Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi can best be described as a first-person action adventure game that attempts to "surprise" players using horror, atmosphere, lighting (or the lack thereof) and good old fashioned shock value. For the most part, Idol FX has done a pretty decent job of doing just that. The game revolves around James, the elder son of the Patterson family, who heads to the castle of a Romanian count in the Transylvanian mountains to reunite with his family and friends as they attend the marriage of his sister Rebecca to the count's son. Upon his arrival, James realizes that something has gone terribly awry and that everyone he cares for has gone MIA. What's a bloke to do but take up whatever arms he can gather and find them? Sounds pretty forward, doesn't it? But Nosferatu does something that takes a novel approach to the first-person action game genre - players must beat the clock and save their loved ones or witness their demise, one by one. The advantage of doing this at first glance seems unimportant, but players who ignore the call to search and rescue may find themselves missing vital clues or items that they may need further down the dark path that leads to the ultimate vampire boss.

Nosferatu offers the usual staples you'd find on the most seasoned vampire hunter - the Crucifix, Wooden Stakes, and holy water. More conventional weapons like a flintlock, a five-shot revolver, a musket and a machine gun are also at your disposal during the course of the game, though some weapons tend to be harder to find than others. Looking past the questionable historical accuracy of these weapons being used in the early 1920's (were people still using muskets and flintlocks during that time period? This bit from the The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2001 seems to indicate otherwise), Nosferatu offers a good balance between the traditional trappings of your average vampire hunter, with a good dose of more violent fire-arms. Some weapons have secondary attacks and uses - for instance, the crucifix is used to create holy water, while the stake can be used as a makeshift torch. Players that tend to be a bit more violent to non-player characters will want to avoid garnishing and using weapons near "the living" because these folks are fragile beasts, save the priest who managed to survive being tossed out a window.

Idol FX did a great job of using low-level polygons and simple effects & lighting to create a game atmosphere that is edgy, spooky and a perfect environment for surprises. One of the key thing that the developers of this game were looking to do is create a great amount of shock value by having enemies jump out and startle players at every turn -- behind doors, in rafters, ect. by waiting for the living to be stupid enough to cross their paths. The startling results of these encounters, combined with the game's dark characters and atmosphere will have many players surprised a lot more times than they bargained for. I can't emphasize enough that the gameplay is very fast-paced, action-packed and full of unexpected surprises at every turn. Add to that a timer that forces players to frantically search for allies in the depths and heights of the castle and you get an experience that is at times edgy and unexpectedly scary. The game also offers a random generator technology that shuffles the layout of the game's locations, the place where NPCs are found and the position of items. With three difficulties added to that equation, Nosferatu has the potential to provide a moderately interesting level of replayability.

Graphically Nosferatu is far from cutting edge, but does make great use of the technology Idol FX built for the game. While the graphics are nowhere near the level of quality of games like Unreal II, Nosferatu uses what's there brilliantly. Throwing in sound effects, some interesting voice acting, classic cinematic style cutscenes and lots of tense "mood music" for normal and harrowing situations, the game manages to overcome it's graphical limitations. One advantage to Nosferatu's graphics quality is that it runs smoothly on fast machines (mileage may vary depending on processor speed, sound card, graphics card, etc) even in the highest resolution available (1024 X 768 32 bit color). Load times are very short, animations are ultra quick and technical slow-downs are non-existent - at least on beefier systems.

Nosferatu is a lot of fun to play but it might be hard from some gamers to get by the whole "save your family" by the time the clock runs out element. Still, the countdown clock does play an important role in the game as a whole and rewards players willing to put the extra effort in with extra hints and gear. Overall Nosferatu is a decent game that action and horror survival fans will appreciate. It's creepiness is more subtle than games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, but the end result is still the same - it'll keep you on your toes and possibly speed your heart rate up when you least expect. If Idol FX can tweak the AI pathfinding (some creatures get stuck on objects occasionally) and graphics, then Nosferatu shouldn't have a problem of being received with open arms. We'll let you know when it is released next month. In the interim, visit Idol FX's official web site and iGames' Nosferatu page for more details -- and check out the screenshots below: