Background: It has been 11 years since the Saturn masterpiece, and the whole time fans have been begging Sega for a sequel. Eventually people got tired of begging for somthing they were sure they'd never recive, and with recent releases from Sonic Team that totally sucked, (I.E. Shadow the Hedgehog) some fans would rather keep playing their Saturn than have Sonic Team butcher another great game. But did you know that a sequel for NiGHTS Into Dreams has been in the works since the final days of the Saturn?
That's right a working title called "Air NiGHTS" was in early development. It was planned to be a direct sequel to NiGHTS Into Dreams, and used the tilt controls present in the Saturn's analog gamepad. Unfortonatly the project died with the Saturn, however the project started up again once the Dreamcast hit shelves, and as any gamer worth his salt will have already realized, the project died yet again along with the short-lived Dreamcast. Though it's thought that the motion controls for Air NiGHTS was salvaged to make Sonic Team's minor hit game Samba de Amigo. (Another Cult Classic I may review someday)
Yuji Naka, lead programmer of Sonic Team, was quoted in saying this when asked about a future NiGHTS release: "I know a lot of people love it and want us to make a sequel, but for us it's a really important game. Like the way Speilburg likes E.T. so much he won't remake it, I don't want to make another NiGHTS.” At this point pretty much all hope of a sequel was lost, now that Sega has stepped out of the hardware buisness, such is the fate of many Cult Classics. However, after years of rumors from various video game magazines, Sega Confirmed that a sequel was in the works on April 1, 2007.
Most people doubted the ligitimacy of this anouncment, since it came on April Fool’s Day, but the conformation stuck and on December 18, 2007, after 11 years of waiting fans finally received the game they had dreamed of since soaring through the skies all those years ago.
Story: The story fallows closely with the pattern of the first game in which you take control of either a boy or a girl. Will Taylor and Helen Cartwright live in the city of Bellbridge. Will is an aspiring soccer player and Helen is a child prodigy of the violin. Will has a big game coming up and he is sad because his dad has to go away on buisness during this time. Helen has a big concert in which her and her mother are going to preform a duet. Helen feels she is good enough to play without anymore practice, and decides to go hang out with her friends, though she feels guilty leaving her mother to practice alone.
As with the first game, both Helen and Will fall asleep with heavy emotions that draw them into Nightmare. They both escape and end up at the fountain of dreams where they meet Owl, a talking owl that acts as your guide through the whole game. Owl tells each child about the Night dimension, and how it is divided by two separate worlds, Nightopia and Nightmare. NiGHTS makes an entrance and asks if the respective child would like to "Duelize" with him, there by sharing his body and allowing them to fly. Each child is hesitate, but agrees and the adventure to retrieve the four missing Ideya begins.
All of the story is told through the use of cutscenes, which are impossible to skip or pause. The story is rather good, and keeps the same style of it's predecessor, but the one downside is the voice acting, which is horrible. It's so bad that I find myself cringing half the time, or straining to understand what each character is saying. Luckily there are subtitles to help you out, but my biggest problem with these is there is no option to turn them off, so my question is why have voice actors at all when you're just going to have everything written down anyway. Not to mention the voice acting is so bad I wish I could turn it off and just read.
I must admit though, that some of the voices do the characters justice. NiGHTS sounds like a young boy or girl, that mirrors his personality. Reala and Wizeman's voices are perfect. Reala's voice is more manly than NiGHTS's and he has this way of speaking that gives off an aura of being cold and maniplative. Wizeman's voice is deep and slow, as if he where speaking through a long tunnel, it kinda reminds me of Sauron from Lord of the Rings. Overall though I'm not very happy with the way in which the story is told, (even though it is a good story) and I would probably dislike this game if it wasn't for the spectacular gameplay.
Gameplay: The gameplay is fun and keeps the series at it's roots while adding new challenges that make this a truly enjoyable game. Things are slightly different though. Instead of flying around collecting blue chips then flying into Mares and retrieving all four Ideya, each level is divided into five different stages. The first stage is always a chase level, you fly around chasing after a bird-like nightmaren. Once you catch him, drill dash into him to recive a key. This key allows you to move on to a different section of the stage and chase after another nightmaren; there are three nightmaren in each chase stage.
Next are the octopaw stages, octopaw is a octopus like creature that flies around creating rings in which you can fly through. When you fly though a ring or collect a blue chip you get 1 link, you have about three seconds to fly through another ring before the link counter resets. The object is to get at least 30 links to complete the stage, and you have five tries to do so. Two of the stages are challenges that vary from level to level and are more like mini games than acual stages. Occasionally you will have a platforming stage, where you play as either Will or Helen and try to find NiGHTS. You go around jumping up on to other platforms, shooting blue chips at your enemies, and solving minor puzzles. These stages aren't terrible, but they do take away the majestic feeling you get from the other stages.
The last stage of each level is always the boss. You face the boss first upon completion of the chase stages, but face a more powerful version of them in this one. Staying true to it's roots each boss unique and has a different strategy you must impose to defeat them. After the boss is defeated a cutscene is shown of the respective child receiving an Ideya. You return to the fountain of dreams and open a chest that contains a persona, a mask that allows NiGHTS to transfom into diffirent things. The game is set up like the first. Each child has three unique levels and shares the final level, but to get the true ending you will have to complete each stage with at least a C rank.
Like a lot of Wii games, you are able to choose between the Wiimote by itself, the Wiimote with the nunchuck, the classic controller or the Nintendo Gamecube controller. When using the Wiimote by itself, a cursor will appear on screen. NiGHTS will fly in the direction of the cursor, but you will have to hold down the A button in order to make NiGHTS go, and use the B button to drill dash. I find this frustrating and my wrist tends to get sore after about five minutes of holding the A button down. Using the nunchuk is a lot better. Since you have a thumbstick, you can push forward in order to make NiGHTS go, so you don't have to hold the A button down. If you really want to enjoy this game though use the classic controller or the gamecube controller, as they have thumbsticks, and shoulder buttons which allow for aerial stunts to be preformed like in NiGHTS Into Dreams. My biggest problem however is that my thumb tends to slip off of the thumbstick. Half the time I'm playing with the side of my thumb and I am forced to readjust in the middle of the game. The more I play NiGHTS Journey of Dreams, the more I wish I had my 3d controller. Maybe someday I'll hack into one for use on my Wii, I'll be sure to post instructions if I do.
Graphics: There really isn't much to say in this category about a game from this generation. Graphics really aren't important to most gamers anymore, seeing as you can pretty much bet that a game is going to have good graphics now a days. NiGHTS Journey of Dreams is very colorful and lifelike and gives the same sense that you are in a dream as it's predecessor. The CG cutscenes are great, but the in game cutscenes are rather choppy and look just like any run of the mill game.
Loading times are the worst; even slower than the Saturn, but I do have to say that once the loading screens are over, the game is really loaded. I can't even once think of a time when the game slowed down or hiccuped. The background is pleasant to look at, and has a lot of depth, but sometimes the foreground gets in the way and there will be a couple seconds where you can't see where you're going. Though the worst thing is that you will get stuck occasionally, and will have to start button mashing to get free. This happened to me after about five minutes of gameplay, and happen to me three more times before the game was over, though the first time was the worst. Overall the game's graphics are good but seem to be unfinished, but what can I say, this is defiantly the best game Sonic Team has made in the last five years.
Music: The music is superb, really setting the mood for what is happening. Dreams Dreams is used very often during the game and cutscenes. 4 different versions of the legendary theme song are used. One for each child's ending credits, a remixed version for the final level, a slower more emotional version for the true ending credits, and you even get to play the song in one of Helen's stages by flying along score lines, having to hit the notes in time with the beat. The remakes of Dreams Dreams are good, but a little more pop culture-e than the original, though they get the job done and fit in well with the rest of the game.
Originality: Yet again there isn't much for me to say that hasn't already been said. Of course the game is original, it's the sequel to one of the most original games in history. NiGHTS Journey of Dreams does a good job of staying away from those video game cliches that are in every game, such as having to have a fire and an ice level, or having to save a princess.
Overview:
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 3/5
Music: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Difficulty: Easy
Length: Short, about 3 hours
Best Part: It's a sequel to NiGHTS Into Dreams, duh
Worst Part: Voice Acting
Total Score 3.6 Worth buying
Conclusion: NiGHTS Journey of Dreams may not be for everyone, but it is defiantly better than no sequel to NiGHTS Into Dreams. Gamers who purchase this game will receive entertainment and joy that few games today offer, and fans of the Saturn classic will not be disappointed.
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