violence in their pockets. And that's exactly why iDracula has been created - surely here is a game that has undoubted universal appeal at a rock bottom price. Indeed, it's that kind of tactic that managed to rocket the title up to the number 1 position in the Store. Let's take a look.

In the game, you play as the lone gunman - pitted against ever swarming waves of spectres, werewolves, and even Dracula himself. Your mission? To terminate everything in sight, naturally. Controlling your character is handled by two control wheels in the bottom corners - one for moving, one for shooting. The shoot/reload is handled automatically, you just control the direction that you want to fire in. The wheels themselves work extremely well, although you can obscure your character if you happen to go into the corner of a map.

There's two modes of play. Rush (pictured above) - where you enter straight into the game with a chaingun and a horde of werewolves - and Survival, the main mode. In this mode the enemies slowly get stronger, and would soon overwhelm you with numbers if it was not for the weapon arsenal that the game has. You'll start off with a simple pistol and end up with a mean looking flame thrower that will blast most foes into oblivion, plus a 'perks' system that introduces new abilities - such as telekinesis, running faster or even blocking some attacks. The game is well balanced, and you won't find it easy even with a high damage weapon.

It's very easy to lose yourself into the gameplay, as it is genuinely challenging, especially on Rush mode - but the perks system has a few flaws. You choose between four options, but as these are randomly selected, you may find that you get offered 'invincibility' (can't be hurt but die after 20 seconds) even on the easier rounds - making for a waste of a perk slot, and also the same perks can be displayed multiple times. Once, we had 3 score masters and 1 telekinesis, which doesn't make for much choice.

As you can tell from the screenshots, iDracula looks the part. The enemies shrivel up when they're dead, and leap towards you in a scary fashion. Even though there's often a lot going on in the environment, there's practically no slowdown, which is very impressive. The sound effects are great, but we didn't feel the rock track selected added much to the atmosphere - perhaps something less upbeat would have drawn us in.

It's a shame that there's only one map in iDracula - even with it's array of spooks to maim, the same backdrop does get a little tired after a while. But hey, it's 59p - and if you fancy a quick shoot 'em up that has excellent controls and a good amount of challenge, it's definitely worth it - and with updates to come? It's truly a steal. And even when the price goes up, you'll still find a lot here that's worth your hard earned cash. iDracula delivers the violence we knew was possible on iPhone, and we hope Chillingo finds more gems like this one.

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More by this developer

Knight's Rush, B

Review by Ben Briggs, August 27, 2010

Knights Onrush, A

Review by Ben Briggs, June 30, 2009

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