Now that I'm somewhat able to play games on PC again, I have made a list of Steam games to play/replay and talk about here. Today, I checked this game off the list. BACKGROUND:
I don't really know anything about NiGHTS, other than I've seen the main character before. As I've mentioned before, I didn't have the chance to get into Sega back when they still made consoles, so the most I know about games like this is that they exist. In short, this is pretty much a blind playthrough. PLOT: NiGHTS mostly takes place in the dream world, which is split into two parts: Nightopia and Nightmare. Wizeman the Wicked, who is the ruler of Nightmare, is attempting to conquer Nightopia, and he does so by taking the energy of dreaming humans. He also creates a bunch of beings called Nightmaren to further his cause. One such Nightmaren, named Nights (the purple elf-genie thing), opposes Wizeman, and is imprisoned as a result. Two teens, Elliot and Claris, eventually end up in Nightopia after going to sleep one night. There, they free Nights, who briefs them on the situation. Together, they journey through Nightopia in an effort to stop Wizeman. The game doesn't really tell you all of this, as the cutscenes don't show 100% of what's going on (and also don't have dialogue). Despite having to piece most of it together myself, I found the story charming, if a little derivative ("kids spirited away into another realm and are tasked with saving it" isn't exactly breaking new ground in the screenwriting department). You also don't really get to know Nights or Wizeman, but Elliot and Claris at least have some nice character moments at the end. PRESENTATION: The neat thing about the Steam version of this game is that you can choose to play it with the original Sega Saturn graphics (which, like most games in that time period, featured low-poly 3D models) or the touched-up HD remaster, which has more polished models and cleaner textures. Regardless of which one you pick, the overall style is lovely, with its cartoony (and rather inspired) character designs, vibrant colors, and truly dream-like level designs. If there's one thing that really captivated me about this game in terms of presentation, it's the music. As I said, I pretty much went into this blind and with little expectations, so I was blown away by how amazing the soundtrack was. Most of the tracks are an absolute delight to listen to, and complement the dream-world setting of the game. Some of the tracks were also surprising in terms of style, as a couple have elements of jazz to them. There are tracks with vocals, too. GAMEPLAY: At first glance, NiGHTS looks like one of those 3D platformers. While the game is in 3D, most of its gameplay is actually in a fixed side-scrolling 2D perspective. There are moments where you control a character like you would in a proper 3D platformer, but these sections are pretty much negligible in the grand scheme. In the level select, you have the option to select either Elliot or Claris's levels. They each have three unique levels (with one unlocked as you clear them), while their respective final levels are exactly the same. I like the idea of each character having their own set of unique levels, but it's a shame that there are so few of them to actually play. Each level starts off with you controlling either Elliot or Claris in a 3D space. I said that this was negligible, and that's because the only point of it is for you to walk into the designated area to start the actual game. I fail to see the point of this, as there's nothing to really explore, and you can't progress at all in these sections. That said, the fact that the 3D sections don't really amount to much doesn't ruin the game at all for me. Once you walk into the designated area (which usually looks like this gazebo thing), you enter the actual game and control Nights. As Nights, you fly freely through fixed paths, which is where the "side-scroller" aspect comes in. Though your movement is limited to the x and y-axis, the camera does utilize the third dimension as you move, giving you the feeling of flying in a 3D space. I can only describe the feeling as simultaneously liberating and limiting. Flying itself feels really good, but the fact that I'm restricted to the 2D plane is rather jarring. The object of these flight sections is to collect 20 blue orbs, which you have to deposit into special receptacles to make them explode (there's a story explanation for what this means, but I don't actually know what that is). You have two minutes to get this done; if you fail, Nights falls down and you return to the aforementioned 3D platformer mode, where all you have to do is walk back to the gazebo thing to repeat the process. By the way, the game doesn't exactly tell you that this is what you should be doing. It took me a good three minutes flying around like an asshole to figure out the objective. Each level has you collect 20 orbs four times. On each iteration, the path you fly through is different, with unique layouts and everything. What makes it interesting is that you can clearly see that all the elements of each path exists in the same space, as you can see them while flying (though you're not necessarily able to interact with objects in other paths). It helps make the level feel really populated, but it does make things confusing at times because of the fixed 2D movement. There were a number of instances when I couldn't tell whether the thing in front of me was just in the foreground/background or actually in my immediate path. Nights doesn't have much to them in terms of controls. You have full range of motion with the analog sticks, and you have a move called a Drill Dash which both propels you forward and destroys objects/enemies. You can also do loops in the air, which is actually useful, as they collect nearby items for you and kill nearby enemies. There's also the ability to do acrobatic maneuvers, and they're purely just for style points. Each level has a ranking system from A to F, determined by your score total. Points are earned by collecting orbs, stars, flying through rings, and chaining all three in quick succession for extra combo points. These rankings only matter for unlocking both Elliot and Claris's final levels, as you need to get at least a C in all three of their respective levels. Other than that, there's no sense in building up score unless you're a leaderboard chaser. Many of the individual paths of each level have unique mechanics or gimmicks to them, like bars you can swing around on, or water bubbles that launch you in a direction. A few kick it up a notch by throwing you into a section that completely alters the perspective, or even put you in a mini-game situation. Notable examples of this are the snowmobile/sledding section in the winter level, an underwater section where Nights transforms into a mermaid, and a vertical climbing section where you're spiraling around a tower. After you've successfully collected orbs in a level four times, you are thrown into a boss fight. Most of these fights are simple, as all you have to do is avoid the few attack patterns they have, and Drill Dash into them. Despite being on the simpler side, I enjoyed a lot of these fights, as the bosses looked cool, they had fun set pieces and tend to have the best music in the game. The only thing that stifled my enjoyment somewhat is the time limit. Getting hit slashes five seconds off your clock, and if it runs out, it's game over. That means you have to play the entire level from the beginning (which means collecting orbs all over again) just to get back to the boss. This didn't happen often, but I was certainly annoyed the few times it did. This version also comes with Christmas Nights, which is an extra side story set during Christmas (duh). It features a redesigned Spring Valley (the first level of Claris's route in the main game), with all the visuals and objects replaced to fit the Christmas theme. Even Nights is wearing a Santa outfit. Overall, this is a short romp (you simply play the level twice to see the ending), but the Christmas aesthetic was lovely, and they went all in on the holiday music. There's also something called the Nightopian Collection. At first glance, it looks like a Tamagotchi-type mini-game where you try and keep the little critters happy and try to hatch new ones from eggs. I didn't understand it at all, so I left it alone, but I thought I should mention it here. VERDICT: At first, I found NiGHTS confusing with the way it presented (or not presented) its story, its handling of 3D visuals, and the fact that the objective isn't explained. But as soon as I figured out what was going on, I immediately got really into the game, and had a lot of fun flying through the levels, taking in the pretty visuals, and listening to the amazing soundtrack. It's really a shame that it's a less than 5-hour game, because I was enjoying the experience quite a lot. Despite a few personal gripes and the initial confusion, I thought that NiGHTS was an overall fantastic game. I'm not really sure if NiGHTS Into Dreams is a widely-beloved classic or a forgotten gem that reached cult status, but either way, I think it's well worth playing. I would probably go as far as to assert that it's an "essential" game that must be played at least once, on the account that it's one of the games the Sega Saturn is known for. However, with the way some things like plot or gameplay are conveyed (or not conveyed), and the confusing nature of the 2D gameplay in 3D environment, it may not be a game for everyone. I do implore anyone who does give the game a try to stick with it; I wasn't sure of it myself at first, but I ended up loving it after giving it some time. Once you figure it out, I think this is a game that can be enjoyed casually by people of most (if not all) skill levels. Download NiGHTS Into Dreams on Steam (hey, that rhymed): https://store.steampowered.com/app/219950/NiGHTS_Into_Dreams/ Here's the game's incredible soundtrack on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5W0dn1iXZ4xxiBo5mqSttq - end -
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
June 2024
Derryck
|