NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Review

Console: Wii
Release Date: December 18th, 2007
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team USA
Players: One to Two
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Introduction:
NiGHTS was a cult favorite for a lot of people back in the Sega Saturn days. The game had you flying around as a jester-like character, whose name was NiGHTS (Yes, I did not screw around with the caps there.) The game was far different from anything we have today. In fact it contained a rare perspective known as 2.5D. How the heck did this game warrant a sequel though, and after 11 years none the less? Continue on to find out.

Storyline:
This game has you assuming the role of either a girl named Helen or a boy named Will. The two are sent into Nightmare, the land of nightmares, as they have been having struggles in life that haunt them. The concept is a nice idea, when people sleep they go to Nightopia, the land of dreams, or Nightmare, the land of Nightmares. This is a concept not a lot of games have used. In fact I can't name any except for the previous installment. You then must travel around 5 worlds and capture energy called Ideya, which are really traits that the characters are lacking, as they were stolen by Nightmarens, the denizens of Nightmare. The storyline is kind of blah at the same time. The worlds pretty much have the same missions over and over, familiarize yourself with surroundings, free a captured NiGHTS, make a 30+ skill link, a miscellaneous mission, then finally a harder version of the boss fought in the first mission. I'd say if the missions weren't so cookie cutter, then the game would've been so much better.

Graphics:
The graphics of this game are lush and vibrant, especially for the Wii. I am not one to put the Wii down, but good graphics from 3rd parties have been lacking. NiGHTS is a very prominent example, as the graphics seem so dreamy, which is great since it just adds to the entire setting and feel of the title. The only real letdown here is the "My Dream" part of the game. They used a load of lo resolution textures and next to no polygons in the objects. Seeing as how this isn't the main part of the game, it really doesn't bother me as much. I must also say that the graphics are very vibrant and almost neon in Nightopia, and do a great job of contrasting the land of Nightmare and Nightopia.

Gameplay:
The gameplay in this game is much different from other games you've probably played. Instead of moving about in a 3D environment, which is possible with the children, you move in a more on rails type movement. This is in no way a sidescroller though, as we frequently move in and out of the background environment. I have to say the controls are rather nice and simple to grasp, but I was annoyed that they make you use the plain Wii Remote controls in the tutorial to fly. Luckily, this was only for the first five minutes of the game and really didn't leave that much of a damper on my experience.

Longevity:
As for longevity, it's hard to say. The game has 60 dream drops for you to collect to obtain the ability to play as secret characters; this however is optional and would take endless hours to find without a guide of some sort. The nice thing about the game however, is that you have a classic score in digits in the game, not just a "reach the end of the level to win" type of scoring. This means if you are a competitive gamer and like to get the best scores possible, you're in for a long game. I actually found it quite enjoyable to go back to old missions and see my improvement over time. Another nice feature of the game is My Dream. NiGHTS can perform a maneuver called a "Paraloop". This is essentially a black hole that links My Dream and Nightopia. Anything in the space gets sucked in, excluding Blue Chips which go to NiGHTS immediately. Both Nightopians and Nightmarens go to My Dream, and you can decide who you want to thrive. It's actually quite fun as the actual environment of the garden changes depending on ranks of missions and how many Nightmaren and Nightopians there are. Overall, this game could easily provide two months of gameplay for someone, more than likely more.

Sound:
One thing I'd like to say that is nice about this title is the voice overs. The previous NiGHTS had one or two lines from what I can recall and they weren't exactly audible. This title however, features complete voice casting and is simply great in my opinion. Enough about the voices, onto the actual music of this game. The music is nice, as is most music in games by Sega in my opinion. The main theme is eerily catchy and you might just want to hum it all day long, maybe even download the track online. The other music is nice, and what's even nicer is the fact that each land has its own music, as do a lot of the missions. A lot of games now a day get lazy and simply make a few music tracks and slap them into the game over and over; NiGHTS does not fall into this category. I was thoroughly surprised when I was on the final level and a remix of the NiGHTS theme with singing started playing, in summary, I was overjoyed as well.

Overall:
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is a game that is far more than decent, and close to greatness. I think it is outclassed by the previous title, but it will surely be a hit with NiGHTS fans of old. I would highly suggest this game if you are letting your Wii collect dust, and hopefully you'll have a great time playing it.