Once you’ve made it through the opening sequence, which can be skipped on future games, you get to choose whether you want to play as Drac or Dracana. Being an equal opportunity player of vampiric offspring, I tried both.

Both of the twins start with a whip as their weapon of choice. They have the ability to cast a fireball spell, powered by the blood rubies you collect as you move through the game. There are other special attacks fueled by blood rubies also – such as a power crush-jump kind of move. Dracula Twins is kind of a side-scroller game, but not exactly. It’s adorably 3-D. You’ve only movement directions are forwards and backwards (left and right) but the track you move along turns this way and that. There is much running, jumping and duck-rolling as you proceed through each level.

As with any good adventure game, there are hazards along the way. Your initial foes are ugly green zombies and floating skulls with glowing red eyes. There are spiders and bats aplenty too, but at this point in my journey (part way through Chapter 2) they are decorative. I have jumped over pits with razor sharp stakes, and I have dodged under swinging pendulums and crazy stone statues wielding giant hammers. I so hate to be tenderized. It can really put a dent in your day.

I love how Dracula Twins shows your number of lives and relative health. There’s a cute little head of whichever twin you’re playing for each life. The more you get beaten up, the worse the little head looks. The visage is perfect to begin with. Then your hair starts coming away in tufts and your skull starts showing, and pretty soon you’re looking more skeletal than merely the vampiric undead. Happily, I have found the rare potion along the way that restores health. And a coffin – what a find – adds another life (so to speak). Woohoo!

I think the tutorial is very nicely implemented in Dracula Twins. I learn one new skill and have a chance to practice it before I need to learn another new skill. Sometimes my mommy brain is like pudding at the end of the day, but I can still remember the game commands easily enough – it’s a real plus.

I really enjoyed the graphics in Dracula Twins. Yes, it’s cartoony, but I like that for this game. I don’t want scary. I want something I can happily let my daughter play. The music is kind of spooky, but in a happy, bouncy kind of way. It fits the mood of the game very well. Obviously the team behind Dracula Twins recognized that those twins are too adorable (in a tiny little vampire sort of way) to be burdened with scary scenery and gloomy-doomy music.

I guess my only real complaint with the game has to do with saving games. You have three save game spots so you have room to do one game with each twin and a spare, but you don’t get to decide when to save. The game saves only when you reach predetermined points. My life being what it is, sometimes I need to leave the computer on very short notice. Generally I don’t like to leave a game running. I’d rather save and not worry about it. I don’t have that luxury with Dracula Twins. I can understand if they saved only at the ends of sections, but this isn’t even that often. I think my first save point wasn’t until Chapter 1-7.

Dracula Twins is pretty easy to learn to play. As with anything, it’s going to take a bit more skill and a lot more practice (or vice-versa) to master. In the meantime, I’m having fun along the way. Dracula Twins is a great little game that’s fun for adults and not too scary for kids. Give Dracula Twins a try. I think you’ll enjoy it.