NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

For 12 years, gamers recalled Sega’s aerial adventure NiGHTS Into Dreams as a teenager might recall their first masturbatory experience: an exciting and somewhat sacred advent through ecstasy that leaves the desire to one day recapture such epic glee. Essentially, Sonic the Hedgehog set in flight, NiGHTS came to be a blissful memory for serious gamers in 1996, too enjoyable to fade into extinction though too obscure to merit mainstream glorification.

For 12 years, gamers recalled Sega’s aerial adventure NiGHTS Into Dreams as a teenager might recall their first masturbatory experience: an exciting and somewhat sacred advent through ecstasy that leaves the desire to one day recapture such epic glee. Essentially, Sonic the Hedgehog set in flight, NiGHTS came to be a blissful memory for serious gamers in 1996, too enjoyable to fade into extinction though too obscure to merit mainstream glorification.

Now, after more than a decade of gamers plying Sega for a sequel, they’ve given in and created NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for Nintendo’s Wii. The mechanics of flying around, collecting orbs and solving puzzles haven’t changed much since the last title, and the concept is nothing if not borrowed from its predecessor. There’s a young child who dreams a scary dream and escapes the terror by entering Nightopia, a world rife with sleepy-time baddies and areas to explore by gliding through the air as the titular character, an androgynous jester dubbed Nights.

The controls for the first title, developed on the Sega Saturn, weren’t close to adequate for modern gaming, especially for the motion-sensitive Wii Remote. Gamers can use one of three methods to control Nights in his or her flights, either using the control stick alone to aim Nights’ flight, a nunchuck swivel stick to move Nights by directional joystick, or a Wii Classic Controller to control Nights as a Super Nintendo character.

The control variety doesn’t mask the generally dodgy controls, however. Moving the character is effectively a flight-on-a-rail scheme, meaning plenty of frustration when you want to move along a depth axis, not just vertically and horizontally. The game also offers slim pickins when it comes to actions, limiting most of the control to acrobatics that, though neat to watch, achieve nothing. Past that, there are about three effective moves for eradicating enemies and eschewing obstacles in any given level, creating a level of drab dullness as yet unrealized by Wii controls.

The human dreamers, the ostensible main characters of this title, are children who speak in mildly English accents that sound like a Midwesterner’s idea of Bristol tongue. The boy is named Will, and he is a stereotypical suburban boy, playing soccer and rocking some short brown hair and cargo shorts. The girl character, Helen, plays a violin and wears a modern ponytail style to offset her Elizabethan coat and leggings. Both have blue eyes, breathy voices and zero character inspiration-nothing about either is remotely surprising or engaging, and their fears and elations are tragically predictable.

Their stories both revolve around “dualizing with Nights,” a process wherein their dream selves combine with the androgynous jester as a means to achieving flight. They then work through levels of chasing down “Nightmarens,” the forces of evil that plague Will and Helen’s nocturnal playgrounds. Levels eventually close with a boss battle that demands heightened deductive logic over the preceding level, and each new completion brings Nightopia closer to serenity. Occasional mini-games pepper the progression, and each merit about 15 to 20 minutes of re-playability. Certainly, it’s no Mario Party up in here, but the occasional variation to game play is nice.

The saddest point about Journey of Dreams is its in-game graphical presentation. The game looks and renders almost exactly like a Dreamcast title, the last console Sega developed. Maybe they haven’t upgraded since the days of Virtua Fighter 3: Team Battle, or perhaps it’s homage to the graphics of the original NiGHTS, though no explanation excuses this gaudy presentation.

The best point about the game is the soundtrack. Though the voice acting needs some work, and though you’ll wish for the teacher-like and aptly named Owl be cut down in a burst of 10-gauge birdshot, the musical effort is superb. A blend of orchestral and ambient work, the sound alone becomes a reason to play on, as you’ll want to hear the next piece of music offered by each new level.

All things said, the NiGHTS franchise should have never come to fruition. Sega would have done better to keep it to a single title that basks in the warm glow of good memories, rather than contrive this title and leave gamers wanting more. Alluding to my opening metaphor, this game is how a teenager might recall the loss of their virginity: an awkward mess of discomfort, grimaces and bad timing followed by avoiding each other the next day.

The game is decent overall, and if it weren’t a sequel but rather a new title, perhaps the game would have fared better. As it stands, there just isn’t enough tangible upgrade to make this game worth more than a rental, proving yet again that great games must be built on more than novelty.