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IGN Review of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
It's been more than a decade since Nights Into Dreams hit the SEGA Saturn gaming system. After multiple console iterations and advancements in gaming, this entirely niche classic has made a comeback, hitting the Nintendo Wii exclusively this holiday. Over the years there's been a ton of talk of an official Nights sequel, with representatives from SEGA going as far as to say they don't want Nights to make a comeback, as it was a game that held its place in time, and would be too dangerous to meddle with years later. Would the game have the same free-flight appeal? Would control truly do the original game justice? Would people even remember the original? Nights: Journey of Dreams now lands on Wii, and while we're sure this will be one of the most diverse and controversial titles on Nintendo's system for a long, long time, we can't help but wish the series would have stayed safely stored in the back corners of our memories, rather than attempting a second go over a decade later.
As our industry evolves, things change - it's the only way the world of gaming could stay alive and fresh over the years. With that being said, NiGHTS (or Nights, as we'll continue to call it from here on out) isn't faulted for staying stagnant, rather it progresses in an odd way that really doesn't fit the game's core design. For those that weren't lucky enough to play the Saturn title years ago, Nights was essentially Sonic in the air, having players scroll mainly from left to right with full analog control, dipping and diving through the air with fluid, beautiful control as they raced through levels, flew through rings, and boosted into enemies in order to complete each stage with the highest score and fastest times. Nights had a progression to it, but at its heart it was more of an arcade game than anything.
This time around, however, Nights takes a bit of a different turn. Keeping in line with the "world of dreams" theme – it wouldn't be Nights without it – players will take control of Will and Helen, two young children each entering into Nightopia (the world of dreams) with their own back-story, emotional baggage, and inner demons that come to life though the forming of nightmares. It's a pretty simple concept overall, and with each child's five main levels you'll get a different piece of the story leading up to the same grand finale. Once they arrive in the land of dreams, each character meets up with a Nights almost instantaneously, and from there learns to meld with the mysterious creature and fly through the world of Nightopia. Along the way you'll learn of the quest to find the hidden Ideya (basically essences of the human spirit), and eventually attempt to defeat a powerful god-like creature named Wizeman and his right-hand man Reala.
As far as the overall production goes, Nights is pretty successful in pulling gamers in. The world has a very distinct (and familiar, to previous Nights fans) style, all story in the game is told with full VO (strangely Nights and all other characters in Nightopia are from England?), and the game stresses its ability to deliver a cinematic experience via beautiful CG cut scenes and in-game scripted scenarios. That being said, it still has its downsides, and they can be pretty annoying respectively. For starters, there's no way to skip story sequences, so should you want to pass them up and get into some quick action, you're stuck. This compounds greatly when you throw in the odd restart system, having players not only replay the stage they failed, but the entire chapter as well, complete with story sequences. By the end of the game you'll be playing through three full chase stages (a few minutes a piece),watching multiple story cuts, and then fighting a boss. Fail on that boss, and a retry sends you all the way back, complete with all loads, all story sequences, and every stage within that level. Talk about a momentum killer.
Go even further into the structure of the game and you'll find that again Nights is a sound concept, but not exactly a compilation of the best execution possible. Story sections make odd cuts, oftentimes throwing in a quick scripted sequence that tells a chunk of story, and then all of a sudden throws the player into an odd area that makes very little sense. This is found a ton in boss battles, as the battles themselves are in self-contained arenas, so the story world and boss areas seldom blend well. You'll also find odd sections of loading that don't bring up screens or icons at all, instead keeping the screen fully white or black for upwards of 15 seconds with no explanation. If it wasn't for the music playing in that background we would have assumed the game was frozen. This lack of overall polish can be found in virtually any area, whether it's a lack of normalizing for VO (when playing as Will, for example, Helen can barely be heard when compared to any of the other characters), a lack of explanation for new control sections, or abrupt endings to levels that have you constantly rebounding off invisible walls before the actual results come on-screen to actually end the stage. The core game has its fun moments; it's just very, very rough.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, Nights is again a bit of a mixed bag. The core Nights flight gameplay makes a return, but not without some hitches, as the analog control is stiffer and far more testy than the Saturn original was. Players will also want to rid themselves of the Wii IR control straight away, as it's far from preferable over the nunchuk/Wii-mote classic control or, should you prefer, Classic Controller or GCN controller instead. Unfortunately, that also means Nights is 100% without Wii control, as there's no gestures, no tilt control, and no IR once you adopt the Wii-mote/nunchuk setup.
In an attempt to change things up a bit for the Wii version, Nights: Journey of Dreams throws in a ton of diversity into the gameplay, whether it's side-view flying, tunnel flying, rapids rafting, top-view puzzle-like levels, or traditional platforming with either Will or Helena respectively. Just like the game's presentation, however, Nights lacks a ton of polish, and the overall control is extremely wonky. Controlling Will and Helena is a serious chore, as even the jump animations and turning mid-air is a battle against an extremely rough physics system, and you never get the fluidity of flight that the Saturn original offered. Even the general IR control in menus is sluggish and unresponsive at times.
Of course the game is far from "broken" overall, and there's definitely some fun to be had for previous Nights fans or gamers looking for something truly unique on Wii. The game's boss design is great, delivering some stylistic and entertaining battles along the adventure. In once such battle, players will fly through a pitch black world and need to use the Paraloop ability (basically creating a circle with Nights) to unveil a scene behind the darkness. Chunk by chunk you'll chisel away at the black "painted" background and reveal the boss behind it. Attack him directly, and you'll defeat him. It's moments like these when Nights shows just how innovative it can be; it's just obvious that it needed far more time for fine tuning.
The multiplayer front can also extremely rewarding at times, allowing for some decent two player local and online play. The battle mode is pretty weak overall, as you'll basically be firing slow projectiles at a fast-moving opponent (not too epic), but what it lacks in battle Nights more than makes up for in its entertaining race mode. Since the core Nights game was – and despite a ton of diversity this time, still is – focused on speedy flying and quick maneuvering, the race mode makes perfect sense. As you progress through the main game, more "tracks" become available. Find a random player online or team with a friend through Wi-Fi or local play, and most classic Nights fans will feel right at home with race mode. To round off the experience Nights has a "My Dream" world that is made up of captured creatures which is made unique based on each player's experience with the game, and while it's a neat idea on paper, this Animal Crossing-like sandbox is better in concept than it is execution, as there's very little to do with it outside of checking on your monsters, wandering around for a few minutes, and going back to the main game. Still, the merging of online, local play, leader boards for level scores, and this odd little player-made sandbox does add a bit of depth to the experience.
©2007-12-18, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
As our industry evolves, things change - it's the only way the world of gaming could stay alive and fresh over the years. With that being said, NiGHTS (or Nights, as we'll continue to call it from here on out) isn't faulted for staying stagnant, rather it progresses in an odd way that really doesn't fit the game's core design. For those that weren't lucky enough to play the Saturn title years ago, Nights was essentially Sonic in the air, having players scroll mainly from left to right with full analog control, dipping and diving through the air with fluid, beautiful control as they raced through levels, flew through rings, and boosted into enemies in order to complete each stage with the highest score and fastest times. Nights had a progression to it, but at its heart it was more of an arcade game than anything.
This time around, however, Nights takes a bit of a different turn. Keeping in line with the "world of dreams" theme – it wouldn't be Nights without it – players will take control of Will and Helen, two young children each entering into Nightopia (the world of dreams) with their own back-story, emotional baggage, and inner demons that come to life though the forming of nightmares. It's a pretty simple concept overall, and with each child's five main levels you'll get a different piece of the story leading up to the same grand finale. Once they arrive in the land of dreams, each character meets up with a Nights almost instantaneously, and from there learns to meld with the mysterious creature and fly through the world of Nightopia. Along the way you'll learn of the quest to find the hidden Ideya (basically essences of the human spirit), and eventually attempt to defeat a powerful god-like creature named Wizeman and his right-hand man Reala.
As far as the overall production goes, Nights is pretty successful in pulling gamers in. The world has a very distinct (and familiar, to previous Nights fans) style, all story in the game is told with full VO (strangely Nights and all other characters in Nightopia are from England?), and the game stresses its ability to deliver a cinematic experience via beautiful CG cut scenes and in-game scripted scenarios. That being said, it still has its downsides, and they can be pretty annoying respectively. For starters, there's no way to skip story sequences, so should you want to pass them up and get into some quick action, you're stuck. This compounds greatly when you throw in the odd restart system, having players not only replay the stage they failed, but the entire chapter as well, complete with story sequences. By the end of the game you'll be playing through three full chase stages (a few minutes a piece),watching multiple story cuts, and then fighting a boss. Fail on that boss, and a retry sends you all the way back, complete with all loads, all story sequences, and every stage within that level. Talk about a momentum killer.
Go even further into the structure of the game and you'll find that again Nights is a sound concept, but not exactly a compilation of the best execution possible. Story sections make odd cuts, oftentimes throwing in a quick scripted sequence that tells a chunk of story, and then all of a sudden throws the player into an odd area that makes very little sense. This is found a ton in boss battles, as the battles themselves are in self-contained arenas, so the story world and boss areas seldom blend well. You'll also find odd sections of loading that don't bring up screens or icons at all, instead keeping the screen fully white or black for upwards of 15 seconds with no explanation. If it wasn't for the music playing in that background we would have assumed the game was frozen. This lack of overall polish can be found in virtually any area, whether it's a lack of normalizing for VO (when playing as Will, for example, Helen can barely be heard when compared to any of the other characters), a lack of explanation for new control sections, or abrupt endings to levels that have you constantly rebounding off invisible walls before the actual results come on-screen to actually end the stage. The core game has its fun moments; it's just very, very rough.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, Nights is again a bit of a mixed bag. The core Nights flight gameplay makes a return, but not without some hitches, as the analog control is stiffer and far more testy than the Saturn original was. Players will also want to rid themselves of the Wii IR control straight away, as it's far from preferable over the nunchuk/Wii-mote classic control or, should you prefer, Classic Controller or GCN controller instead. Unfortunately, that also means Nights is 100% without Wii control, as there's no gestures, no tilt control, and no IR once you adopt the Wii-mote/nunchuk setup.
In an attempt to change things up a bit for the Wii version, Nights: Journey of Dreams throws in a ton of diversity into the gameplay, whether it's side-view flying, tunnel flying, rapids rafting, top-view puzzle-like levels, or traditional platforming with either Will or Helena respectively. Just like the game's presentation, however, Nights lacks a ton of polish, and the overall control is extremely wonky. Controlling Will and Helena is a serious chore, as even the jump animations and turning mid-air is a battle against an extremely rough physics system, and you never get the fluidity of flight that the Saturn original offered. Even the general IR control in menus is sluggish and unresponsive at times.
Of course the game is far from "broken" overall, and there's definitely some fun to be had for previous Nights fans or gamers looking for something truly unique on Wii. The game's boss design is great, delivering some stylistic and entertaining battles along the adventure. In once such battle, players will fly through a pitch black world and need to use the Paraloop ability (basically creating a circle with Nights) to unveil a scene behind the darkness. Chunk by chunk you'll chisel away at the black "painted" background and reveal the boss behind it. Attack him directly, and you'll defeat him. It's moments like these when Nights shows just how innovative it can be; it's just obvious that it needed far more time for fine tuning.
The multiplayer front can also extremely rewarding at times, allowing for some decent two player local and online play. The battle mode is pretty weak overall, as you'll basically be firing slow projectiles at a fast-moving opponent (not too epic), but what it lacks in battle Nights more than makes up for in its entertaining race mode. Since the core Nights game was – and despite a ton of diversity this time, still is – focused on speedy flying and quick maneuvering, the race mode makes perfect sense. As you progress through the main game, more "tracks" become available. Find a random player online or team with a friend through Wi-Fi or local play, and most classic Nights fans will feel right at home with race mode. To round off the experience Nights has a "My Dream" world that is made up of captured creatures which is made unique based on each player's experience with the game, and while it's a neat idea on paper, this Animal Crossing-like sandbox is better in concept than it is execution, as there's very little to do with it outside of checking on your monsters, wandering around for a few minutes, and going back to the main game. Still, the merging of online, local play, leader boards for level scores, and this odd little player-made sandbox does add a bit of depth to the experience.
©2007-12-18, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved