Sometimes you have to be reminded of your roots to realize that there is more to games than just flashy explosions and blood soaked chainsaws. I highly recommend getting this title the next time you have the chance. I seriously doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Here's the deal: Nights: Journey of Dreams is bad. but it's the best bad game you will ever play. Yes, the acting is horrible, and yes, the animation constantly dips into the uncanny valley. These would normally break a game, But because Nights is already so bizarre to begin with, all these flaws become endearing. I don't find the occasional clunky platforming section frustrating. I don't find it offensive that the antagonist is Jewish(No really, Wise-man is a Jewish surname). They're all just addatives to the pot of crazy that is Nights. And because none of this actually ruins the core of its fun(if stiff) gameplay, It's all the best parts of playing a bad game without the bad stuff. So If You're looking for a 2 hour drug drip, Nights is the game for you.
P.S. Sega, I hope you kept the guy who made the bosses around, because they are legitimately terrifying.
First thing's first. I HATE the majority opinion of this game. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the greatest games on the Wii. I'm a Sonic fan more than anything and this beats every Sonic title on the Wii for me. Secondly, just because I disagree with your opinion or I'm not as old as you, doesn't mean you should completely disregard my opinion, at least hear me out.
Right, starting with the story. It features two children, William Taylor and Helen Cartwright, and follows their journey through the magical world of Nightopia, a world created by dreaming humans who travel to the Night Dimension while they are asleep. There they meet a wise owl, creatively named "Owl" who tells them about the Night Dimension and the Ideya every human possesses when traveling there. Every visitor to the Night Dimension has a total of 5 Ideya and these are usually stolen by Nightmaren from the evil counterpart of Nightopia, Nightmare. They then meet NiGHTS, a genderless, carefree, jester-like being who allows visitors to Dualize with him/her and fly. From there, they discover that Will and Helen still possess the Red Ideya of Courage and this creates a door to Nightopia, a world created as a reflection of the visitor's heart. This means that Nightopia is different for every visitor. Once entering this Nightopia, NiGHTS is imprisoned by Reala, a henchman Nightmaren created by Wizeman, ruler of Nightmare. Will and Helen can use their Ideya of Courage to temporarily Dualize with NiGHTS and unlock the cage he/she is trapped in. I won't say anymore as it would ruin too much but all in all, this game has a very original storyline and, based on what you've read, you can come to a conclusion on whether or not this is your sort of thing or not.
As with most Wii games, the control scheme can be very....awkward. I, personally, don't enjoy the strange control schemes the Wii usually has to offer although most games do provide either Classic Controller or GameCube Controller support as backup and this one is no exception. The full list of control schemes for this game are: Wii Remote alone, Wii Remote and Nunchuck, Classic Controller and GameCube Controller. This means there's a choice for everyone to become comfortable with the one they choose and nobody can complain about not having the correct peripheral to play the game. There is, however, a problem I should address with all the control schemes using an analog stick...8 directions only. The analog stick only lets you move in 8 directions which feels incredibly restricting compared to the 360-degree movement of the original Saturn analog stick. However, hardware limitations aside, the game is still more than playable and there's also the Wii Remote control scheme available (though I wouldn't recommend it).
Additionally, addressing the hardcore NiGHTS fans, I want to explain something. The original NiGHTS into Dreams... was a fantastic game and, don't get me wrong, it IS better than Journey of Dreams although not by a huge amount. However I do think that, seeing as the original came out when we, or you, were much younger, we saw it as a much more magical and immersing experience as opposed to being newly introduced to something as an adult. The original, even with it's hardware limitations, still managed to create a beautiful and magical world and I think that Sonic Team have done their best with the hardware the Wii has to offer to do the same with Journey of Dreams. The slowdowns are a downside but you have to sympathize, the game was moved over from the Xbox 360 and PS3 to the Wii late in the development of the game so they did what they could, keeping a nice balance between aesthetics and performance. Moving onto the voice acting, **** it's not great. Not terrible, but not great. It's certainly got a cheesiness to it. I mean, this IS partially to do with the writing but still, I suppose they did what they could with the fact they had to take a game with no major story and no dialogue and turn it into a game driven by storytelling and dialogue filled cut scenes. Owl and Reala have to be my favorite voices purely because of how convincing they are as both a wise owl and an evil jester...thingy...respectively. As for NiGHTS' voice, while I think I would prefer it if he/she didn't have one, the one they chose wasn't too bad, and I suppose they HAD to chose one given the story driven nature of the game. Personally, I would have preferred it if Sonic Team took the "Nintendo" approach and let all dialogue be text based and all character emotions be visual.
I would definately recommend those who haven't played the first NiGHTS to check it out and for those who have, give this a try, I'm sure you'll like it. If you've already played this game, play it again and give it another chance. C'mon, it's not that bad. :D
The most mixed bag on Wii. A few perfect moments make for an essential rent (especially at only five hours long), but the massive dips in quality will spoil it for many.
Moments that recall the sparkling brilliance of NiGHTS Into Dreams are, of course, scattered throughout this Wii sequel but they are buried beneath so much filler. [Feb 2008, p.126]
This eeks out the suspicion that Sega may have cared about NiGHTS at one point in its development, but by putting it on the Wii they sacrificed its strongest points-a good solid control scheme, and what could have been an even prettier and better-sounding game-for something much weaker as a final product.
Don't play this game with a Wii remote, use the classic or GameCube controller instead. This game has some of the best music I've ever heard in any game, and even though some of the acting is abysmal, each level has something to offer in its own unique way, including the maze levels. It really does feel like a journey of dreams rather than a so-called sequel to NiGHTs, and that's okay because what it does in that area it does spectactularly.
This game is a near-perfect sequel to the original NiGHTS into Dreams game on the Sega Saturn that revolutionized the action-adventure genre. Asides from the slightly stiff controls (which you can easily adapt to over time), it puts a greater emphasis on story than the original game, redesigns the characters (to both good and negative effect), and a banging soundtrack. Its cinematic cutscenes, the "My Dream" Nightopian equivalent to the Chao Garden of Sonic Adventure 2, branching storylines, and all aforementioned features make this one of Sonic Team's best releases of 2007, perhaps of all time.
Nights is definitely a nice experience, but as a game that is focused in dreamy visuals, it doesn't bring them always in the best quality. The gameplay itself is simple but fun to play around flying and enjoying the view at the same time, plus all the collecting. Even though it has a few flaws in his level design here and there. But the main problem with Nights is that once you went through the ride, there is not much to make you come back to it., because it's not as exciting as it could have been.
No where near as magical as the original, the entire game feels rushed. The Graphical presentation aside from boss encounters feels and looks like that of Sonic Heroes and Shadow the hedgehog, both of which were developed by Sonic Team USA. It's a very heartwarming game to go through the lives of these children and enter the world of dreams where they can escape it all. But engaging in pointless and uninteresting platforming with children that move more like robots in-game is nothing short of disappointment. It surely isn't the classic, but it's still very playable, and a small breather for hopefully a new installment that can play the worthy successor role.
SummaryAs a fantasy jester called NiGHTS, experience a heightened sense of gliding, spiraling, and looping through seven extraordinary worlds of Nightopia where the ocean resides in the sky and glass-formed cliffs overlook a castle of mirrors. When the "Nightmarens" from the neighboring dark world of Nightmare infiltrate the idyllic Nightopia, ...