NiGHTS Journey of Disapointment
If your reading this, you most likely fit into one of 3 groups of people. People who know nothing of this game or its predecessor and want to know more about it, people who have played the first game NiGHTS into dreams and are eagerly awaiting a chance to play it’s sequel NiGHTS Journey of Dreams, and people who have already played it and are looking for that rare consoling voice on the intertubes.
For those in group one, this game will only entertain you if you happen to be about six. If you don’t happen to be six (and happen to have any sense of what a decent game should be) there are better games out there for you to enjoy like the first NiGHTS. Of course, playing that would require access to a Sega Saturn, so make haste to your local retro game geek with an offering of Mountain Dew and enjoy a few hours of bliss as you are catapulted into a delightful and colorful world of imagination and fantastic gameplay.
For those hopeful souls in group two, NiGHTS 2 may very well bring an end to any joy that had yet to be scrubbed out by Sonic Team’s recent releases. Your happy memories of the original game will shine out in sharp relief as your dreams of a good sequel and the possible redemption of Sega and Sonic Team are shattered on the jagged edges of bitter cold reality.
The truth of the matter is that for me (and most likely for you as well in the near future if you don’t take this review seriously), the poor quality, poor story telling, poor gameplay, and voice overs that make me want to bludgen the sides of my head till I can’t hear the horrible dialogue anymore make this game a pain to play if you don’t know it’s predecessor, and a real deal breaker with Sega if you do. Sonic Team’s rapid decline into mediocre oblivion seemed to happen between Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Since then, its games like Shadow the Hedgehog that have defined the magnitude of the suck coming out of Sega these days and NiGHTS JoD is just adding to the volume.
For us who know the series, there are a few perks though. While I can only say that the design is unimaginative compared to the first game it still gives off the same feeling flying through fantastical worlds as before, although perhaps a little less graceful with movement. The trouble is that they have taken this good thing that they reproduced fairly well, and buried it with gimmicks and pointless challenges. Since reality and the dream world are both on the brink of destruction why is it that I have to waste valueable time that could be spent throwing beach balls at Reala, or collecting 50 tiny impossible to see hidden teardrops, chasing ofter an octopus trying to make a high score? This game has an epic storyline in it, but the characters jump from a dark forshadowing in one level, to the beginning of another which will have the characters laughing merrily chasing after that damned Octopaw as if Wiseman had not just a few seconds ago threaten all of their lives.
Another thing that gets me is the way the game appears and carries itself visually. While the cut scenes always impress me with their stunning detail and design, the in-game graphics make me wonder if they originally built the game to be released on the Dreamcast. I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something, misshapen about NiGHTS’ head compared to the high resolution model. Even more distracting from this is the poor motion capture acting. I thought Sega had learned from the Sonic Adventure mistakes that when you try and motion capture a human and have that animation attached to an armature whose proportions are greatly different, it doesn’t function very well. I find myself often wondering if I have accidentally picked up the wrong game and am playing NiGHTS Journey of the Spaz Prone Bobble-head People. Somebody needs to fire the in-game motion capture guys, and pay the cut scene guys some overtime.
For those of you in group three, and know all of these things already, you have my deepest condolences. I too expected wonders and got drivel. Perhaps its time for us SEGA fanboys to hang up our hopes for good new games, grab our Genesis controllers, and enjoy the good times.
Tags: game, nights journey of dreams, review