Dracula

The Good
It's a great premise, and one of the first games where you actually get to play as the "bad guy". Forget about trying to kill the monster/Save the princess.... This was a game that focused on attacking the innocent for food, and staying one step ahead of the law. Games like this were very few and far between. Nice little classical music threads play throughout, the thunder/lightning effects are appropriately moody, and there's just something about walking down the street to see a frightened pair of eyes peeking out the window, and then fleeing to the street when you knock at their door. The game even became two-player simultaneous once Dracula turned a villager into a zombie. This game was simply a guilty pleasure.

The Bad
The main things that were hard to take about this title focused mainly with control issues. Dracula wasn't exactly the fastest creature on foot, and when making zombies, the control was a very loose and jerky. Perhaps it was done this way to simulate how a zombie walks, but it always felt a little sloppy. There was very little else wrong with this game. It otherwise handled well, and made decent use of the Intellivision controller's buttons.

The Bottom Line
Imagic always succeeded in making some very creative games, especially so for the Intellivision. This was just one of those games that felt "right" when playing it. It had a dark sense of humor, nice graphical touches throughout, a defined set of objectives, and a surprising amount of depth. Its time limit made sense. Whether Dracula was a bat or a man, there were always distinct advantages and disadvantages, so it balanced really well. It's an extremely hard game to find, but whether you find an actual cartridge or play it via emulation, it comes highly recommended.