Journey of Dreams is no doubt fun and stylish, as well as unforgettable, but it definitely could've been better.
My dispute with NiGHTS' gender aside, my expectations for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams were pretty good. This was understandable, as I already knew of the NiGHTS series and its good reviews back on the Sega Saturn when I learned about this game. After about a week with the game, I was both delighted and disappointed with it. On one hand, I found loads of fun in the game, but on the other hand, I don't think it lived up to what Sega and my expectations promised.
STORY -- In Journey of Dreams, you take control of Will and Helen, two 12-year-olds living in the city of Bellbridge (defined by the clock tower in the center of the city.) Both characters have some sort of emotional obstacle to overcome; Will has issues with loneliness since his dad had to leave for a business trip, and Helen feels guilty about abandoning her mother for her friends all the time. During the night, they both have a nightmare that eventually leads them to the Dreamgate World, a part of the Night Dimension. There, they run into Owl (sort of the mentor in the game), and NiGHTS (in all of his freaky androgyny.) After some explanation, they are able to dualize, or share a body, with NiGHTS and can fly around as him. Using this ability, Will and Helen journey through the Night Dimension to recover their lost Ideya (pieces of their heart representing courage, intelligence, hope, and other good stuff) and defeat the evil Wizeman, the lord of the nightmarens. It's not the best story out there, but it can be engaging.
GRAPHICS -- Graphically, Journey of Dreams is a little uneven. The opening cinematic is simply amazing, and shows what the series could be like someday. In-game, however, is a different story. The character models look decent enough; Will, Helen, NiGHTS, and the residents of the 7 worlds you visit (called Nightopias) are all nicely detailed. Unfortunately, the environments look like an early Dreamcast game. Flat, stretched-out textures really shouldn't be in games anymore. Something else that stands out is that framerate-wise, the cutscenes are slower than the actual gameplay. Technically, there are few glitches or annoying aspects, and none of them will interfere with the gameplay, save for the occasional invisible wall. But where the game shines graphically is its art style. The central hub area is visually uninteresting, but every Nightopia you visit is artistically unique, and feels like a fresh new experience. These worlds include a theme park in the desert, a world made entirely of glass, and other artistically-endowed themes. Each and every world is just a blast to fly through.
AUDIO -- It seems that Sega paid more attention to the audio than the graphics; the audio fares much better. The voice-acting is OK, if a little unenthusiastic (Will and Helen tend to do half-hearted exclamations, and Owl is really quiet.) The voice-acting also helps support my dispute that NiGHTS should be a girl; he really does sound like one. The sound effects are used appropriately and help in their part to immerse you in the game, but without a doubt, the best part of the audio is the music. The opening and main theme are really well-done pieces, and it only gets better from there. The rest of the music fits nicely fits in with the worlds and help give them more personality. The music will be stuck in your head for a few days, but in this case, it's a good thing.
CONTROLS -- Before I can discuss gameplay, I have to talk about the controls. You are able to use 4 different styles of control in the game: Wii Remote, Wii Remote and Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and Gamecube Controller. First and foremost, don't use just the Wii Remote. The motion controls are god-awful. Secondly, don't get frustrated if it takes you a while to get used to whatever style you do use. Will and Helen should be fine, but NiGHTS will take some getting used to, as he controls very loose. Once you figure out the small adjustments it takes to fly NiGHTS, you should be an ace at the game in no time.
GAMEPLAY -- NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams' biggest triumphs, and unfortunately, setbacks, are all in the gameplay. The game is divided between two stories: Will's story, and Helen's. The major differences between the two are the worlds they travel through. You do get to control both of them in the central hub world, as well as a few missions (more on that later), but for the most part, you will fly around the worlds as NiGHTS, chasing nightmarens through rings and collecting blue chips. Most of the missions in the game are really fun to play, and they're all nicely varied, ranging from getting the biggest combo of links to chasing after birds to collect keys in order to free NiGHTS from a cage. In one level, you have to hit musical notes in time to a flying metronome to make good music. Missions that task you with defeating a boss all cleverly use NiGHTS' abilities in one way or the other. In one fight, you have to fly around in circles to uncover where the boss is while being attacked. Some missions, including the ones where you control Will and Helen, however, just aren't very fun. And unfortunately, the missions are the host to the biggest problem in the whole game: it's way too short. Will and Helen each only go through 3 of the worlds, which then leads to the final world, consisting of only 1 mission with no major difference between the two stories. Each world only contains 5 missions, so if you do the math, that leaves you with a grand total of only 31 missions, most of which don't even last 3 minutes. You can finish both stories in under 10 hours, and although there's some incentive to play the missions again in order to get a higher ranking on them, the only major reward you get for doing so is the privilege of playing the final world again with an extra boss fight and a sadder ending. But those hours are packed with unforgettable moments and large amounts of fun.
MULTIPLAYER -- I can't discuss the multiplayer very thoroughly, as I have no internet at home or friends who were willing to visit during the holidays, but it doesn't look that great to me. There is a 2P mode in Journey of Dreams, but it's very limited. You can choose to either race each other, or play a battle mode. The races look like fun, but the frame-rate slows down when playing even offline. I can't imagine it being any better online. In the battle mode, your goal is to throw huge balls of energy at each other until someone gets hit three times. The major problem with the battle mode is the camera focuses on the other player all the time, which makes finding a ball to throw difficult, and even if you do find one, good luck hitting the other player and not yourself. Both modes have only 3 worlds each to play in, which makes the 2P mode feel more like an afterthought. There is also the My Dream world in the single player mode. This mode allows you and someone online to wander through a personalized area filled with monsters and other Nightopia residents captured in the single player. I barely went into the My Dream world in the single player, and I don't think having someone else from the other side of the world wandering through it would make me visit it more.
CONCLUSION -- Sadly, I can only recommend NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for a rental. It's over in the blink of an eye, and there are some aspects to it that could definitely be improved, such as the graphics and multiplayer, but it's a game that you need to play for sure. It may not be the best that Sega could've done with the game, and maybe the series will achieve dream-like status one day, but NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is still a fun and memorable game that you will truly appreciate later on.