NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

"A junk food nightmare that lacks the stuff of dreams..."

Well it took about 10 years but finally the fans got what they wanted... NiGHTS into dreams finally returns to home consoles. However, many fans of the series relished this news with equal parts hesitation and glee. Could the Sega of today manage to give Nights the quality development it deserved, or would they drag the series down the same cracked road they've been pulling Sonic for several years? While Sega certainly hasn't given Nights the disservice Sonic has been on the receiving end of for years, they haven't exactly given Nights his (her?) due either...

Nights: Journey of Dreams follows the story of two 12 year olds named Will and Helen. Both characters have emotional problems that eventually lead them to their discovery of the dream world, Nightopia. Here they meet NiGHTS and learn of Wizeman's plot to once again rule the land of dreams. It's up to our young heroes and one gender confused acrobat to save the realm of Nightopia! Really the story is not Nights strong point, and in almost every scene it feels extremely rushed. The actual story really boils down to the first and last 15 minutes of the game. everything between is filler that is repeated every single stage. Nights always gets captured, some disaster always hurts the Nightopians in the area, the boss ambushed you randomly, etc. If you're expecting an epic here then you'll be disappointed. Night's story is definitely not a draw in. But hey, you didn't buy Nights for the story did you?

No, hopefully you bought it for the flight. Nights gameplay was always about one thing: The fast and frantic flying that originally made our androgynous hero so popular to begin with. While most of that idea returns with Journey of Dreams, it unfortunately does so in an extremely rough manner. Stages now consist of 5 individual missions unlike the originals one single long stage. Every level has one chase stage (chasing a bird with a key to unlock cages), one boss fight, and the rest are random missions involving platforming with the children or little mini-games. The chase levels play closest to the original game, while the rest certainly broaden the Nights experience. Nights can now also transform into three additional forms for added abilities. It's nice to see Sega tried to accomplish something with the children this time around by incorporating missions based solely on them. Unfortunately, several problems make all these experiences a bumpy ride.

The first thing is the stiff analog and awkward IR control setup. Don't even bother using the remote's pointer controls. For some reason the IR sensor lags grossly at points in this game, including even the main menus. Not to mention flying with them is unresponsive. Your best bet is to use a classic/cube controller if you've got one lying around. Otherwise stick to the nunchuck. Even then be prepared to face clumsy flying. The only way I can describe it is that it feels like you're flying with a D-Pad instead of analog. It's a shame since this breaks most of what Nights is about: fluid and fast acrobatics in the air. Even worse, it makes controlling the children a hassle as well. The camera is another point of contention. While flying you're stuck in a weird 3/4 view to Nights. This makes it tough to see exactly what's around you, and it also makes the flying controls even more annoying in places than they need to be. And if you're not using a classic controller, then good luck controlling the children. The camera is so wonky it would have actually been more successful had they attached it to an oxygen deprived monkey. Yes, 8 years after Sonic Adventure and Sonic Team still doesn't understand basic 3D camera principals. Blegh.

That's not to say everything about the gameplay is botched though. Boss fights for the most part are pretty darn fun, and there are some unique concepts here that really work. Things like paralooping to reveal a hidden chameleon behind a murky black background, or absorbing balls from a fish's body to shrink him. Some of the mini-games are also genuinely fun and add a nice extra something to the standard gameplay. Clever mission structure also lends itself to the unique objectives of certain levels... things like saving Nightopians from being sucked into a vortex or bumping bubbles into a water orb to make it larger. It's plain the scope was there, and it's a shame that the rocky control scheme and crappy physics ruin the fun of these otherwise good ideas.

Multiplayer is enjoyable for the most part. While the Battle mode is really lame, racing is actually pretty engaging. There's also a special side game called MyDream. While you play though the game you might paraloop nearby Nightopians. These will then appear inside the MyDream garden where they will promptly do... nothing. Literally. The MyDream garden grows and changes on its own without any input from you. In fact, you're not even allowed any input aside from killing any nightmarians that may be stalking your friends. All you do is lamely watch the horribly empty and ugly looking gardens change. But hey you can invite a friend into the garden too! Then you can both watch your ugly garden change together! Best of all, there is no reward for any of this and you can't communicate with your friends in any way. Yeehaw?

Past the gameplay side of Nights, its presentation unfortunately doesn't do anything extra to pull in newcomers or old fans. While the style is obviously based on the originals design, the graphics leave much to be desired. Many of the levels appear to be largely empty or consist of massive splotches of repeated textures and lack unique areas. This is weird, considering most of the boss levels appear highly detailed. The voice acting is also godawful... and since when is everyone from Japan British? Cutscenes are sadly unskipable until you've completed the level they're a part of. Weird also is how painstaking the cut scene's framerate chugs despite the gameplay itself moving along fairly smooth. Intact though, thankfully, is a wonderful music score that sits right along with the original titles. The dreamily peaceful tunes are definitely more soothing to the ears than Nights graphics are to the eyes.

So was it worth demanding a sequel from Sega for these past ten years? Yes. It's just that we now need a sequel for a sequel in order to get to the level of quality this series deserves. Journey of Dreams has the vision of a game that wanted to be grand, but sadly remains overshadowed by a game 10 years previous. A year of development time isn't really enough to make a game of this scale, and it sadly shows in every aspect of the title. Presentation values are low, controls are mucky, the game is horribly short (about 3 hours for both characters), and there's an online feature that is essentially the most pointless thing I have ever seen on Nintendo's Wi-Fi connection. It doesn't help that Sonic Team took what was a very solid gameplay concept and added to it a lot of content that actually detracts from the experience and makes it more grueling overall.

As a veteran of the original, I'm inclined to tell people to stay away. Journey of Dreams is passable as far as games go, but it's an experience that is sorely lacking in too many areas. It brings back Nights without a doubt... it just does it without any snap. And that's exactly what a game with 10 years to rest should have had. Save your money and import the re-make of the original appearing on the PS2 this February. Or buy the game and hope with all your might that it encourages Sega to create a far superior sequel. Either way veterans will probably find this game to be a heartbreaking, disappointing return, and meanwhile it'll just confuse newcomers as to why Nights was so damn great. Thanks for granting our wishes after all these years Sega. but next time try to treat our dreams with a little more care.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/25/07, Updated 12/29/07

Game Release: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (US, 12/18/07)