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It’s been over a decade since gamers took control of the curiously genderless, flying jester known as NiGHTS. In a time when Sega was still a hardware brand, the Saturn delivered NiGHTS into Dreams to players, introducing us to a game that can best be explained as Sonic meets Peter Pan. The game was well regarded among those who played it, eventually achieving the status of a cult hit.
Eventually the Saturn died out, but fans of the original NiGHTS game have long-since been clamoring for a sequel. Team Sonic has decided to fulfill the dreams of anxious NiGHTS-fans, bringing the dream world of Nightopia back on the Wii. The game has undergone little in-terms of reinvention, but adds a few new elements, both welcomed and questionable. Though it is possible to view Journey of Dreams as a sequel, the way the game is presented begs it to be treated as a reintroduction of the original, meant to appease both die-hards and newcomers.
Journey of Dreams follows the stories of two young children, Will and Helen, in disparate, but similar family situations. The “importance of family” develops as the theme with Will, who is eager to spend more time with his father, while Helen’s mother misses time with her daughter.
The world of Nightopia only exists in dreams, and the emotions that each character brings with them to the Dream Gate creates the levels that each will progress through in search of five Ideya. All but the Ideya of Courage has been stolen from visitors to Nightopia by the evil Wizeman, as Will and Helen embark on an intertwined adventure to recover the Ideya and save the dream world.
The entire story is broken up between the children’s dreams, but finishing either one, even independently, results in meeting up with the other character to defeat Wizeman. To accomplish this end, characters must become NiGHTS by “dualizing” with the jester. The dream levels play out in predictable, segmented episodes with virtually the same pattern to each: free Nights from cages, fight a boss for the first time, beat varying missions—sometimes as a new form of Nights, and sometimes as just the children—and a final battle against a relatively harder version of the boss.
Similar to the older version of the game, levels are completed by flying Nights around a level in a limited amount of time. After finishing levels, you’re awarded a score based on how fast you completed it and how many points were accumulated; flying through hoops and collecting Blue Chips—the game’s currency of sorts—creates “links,” which allow NiGHTS to fly faster by using his dash ability. Also, acrobatics in the form of Paraloops create a portal that collects Nightmarens (enemies), Nightopians (civilians of Nightopia) and Blue Chips. After each level—seven dreams in all, divided up into about five episodes each—a new Ideya is found, and you are rewarded with new abilities for NiGHTS which turn the flying jester into a dolphin, rocket or dragon.
Unfortunately, although the story is broken up into two different dreams, and thus two sets of missions, the whole experience is over far too quickly. Each character’s dream takes only a few hours to complete, with a bulk of the time used to figure out objectives when fighting against bosses, or having to fully retry a two-part level even if you fail at the very end.
A lack of checkpoints isn’t the only misgiving of Journey of Dreams. For some reason it seems like the goal of the developers was to confuse the player by using strange radar systems, wonky camera angles or unresponsive controls. For instance, one level has NiGHTS turning into a raft to save Nightopians from a raging river. To navigate the rapids you have to tilt the Wiimote on a horizontal axis; however, no matter how far you may tilt to either side, it’s impossible to get NiGHTS to go where you want.
Unfortunately, control issues aren’t isolated incidences. The default control set-up uses the infrared capabilities of the Wiimote, allowing players to guide Nights via a pointer system. While this might have been—and actually still is—a good idea, the tracking feels entirely too slow, lose and unpolished. Luckily, you’re not forced to stick with the carrot-on-a-stick system as you can choose to use the nunchuck, classic remote or even a Gamecube controller.
The only other big misstep in Journey of Dreams, are the bland platform levels. There are only a couple of levels where NiGHT wont be present, forcing the children to navigate their own way to the goal. Missing are any sort of puzzles or enticing features which would welcome such missions.
With only a few major shortcomings, NiGHTS is actually a fairly solid title and stands out against the ever-growing catalogue of Wii shovelware. Flying after Nightmaren is fun, and will remind players why they enjoyed the original so much. With only a few exceptions, level designs are unique and, drawing on the theme of the level, throw in unexpected elements that really complete what that dream would feel like if you were flying around as a purple, gender-confused jester. The game looks good, but after seeing what Galaxy was capable of, this title looks more like an older PS2 game.
While boss battles are fairly simple and easy, each one remains imaginative and fresh. There will be times when the conventional three-hit system is used to dispatch a boss, but there are also battles that require timing to finish the level successfully.
Unmistakably, the game’s biggest asset is its musical score. The orchestrated themes are soothing, catchy and engross the player in the gameplay. Ironically, the fantastic soundtrack is contrasted against unenthused voice acting and a few audio issues—mainly found while playing as Helen—that fail to connect players with the characters.
It takes more than great music to make players want to keep playing the game, especially after a fairly short story sequence. This time around, online content has been added to the NiGHTS experience in-order to entice players back to the game even after it has been beaten. With the My Garden feature, players collect Nightopians and Nightmaren to cultivate their unique gardens with fixtures acquired from doing well in levels. These gardens can be experienced by both strangers and friends (with the ability to share items) over Wi-Fi; however, trying to connect with the latter is really hit-and-miss.
Also, multiplayer races and battles aren’t reserved for local play anymore, as both types of challenges can also be played over Wi-Fi, again, with either friends or strangers; and unlike trying to connect with strangers from My Garden, it’s actually possible to play with random people. Battles are fun but with only a handful of courses, races can become stale fairly quickly. In both cases there are no problems with lag, even when playing with someone in Japan.
In all, treating Journey of Dreams as a sequel results in a mixed-bag of emotions: many of the same elements that made the Saturn version so popular make a return, but there really isn’t any continuation of a story or much depth to make it feel like a sequel. Instead, it seems more pertinent to view the game as a new generation of NiGHTS; one which is accessible to the masses of Wii owners looking for a quality title, while also appealing to fans of the older version. A few design choices, along with empty, boring platforming stages, detract from an overall enjoyable experience. Thankfully however, the unpolished motion controls can be switched for a traditional joystick, and most of the other flaws can be over-looked. The story may not be horribly engaging, but the game is a welcome addition to the Wii.
Gameplay: 8.0
Graphics: 7.5
Audio: 7.0
Lasting Appeal: 6.5
Overall: 7.5
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