I didn’t even have to load up this game to get really excited about it – the demonic screensaver and chilling music that kicks in when you select the game in your PSP menu was enough to win me over immediately!

Still, I realise that you probably want a little more from this First Impressions post than me looking lovingly at the PSP home menu, so I took the plunge and actually started playing the thing, in the hope that the gameplay would live up to all the terror-ific gothic trappings. I’m glad to say I wasn’t disappointed!

When you select Play Game from the main menu you get four gameplay modes to choose from (Survival, Rush, Wave Attack and Super Survival), and three locations (Frozen Earth, Castle Hall and Grave Park). We’ll cover them in detail in the main review, but basically all modes are a variation on a theme – kill lots of monsters and don’t die!

Any such game always stands or falls on the weaponry available. When you’re consistently doing one thing over and over again it better be fun to do, and Dracula Undead Awakening certainly places a fantastic arsenal at your disposal.

It has to be said, there’s nothing quite like that feeling of picking up a really big gun and laying waste to swathes of the undead with one satisfying ‘boom’ after initially barely denting the rampaging hordes with your standard pistol.

The top-down run-and-gun gameplay reminds me a lot of old Amiga and Sega Mega Drive games such as Chaos Engine, where you simply had to mow down everything in your path and maybe collect a few things on the way. All good clean mindless violent fun!

Overall, initial impressions of the game are very favourable. The level and character design is just beautiful, and considering how small the figures of the main hero and monsters are, the detail is amazing. Stay tuned for the full review!