The PlayStation Network’s Minis store is something of an unsung hero on the console. Not many give it much attention, but some of the games on the service are genuinely compelling, and for bite-sized prices, you often can’t go wrong. With that in mind we will list in the coming days 10 Minis games that you might not have heard of, but probably should download.
Dracula: Undead Awakening began life as iDracula on the iOS platform, but has since become available on nearly every download platform available – it’s on the Nintendo Wii and DSi, and on the PlayStation it’s a Mini.
And it’s one of the best minis available on the service. Essentially a dual-stick shooter, in Dracula Undead Awakening you take the role of a vampire hunter that needs to hold off endless hordes of werewolves, zombies and ghosts, while racking up high scorers.
Initially you’ll start off with a weak pistol, but you’ll soon upgrade that to shotguns, flamethrowers and crossbows. There’s also a skill leveling system to add some variety – kill enough and you’ll be able to choose from a range of skills to unlock. That level of customisation helps give the game longevity, as there are a number of different effective strategies you can experiment with.
There’s only four gameplay modes, and they’re pretty similar to one another, when all is said and done. There’s also only three different arenas to fight in. The game is by nature replayable, and the levels are balanced and visually varied, but even still, that isn’t a huge amount of meat – a legacy from the game’s iPhone origin.
The biggest criticism of the game is the are a few irritating bugs that dampen the experience, for instance occasionally you’ll select the ‘gain more loot’ skill on leveling up only for the game to decide to give you no loot from then on (if that isn’t a bug I am really unlucky), but the bugs are small and isolated enough they are little more than an irritation.
It’s also worth mentioning that the PSP button layout means it’s not ideal for dual stick shooting, and on the PS3, there’s no option to make use of the right thumb stick. But that minor control difficulty will not stop you getting some seriously high scores, and Dracula: Undead Awakening is still one of our must-have PSP games.
Score: 3/5
