In a dream I can see...

Pros:

Innovative
Beautiful
Varied environments
 
Cons:
Load times seem slower than in the original
Graphical enhancement could be greater
Short
 

 

Background

 
 The first Nights into Dreams was a game by Sonic Team released in 1996 for the SEGA Saturn. It is considered to be one of the best games for the Saturn, and is also a game that I have been interested in for a long time, but since I've never owned a Saturn I've never had a chance to play it. Lucky for me a "remake" was released for the Playstation 2 in Japan about the same time as I went there. It is amazing to finally get to play this classic game.

 

Story: 7/10

I shall attempt to summarize the story in NiGHTS to the best of my knowledge.
 

NiGHTS into Dreams takes place in a dream world, or rather two dream worlds: Nightopia and Nightmare. The idea is that all good dreams in our world take place in Nightopia and all nightmares take place in the world Nightmare. In Nightmare there are evil creatures known as Nightmaren. One day, a powerful Nightmaren named Wiseman decide to try to conquer Nightopia with the help of magical orbs known as Ideya. Ideya are orbs of power representing such things as courage and what not. These Ideya are brought into the dream worlds through dreaming people. In order to collect the Ideya Wiseman creates two Nightmaren; "Reala" and "NiGHTS" however NiGHTS betrays Wiseman and decide to help to humans from getting their Ideya stolen.
These kids also have their own personal issues in the real world that they have to tackle as they are the triggers to their nightmares.

Graphics: 8/10

 

 NiGHTS into Dreams is a colorful game with a wide variate of nice looking environments. The character models are fairly detailed and NiGHTS animates beautifully. It provides a great sense of freedom while playing despite the fact that it's on rails. There are several tricks you can do in the air, but they don't really do much except for when you pass a special score ring. The game is appropriately dreamlike with things like flying windmills and ground both above and bellow you.
Although being a remake of such an old game you'd expect a slightly bigger graphical upgrade. But it's a small complaint.

 
 

Sound: 8/10

 

The music in NiGHTS is alright but not to memorable in my opinion. It fits the stages and the sound effects are passable though sometimes a bit strange. The lack of voice acting in cutscenes might be a good thing but it's a bit amusing that one of the characters singing sounds like a cheep synthesizer.

 
 
 

Gameplay: 10/10

  
The goal in NiGHTS is to fly around as fast as you can and collect enough blue orbs to defeat the different Ideya creatures that carry the stolen Ideya. The game is essentially on rails but you can select different paths as you go. The game is controlled in a 2D matter and allows you to fly quickly and smoothly through the levels and is very entertaining. You control NiGHTS with the left analog stick and use turbo with the X-button. You refill your turbo gauge by flying through rings. You also gain score for flying through rings and collecting points. The more you manage to get in a row the more points you get, so it may be a good idea to fly around the level until the timer almost runs out even after you've defeated the Ideya creature, before continuing to the next part of the level.
 

At the end of the level you fight a boss. The gameplay is pretty much the same but each boss require different tactics to defeat them. Take for instance the giant round clown boss thing: You have to use your turbo to grab on to it and then release it in the right moment to send it flying across the level and eventually get crushed against the wall.

The game feels arcade:y and is easy to pick up and play. It's hard to dislike it. The controls are precise and the feel is unique.
 

 

Import friendly

Since the Ps2 version of the game is a Japanese only release I guess I should talk about the import friendliness of it.
First of all you need a way play it. The easiest way is obviously to play it on a Japanese ps2, however if you don't have a Japanese ps2 and don't feel like getting one you can still get it to run on any ps2 using mod-chips or swap discs to pass the region lock which I wont get into here.
 
Once you've gotten the game to run, the rest is pretty much a peace of cake. Most of the menus are in English and the game itself is easy to play even if you can't read the instruction booklet.
 
As for the game itself you can get from import stores like playasia, or through auction sites like ebay if you don't plan to visit Japan any time soon.
 

Summary

 

  There's a lot to like in NiGHTS into Dreams. Its innovative and fun play style is great for anyone looking for something simple and a bit different. It doesn't really matter if you choose the original Saturn version or the ps2 version. The graphical enhancements of the ps2 version are nice but don't feel to important, and if you already own the Saturn version there's really no reason you should get the ps2 version unless you're a big NiGHTS fan.  Either way I had fun with it and I'm sure you will too. 
 

 

Total score: 9/10