Hotel Transylvania Dash: Check in to check out this spooky game from PlayFirst

Earlier this week, we brought you an exclusive first look at Hotel Transylvania Dash, PlayFirst's official licensed mobile game tie-in for the Hotel Transylvania film that will hit theaters later this year. Now that the game is officially available to download on iPhone and iPad, we've had a chance to go hands-on with this spooky version of Hotel Dash in all of its branded glory.

Putting it simply, Hotel Transylvania Dash is simply Hotel Dash with a different theme. If you're a fan of Hotel Dash on mobile or even PC, you'll immediately recognize the formula here. Dracula replaces Flo from the traditional Hotel Dash games, as you help him create a series of 5-stake hotels for his monster friends, that want nothing more than to escape from the attention of humans.

Each level comes with a familiar setup, as guests like flies, blobs and more will arrive in groups of two or more and request rooms. Guests are color coded, starting with just red and blue options, and you'll earn bonus points for giving them a matching colored hotel room. Bonus points push you closer to the Expert score on each level, and rooms can be upgraded with blood drops, instead of stars, using the profits you've made in each stage. These blood drops are a kind of currency, used to upgrade a massive suite for some characters from the movie. Most every feature in Hotel Transylvania Dash has a direct counterpart in the original Hotel Dash, limiting the originality of the game for those that are familiar with the games that came before. For instance, blobs in this game act as the lumberjacks in other Hotel Dash installments, wanting two servings of room service, instead of one.

It's unfortunate that this is the case, as Hotel Transylvania looks to be an incredibly cute and clever film, so it would have been nice to see more originality in its official mobile game. This isn't to say that Hotel Transylvania Dash is a bad game, as its basic formula is one of the best dash games PlayFirst has ever produced. It's just unfortunate that more hasn't been done with the license to make the game really pop.

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Players that want the full Hotel Transylvania Dash experience can download the game on either iPhone or iPad for $2.99, while those that are looking for just a taste of what they can expect can download a limited version for free.

Click here to download Hotel Transylvania Dash on iTunes --->

Have you tried Hotel Transylvania Dash? How do you think this branded version stacks up to the original Hotel Dash? Sound off in the comments!