The Last Vampire

Your Sinclair

Overall 80%

Rich Pelley 80%

RICH PELLEY and JON PILLAR - as nice of couple of young chaps as you could ever hope to meet. So we locked them up in the... BARGAIN BASEMENT THE LAST VAMPIRE Atlantis £2.99 Reviewer: Rich Pelley This one's a flip-screen dash-around-a-maze type thing, which plays pretty much like that ancient Ultimate game, Underworld, not that that's too much of a bad thing though. This time though you're running about Whitley Bay (!) attempting to drive a stake through Dracula's heart (!!) who's on holiday with a couple of friends in the area at the time (!!!). This is done by running around the colourful screens in search of money, which can in turn be used in the shop (if you can find it) to buy a stake (to kill him with and complete the game), keys (to get you into new areas), garlic (to keep old Drac-pants away) and other things like that. You've also got to avoid the baddies (which kill you) and try not to get too lost. And it's all pretty good stuff - it may be very simple, and even a bit 'old-fashioned', but it's still very playable. By the way, as I've said, this game is set in the seaside town of Whitley Bay. And guess where I went for my summer holiday this year. That's right, Spain. Spooky, eh?

What it may lack in originality of gameplay, it more than makes up for in choice of location. Whitley Bay, eh? It's a first!

Crash

Overall 72%

Nick Roberts 72%

Atlantis £2.99 What only one left? Yup, all the nasty vampires of the world have been destroyed except for one, who insists on terrorising the inhabitants of Whitley Bay. There's only one way to do him in: drive a stake through his heart with a silver hammer. Your job is to find these items and do the dirty deed. Whitley Bay is a lovely little seaside town, made up of wooden timbered houses, trees and olde shoppes where you can purchase items to help you in your quest. Down on the sea host you will also find a pirate ship with vicious crew. Small, colourful sprites make up the town's scenery with animated characters doing all the moving around. There are fines and sound effects too, to give that finishing touch. The Last Vampire is fun to play, but the amount of pirates, seagulls and killer bats out to get you makes it really difficult to get anywhere. This is another excellent arcade adventure from Atlantis. All their releases have a similar style, but with the varying story lines and gameplay they're all great valve for money.