Home Games NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

Nights: JoD

Platformer
Releases: 12.18.07
Sega
Sega
ESRB: Everyone

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

Enter a NiGHTS fan’s nightmare.

by Sarah Schutz

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is the sequel to the Sega Saturn NiGHTS Into Dreams. With the Wii’s remote capabilities and (potentially) improved graphics, one would hope that the sequel would be an improvement or at least a lovable nod to its predecessor. One would hope, but be disappointed.

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams attempts to be so many things. Upon starting the game, you can choose one of two children to enter into Nightopia. The main gameplay element of the series is flying with NiGHTS through Nightopia and defeating Nightmarens, but in this sequel your gameplay time will be bogged down with fruitless plot, draining tutorials and annoying minigames that seem to be striving for variation on gameplay. After lengthy cutscenes and tutorials you (sort of) are able to start flying and get to the action. Action is a term I use loosely. After another unskippable cutscene and lengthy dialogue you are allowed some time for flying before being thrown into the next level which is usually a mundane platforming level or a nonsensical minigame that directs you to create a very large bubble. (What?)

The frustrating gameplay is only highlighted by the Wii’s controls. During your endless tutorials you are told that you can play the game with the Wii remote using the motion sensing, the Wii remote and nunchuck, the classic controller or the GameCube controller if you’re still living in the past. While the flying levels are most fun when played with the Wii remote, using the nunchuck makes navigation much easier. Mastering the Wii remote in the game can be downright infuriating. The game lacks a true understanding of 3D space, so it’s near impossible to direct NiGHTS seamlessly through the space. If you stick with the game long enough, any good gameplay levels are few and far between. If you were a fan of the original, it’s worth a shot and if you’re dying for something to play on your Wii, you could do worse. The gameplay can satisfy at times and during the lull you can at least enjoy the game’s charming soundtrack.

I want to love my Wii. I really do. I have always been a loyal Nintendo fan and will continue to be one until Mario is only a reference in the history books. But the Wii needs to get its act together. I’m not sure if third party game companies are just not finding it profitable to create games for the Wii or why the ones they do create are so lackluster, but few games are living up to the Wii’s potential as exemplified by Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario and a few of the other superstar Nintendo titles. My concern that the Wii is becoming a casual gaming rig and less of a gamer’s console is heightening. Most game energy is being placed into the 360 and the PS3, and while those consoles deserve gaming power, the Wii deserves its share of innovative attention.

Flying levels are potentially fun

Too much crap to dig through to get to the good stuff.

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