If you are up for a fun, don’t take yourself too serious type of game, then check out Dracula: Vampires Vs. Zombies. This game is a mix of cartoonish gore meets b-movie type characters. The game is a typical “wave shooter” but it has just enough variety that it doesn’t get boring too fast. At least not until you start breaking a sweat saving the world.
The main character is a cheesy looking guy named Chuck Steelballz. He looks like a wannabe Kung Fu master straight out of the 80’s. Throughout the game, he will let you know that he is “king of the lizards,” the “greatest action movie star” and that he “deserves an Oscar.” Lots and lots of Oscars. I laughed every time he said his goofy lines, but you need to experience his comments for yourself.
There are two game modes. Campaign and Survival. They both have city and forest maps and 20 levels each. For this game review, I choose the campaign in the city. Once you select your mode and the intro is over, you are standing on top of Chuck’s RV and have a good vantage point to take out all the zombies and creepy characters. It took a bit to get the aim right on the bow, but once I had that down, I was killing zombies with a 360 view. The bow is probably the best bow weapon I have experienced in a VR game. It’s self-loading to make shooting faster, but it looks cool and feels very realistic when you shoot it. The levels progressively get a little harder and more and more interesting characters come out to try to kill you.
Preparation:
I choose to play the game on the on HTC Vive, but it is also available on the Oculus Rift. After downing my pre-workout and strapping on my Wahoo heart rate monitor, I jumped right in and started the battle.
Workout Duration:
I played the game for a bit to get the hang of it and to make sure I had unlocked some of the higher levels. Once I was ready, I played the game for 30 minutes to see what type of a workout I could get.
- Workout duration: 30 minutes
- Calories burned: 184 active / 254 total
- Average heart rate: 105 BPM
- Max heart rate: 138 BPM
Intensity – 7/10
This game gets pretty intense and has a lot of movement that gets your heart pumping. There are waves of attacks that just keep going. Sometimes you find yourself shooting zombies, wolves, creepy jumping dolls, Dracula and some kind of rock monster all at the same time. You have to be focused to keep up.
Arms – 8/10
Since the primary weapon is a bow and arrow, there is a lot of arm moving back and forth. In the higher levels, it can get pretty intense, and you are moving your arms and shoulders very quickly which gives them a good workout. There was a couple of times that my arms were getting tired of being held up from aiming. I had to rest them but couldn’t do that for long, or some creepy creature would be trying to kill me.
Legs – 6/10
The only leg movement you get is spinning yourself around while you shoot zombies. There’s not much, but there’s enough that it does add to the overall intensity.
Core – 5/10
When Dracula shows up on the scene, you have to shoot him before he shoots a magic energy ball at you. If you don’t get him in time, you have to duck or dodge to get out the way of the incoming projectile. This does give you some core movement but not enough to give you a workout. I wish that every time you shot Dracula with your arrow that the energy ball came charging back at you anyway. Exactly like the VR game Holopoint. That would have made the game more challenging and provided a better core workout.
Time Perception – 8/10
This game is a wave shooter so it can get pretty repetitive but I enjoyed it so much that the time passed by quickly. I had 30 minutes under my belt before I knew it and I just wanted to keep playing.
Replayability – 7/10
This game is entertaining and an easy game to pick up and play. There is no strategy involved due to the fact that it is your typical first person wave shooter. If you don’t want to overthink, jump into a game and be entertained, then I could see this game being played over and over.
Fitness Scale – 7/10
At the core, this is not a fitness game, but it has enough high-intensity action that keeps you moving that your heart rate increases during game play.
Nausea – 9/10
I had no problems with this game and never felt queasy or sick to my stomach. There is no flying or teleporting. You are standing in one spot moving in a 360.
Social – 1/10
No social component to this game at all. There is a leaderboard of high scores, but that’s it.
VRFI Overall Review – 8/10
The Good:
The game is a lot of fun. It has some funny commentary from Chuck Steelballz, b-movie gore, a cool realistic bow and arrow and never ending waves of creepy cartoonish characters trying to kill you. What more could you want? With all of this, the game delivers adrenaline-pumping gameplay that keeps you wanting to shoot more.
The Bad:
The survivors you are trying to save in the game only scream “Don’t kill me!” over and over again. That got a little annoying but not a game stopper.
I wish there were more things to duck and dodge from. The energy balls that Dracula throws at you are challenging to get away from. The problem is you have to miss hitting him for the ball to be thrown at you.
Also, I wish there was more variety in the maps and the ability to move around to different spots. I look forward to seeing what updates Avatarico makes for this game.
