NiGHTS into Dreams (Nights into Dreams)

Member Name: pigeon_of_doom

Product:	Nights into Dreams
Date:	15/06/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic soaring gameplay, brilliant music, great art style, a lot of replayability

Disadvantages: Short, poor graphics, clunky ground sections

Despite the appeal of other desires like immense riches, good health, time travel or carnal pleasures amongst many others, I'm sure nearly all of us have idly daydreamed of taking to the skies like Peter Pan at one point or another. Sonic Team's 1996 Saturn game, NiGTS, set out to allow the player to recreate those gravity-defying exploits at an exhilarating speed in a dream-land even more magical than Neverland.

Of course, such an unrealistic premise requires some justification. However, Sonic Team managed to abdicate all logical obligations with the masterstroke of setting the game in the wildly imaginative dream-land of Nightopia. Despite the game's arcade stylings, there's a slightly more involved plot than may be expected. It's a short and sweet story of how two 14yr olds overcome their individual confidence issues, their fears manifested by the world threatening plot of a zany villain resident in the world of dreams. Wizeman the Wicked's sinister plot to gather dream energy, and Claris and Eliot's alliance with the enigmatic, androgynous flying jester, NiGHTS, (only made possible due to their possession of the red dream energy of courage...obviously) sounds trite - and it is. It gives a motivation to the gameplay, but somehow makes the game overall a much more satisfying, moving experience than it has any right to be.

Reality already ignored altogether; Sonic team took the opportunity to create a resplendent, magical world that puts Disneyland to shame. The vibrant art style is hampered by the 3-D processing limitations of the Saturn, but it mostly transcends the inferior hardware and is a much more bearable experience than many of it's contemporaries. The speed at which the player swoops through the stages shifts attention away from the graphical blemishes, the dazzling, detailed backgrounds look fine when they whizz by. The marvellous art direction does the game's graphics a lot of favours, but all excuses aside, the Saturn was not made with 3-D gaming in mind. No amount of sterling art design on the part of the developers can compensate for that. There's also a few incredibly pixelated, anime style FMVs which, while providing some remarkably effective emotive storytelling, are still very lacking compared when compared even to PsOne FMVs.

On the other hand, most of the gameplay still feels incredibly fresh and involving. Arial movement is responsive and satisfying; watching the soaring figures smoothly acting on your commands, leaving a trail of stars behind them is an incredible experience. Controlling them with the analogue stick is a joy, although it is still enjoyable with just a D-Pad.

Each character has an individual campaign made up of 3 unique levels, culminating in an identical end level. When the character lands in a dream-stage, they are robbed of all their dream energy except for the red kind denoting courage. The player is guided by an arrow above their head to an Ideya Palace where the titular jester, NiGHTS, is trapped. After merging with him, the player is free to set about recovering the orbs from Ideya Captures. Each dream is split into 4 sub-levels called 'Mares" which are cyclical paths you fly along in a 2-D plane through the 3-D environments. The player has a set amount of time (usually two minutes) to destroy the Ideya Capture holding the energy orb (one present in every Mare) and return it to the Ideya Palace, a points bonus given dependant on how quickly the Capture is destroyed. 20 of the blue chips spread around the Mare are required to overload to Capture and allow NiGHTS to retrieve the orb, but as all collectables regenerate, it's easy enough to get that amount on one or two passes. Item gathering is simple, you can just blunder into them in the usual platform style, or loop around them and you automatically capture anything caught in the arc. When the orb has been recovered, blue chips turn to gold and are worth more points, and the amount of them gathered is what your level grading is based on. I found that a rather puzzling choice, as I'd prefer for the final points tally to correspond to the final grade, rather than the amassing of a single item. It encourages the speedy recovery of the orb, possibly making it easier for players overall. After getting the orb, players are free to concentrate on gaining more points by swooping through the many hoops, collecting stars, performing tricks after triggering power-rings and defeating enemies, getting even more points if these activities are done in quick succession in a "chain". Going through hoops also charges NiGHTS' drill attack which is used for an extra burst of speed and dispatching enemies.

If time runs out before the orb is returned to the palace, the player returns to human form and plummets to the ground, scattering any collected chips on impact. This prompts a mad scramble for items before they fade away, the threatening pursuit of a surreal floating alarm clock making it even more frantic as you try to avoid being pulled out of the dream. The ground sections are certainly the worst part of the game, movement is stripped of the balletic grace of the aerial sections, and the graphics suffer when they aren't whizzing by at speed. There's scope for exploration, but it's not particularly rewarding. Fortunately, if you're good at the game, you should be able to avoid these sections completely (except for the few yards you're required to walk to merge with NiGHTS at the beginning of each dream).

The end of level bosses inhabit rather murky (but garish) conveniently enclosed arenas, sharing the same looping layout as a conventional Mare. Despite the time limit, and the usual five second deduction for every hit taken, they're extremely easy once their basic behavioural patterns are worked out. However, since there are no checkpoints between Mares, if the boss is not beaten within the time limit the player is forced to restart the entire level. Checkpoints between Mares in general could have been a welcome feature; I never found replaying the same sections to be a big problem as the basic act of play was so enjoyable, but it's an understandable complaint.

The music plays a huge part in setting the mood of the game. The sound effects are fittingly whimsical, but it's the soundtrack that you want to know about right? Each level has looping, high tempo, immaculately harmonious, yet slightly frantic songs playing throughout. Boss music tends to not be quite as memorable, but shares the similar driven, jangling style. The soundtrack leaves an indelible mark in your memory, but not a fixed one, as the game remixes the music on subsequent play-throughs. A smart move on Sonic Team's part, as the variation made sure the music didn't become too repetitive.

The incredible incorporation of the game's theme in the last level was a standout moment for me that gave that entire level an emotional resonance. Unfortunately the actual theme, when played in the ending credits was sung by some rather grating child singers which ruined it for me somewhat. I don't know if the adult version only plays if you get straight A level grades (which I didn't), but the child version was the only version on the disc when I tried using it as an audio CD. The poor singers significantly detracted from a magnificent backing arrangement.

One of the few great games on the Saturn, it sadly never really had the influence it should have. Pioneering the Chao system used in later Sonic games isn't a fitting legacy for this game's genuis. It's an utterly awe-inspiring arcade experience equally suited to those looking for a breezy glide through nocturnal plains, or those who just want to rack up their score so they can post their run through on Youtube. Of course, if you have the means to play this game, you probably already have several times. And the apparently sub-par recent Wii instalment doesn't touch the same heights that the original reached. These things make a recommendation rather hard in the absence of any adequate substitute. However, I'm happy for this to be less a consumer review, and more a eulogy to the former brilliance of a once great developer.

Summary: Fantastic fun