NiGHTS: Journey Of Dreams - A Review

So, I haven't played this game all the way through yet, but I think I've played it enough to form an opinion, and from what I've seen, it's pretty cool. 

The thing that disappointed me first of all is that, unlike most SEGA games, there is no option to set the voices to Japanese in this one, which I often utilise because the English voices, particularly in Sonic games, bother me (one reason why I hope someday to own a copy of the PS3/360 version of Sonic Unleashed, which has the option of Japanese voices, a feature which the PS2 version - which I own - lacks). I later discovered this was because there ARE no Japanese voices - the game was never dubbed in Japanese, and was released in English even in its native Japan.

Still, the voices aren't TOO bad, and though it's hard to convey an androgynous personification of freedom and rebellion (or whatever NiGHTS is supposed to be), I don't think he/she (I'm just gonna refer to NiGHTS as "she" from now on since she's voiced by a girl - technically she's supposed to be androgynous but whatever) sounds that bad, even if she is British for some reason.

Will (the boy - I'll talk more about the characters later) voice acts okay, but Helen - god, she SUCKS. She literally sounds like a little girl reading off a piece of paper. No emotion, flat delivery, SAME DAMN RHYTHM ON EVERY LINE. Seriously, I think the voice acting director just brought his five-year-old daughter in and made her voice act Helen.

Reala, the "anti-NiGHTS", as it were, who is given a deep, male voice in contrast to NiGHTS's soft female voice (to emphasise the contrast between the two, no doubt) voice acts okay too, as does Wizeman, who is given a deep, sepulchral, dark-lord-esque voice. Owl (no relation to the Winnie The Pooh character), your friendly "I'm-here-to-explain-what's-going-on" character, has a charming, sophisticated, posh sort of voice which is pretty okay too. Overall, though going in with low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the voice acting - everyone except Helen does a fairly decent job.

Now let me describe the characters for you. You get the choice of being either Will or Helen at the start - both have their own stories, so it's more than just deciding whether you like playing as a boy or a girl more. I picked Helen first (because I like girls? I dunno). I later found out that Helen's story is the harder of the two, but if you play her story first, then the plot of the game makes more sense, so I guess I made the right choice.

You also have the titular NiGHTS. She's a Nightmaren (the enemies of the game) who rebelled against her creator, Wizeman, and helps out Will and Helen. She's basically the embodiment of the free spirit, flying around doing whatever she does, going wherever she wants, and not letting anything tie her down. She basically personifies what all little kids (like Will and Helen) want to be - totally free to do whatever they want, free to live life with no worries or regrets. NiGHTS (the game series), by the way, if you didn't already know, is SEGA's interpretation of the human psyche - each character and level is structured after a different part of the mind, influenced by Carl Jung's studies. NiGHTS, therefore, embodies the freedom that we all long to have.

The opposite of NiGHTS is Reala, a Nightmaren still loyal to her creator, who seeks to capture NiGHTS and bring her back to Wizeman. Reala seems to embody the archetype "The Shadow". (An archetype, if you didn't know, is a personified part of your personality that, as Carl Jung wrote, appears to you in your dreams.) The Shadow is always the opposite of whoever encounters it - thus, Reala is the opposite of NiGHTS. I was confused to hear them pronouncing the name as re-AH-la - I had always thought it should be pronounced REAL-a, as in "real", since if NiGHTS represents dreams, Reala as her opposite should resemble reality. Regardless, Reala is pretty much everything that NiGHTS isn't, both in looks and personality.

And then we have the big bossman himself, Wizeman, who seems to be an embodiment of the "Wise Old Man" archetype - in this case, a Wise Old Man gone bad. Wizeman's eventual goal is to transcend the realm of dreams and enter reality, where he will then seize control and bend reality itself to his will - the Wise Old Man archetype is known for guiding people to its will.

Last but not least is Owl, a, well, owl who serves as your guide - he tells you how to perform the game actions, gives you tips, and provides exposition when it's needed (and when NiGHTS lets him). Owl is probably a representation of inner knowledge and wisdom, providing guidance when you are lost and confused. See, even exposition characters can be symbolic.

Nightopians - These are the inhabitants of Nightopia, the world of dreams in which the game is set. They are usually happy and carefree, but the presence of the Nightmarens has made them scared. You can keep them as "pets" in an area called My Dream.

Enough about the characters, let's get on to the gameplay!

The game is divided into two types - Playing as Will or Helen, and playing as NiGHTS. While Will and Helen are able to move around freely, NiGHTS is restricted to moving left and right - but unlike Will and Helen, NiGHTS can fly. I'll explain the basic moves they can do - I haven't played Will's story yet, but I assume his moves are the same as Helen's.

Will/Helen

Move - Fairly obvious. Can move in any direction.

Jump - Again, obvious. I don't know if the same is true for Will, but Helen jumps remarkably high for such a little girl  - then again, the game does take place in a dream.

Throw - Helen and Will can throw Blue Chips (little blue orbs you can pick up around the levels) at Nightmaren (enemies) to defeat them. One hit dazes them, and if you hit them again while they're dazed, they become permanently stunned. Note that they do not actually die - symbolic, as you can never truly get rid of nightmares.

Dualise - By coming in contact with NiGHTS, they can Dualise with her, which basically means they combine their bodies with NiGHTS (quit those dirty thoughts) and gameplay shifts to you controlling NiGHTS.

Now I'll explain the controls for NiGHTS. Most of the game is spent playing as this rebel Nightmaren, which is good, because flying around is a lot more fun than running around, even if you are restricted to moving left and right.

Move - NiGHTS flies freely. She can move left and right along the X axis, and up and down along the Y-axis.

Drill Dash - NiGHTS puts on a burst of speed and spins forward. This can be used as an attack or as a speed boost, but doing it drains Dash power.

Paraloop - By flying in a circle, NiGHTS draws in nearby Blue Chips and items. This can also be used to capture Nightmarens and Nightopians, which will then be transferred to My Dream. Nightmarens in My Dream will not attack you, but they do attack the Nightopians, so be careful of that.

Acrobatic Flying - NiGHTS can do backflips and twirls. This doesn't really seem to have any useful purpose, it just makes your flying look stylish.

And now I'll explain some of the game terms and gameplay mechanics.

Nightopia - The world of dreams, the world in which the game takes place. Nightopia is created from a dreaming person's heart, which means it looks different for everyone who comes to it. Typically people who arrive there never meet each other, and after leaving Nightopia - in other words, waking up - their memories of their visit are erased.

Visitor - A dreaming human who has arrived in Nightopia. Owl will call you "Visitor" instead of by your name (whatever it happens to be) during the game. Visitors are supposed to be isolated (you can't fall asleep and go into someone else's dream, after all), which is why the fact that Will and Helen encounter each other in Nightopia multiple times is an indication that there is something special about them.

Ideya - A representation of an aspect of a Visitor's heart. Most Visitors are in possession of five Ideya - White (Purity), Blue (Intelligence), Green (Wisdom), Yellow (Hope) and Red (Courage). Unfortunately, Will and Helen's Ideya have been stolen by the Nightmaren - all except Red (Courage), which NiGHTS is particularly fond of, that being what attracted her to them in the first place. The Nightmaren steal the Ideya of Visitors, though why, I can't say yet. Pronounced ID-ee-ya, surprisingly - I had always pronounced it like ee-DAY-a.

Awakers - Each level has a time limit. If you take too long in completing it, these little ghosts will appear and chase you. They seek to drag you out of your dream, and will not go away once they've appeared. If one grabs you, it is impossible to shake off, and it slows you down - if two grab you (and there are always at least three following you) you slow down to a crawl, and if three grab you, it's Night Over (Game Over with a difference) as the Awakers drag you back to consciousness. They only appear when Will or Helen are alone - when Dualised with NiGHTS, the Awakers do not appear, possibly because NiGHTS, being a resident of Nightopia, is able to keep them there with her power - however, the NiGHTS sections do still have a time limit.

Blue Chips - These little blue orbs are scattered all over the levels. They can be used as weapons to defeat Nightmarens when playing as Will or Helen, and can also be fed to the Nightopians in My Dream.

Dreamdrops - These things power the Fountain Of Dreams (no relation to Kirby). There are 65 hidden throughout the game, and collecting them all unlocks something good.

Links - NiGHTS (and Will or Helen, to a much lesser extent) can perform Links by collecting Blue Chips or flying through rings in quick succession, building up a combo to increase her score.

Dualising - The method by which a Visitor fuses themselves with NiGHTS in order to fly around with her. NiGHTS's appearance doesn't change, and the Visitor does not appear in gameplay, though in cutscenes they sometimes appear as a kind of "ghost" semi-transparent form next to NiGHTS. An amusing thing is that they seem to affect each other, and both move in the exact same way, which has led to two funny cutscenes so far - one where NiGHTS is confidently proclaiming how she will save Nightopia, with Helen performing the same confident poses (hands on hips, nodding, etc. etc.)... while having a dazed and confused look on her face; and another with NiGHTS (Helen is not visible during this scene, but they are Dualised), normally the epitome of courage who fears nothing, cringing in terror at the sight of a Nightmaren - before declaring "It's not me, it's Helen!" when Owl asks if she's scared, at which point Helen fades into view, indeed looking terrified.

Persona Masks - These are given to you as rewards for clearing dreams (levels) completely. There are three that I know of so far. They let NiGHTS transform into different forms.

Dolphin Persona - Allows NiGHTS to swim underwater, though it's more like flying through water. She will automatically change into this one upon contact with water, and change back again once she emerges. She can apparently breathe underwater - she is a dream creature, after all.

Rocket Persona - Turns NiGHTS into a rocket. When dashing, she moves abnormally fast, but can't turn for beans. Dashing also burns her Dash power as usual, and when it runs out, she changes back.

Dragon Persona - From what I've heard it means she becomes unfettered by air currents that would normally push her around. I haven't obtained it yet so I don't know if it does anything else.

Health - Health works a bit differently in this game to most in that you don't have any. The only thing you have to worry about is time - when you get hit (whether playing as NiGHTS or Will/Helen), 5 seconds is automatically knocked off your time, and you lose a few more as your character is stunned and takes a second or two to right themselves. So a mission is really only failed if you run out of time.

Ranks - You get a rank, à la Sonic games, after every level, from E (worst) to A (best). It's mostly based on your score and remaining time. Unlike Sonic games, NiGHTS and Will/Helen don't really have much to say about their ranks, and do the same victory pose no matter what rank you got.

So, what do I think of the game? Well, first I have to say flying around as NiGHTS is very fun. Playing as Will or Helen alone is not so fun, though thankfully, you don't have to do that very often, and when you do, the levels are usually short. I find the time limit somewhat constrictive - the levels are beautiful and I would really like the freedom to be able to just fly around and explore without having to race because the clock is ticking. Regardless, it keeps the game fast-paced, and like I said before, playing as NiGHTS is uber-fun. In fact I think the side-scrolling thing actually makes it MORE fun somehow.

The graphics are wonderful, very nice to look at, though Will and Helen seem to have heart-shaped pupils for some reason - I don't know if it's just my imagination or not. Most of the cutscenes are rendered in normal game graphics, which are pretty nice, but when you do get an FMV, it's a real treat.

The voice acting is good, like I said before. Though I was disappointed at the lack of a Japanese dub, I find the English voice acting actually decent, apart from Helen, but thankfully - and somewhat surprisingly - she doesn't really talk that much.

One last thing, for anyone who's planning on getting the game, I have one piece of advice for you - FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THE GODS IN THE PANTHEON, USE THE CLASSIC CONTROLLER OR GAMECUBE CONTROLLER. It's SO much better and SO much more user-friendly than the Wiimote. I tried both out and found the GameCube controller worked MUCH better than the Wiimote.

Finally, I never had the privilege of owning a SEGA Saturn, so I've never played the original game, NiGHTS Into Dreams... (note there is no : in the title, and yes, the ... is part of the title as well), but I've heard nothing but good things about it, so give that a shot if you get the chance.

Also, last but not least, note how NiGHTS is spelled. Capitals apart from the letter i. Not Nights, or NIGHTS, or even NIGHTs. NiGHTS. And yes, that is how it's spelled even in the ingame subtitles and in the manual. And finally, the game is called NiGHTS: Journey OF Dreams - don't get it mixed up with the first one like I used to and start calling it NiGHTS: Journey Into Dreams or something.

That's all. Light be with you! And enjoy your next visit to Nightopia...