NiGHTS Into Dreams is one of the most innovative, creative, and entertaning games ever.
Sega knew that they had to do something in order to save the Saturn in the U.S. market. Sonic Team, who had been discussing a game revolving around dreams for some time now, had decided to make a game that would take place in the dream world. For a year, Sonic Team read up on the nature of dreams - what happenes when people dream. After their research was complete, head producer Yuji Naka decided to create a purple demon of nightmares, who would turn good against its creator. Enter NiGHTS...
Jump to July 5th, 1996. NiGHTS Into Dreams emerges on store shelves to try and save the dying Saturn. Going up against Mario and Crash, it would not be enough to revive the Saturn. But it would be a valiant effort.
Gameplay - 10/10: At the start of the game, you are asked to choose from two dreamers. Claris, the girl who gets depressed because she is shy on stage and believes that she can't sing, and Elliot, who feels bad after losing at a game of basketball against older high school students. Sleeping that night, thinking themselves failures, they run from the nightmaren, evil monsters of the dark world of Nightmare. Claris and Elliot, running from Nightmaren, find this shrine with an imprisoned acrobat named NiGHTS. When they enter the shrine, they merge with the purple acrobat, becoming it. Begin the gameplay!
In NiGHTS, there are seven levels. Three for Claris, three for Elliot, and the final level for both characters and NiGHTS. The object of each level is to collect twenty blue orbs as NiGHTS, and bring them to a place known as an Ideya Capture. After NiGHTS places the 20 orbs in the Capture, the Capture releases a type of Ideya. There are four types of Ideya: white (purity), green (wisdom), yellow (hope),and blue (intelligence). Hence, NiGHTS must get the four Ideya through four "mares", which means four parts to a level. After NiGHTS collects all four Ideya, he is transported to fight one of the boss Nightmaren. Fighting the bosses is really fun, as the gamer must find a quick way to beat the enemy (as NiGHTS, you are timed to complete a level; each time you complete a mare, time is added). During gameplay, NiGHTS can perform all kinds of moves, and the more rings and stars you fly through, the higher the score. At the end of a level, you are given a grade based on your overall score, from A to F. To move on to the end of the game, the gamer must get a C or better on all previous levels. As you fly through rings and stars and coins, a "link" appears, and the longer you can go through rings without stopping, the larger the link, and the bigger score you get. As well as being NiGHTS, if you fail to destroy all the Ideya Capsules in the level in time, NiGHTS dissapers, and you are forced to be Claris or Elliot to destroy the rest of the Captures. As the humans, you can explore the level's environment, which is pretty neat, and gives you a happy feeling. If you are caught by a Nightmaren alarm egg, you will be forced to wake up, ending the game. There is also a 2-player mode that allows two people to battle it out.
Graphics - 8/10: NiGHTS... Into Dreams has extremely good 3D graphics, despite the Saturn being referred to as the "Ultimate 2D System". NiGHTS destroys the graphics of any Playstation game ever created, except for Resident Evil 2. This is a big statement, but I firmly believe it is true. The character models look like they could fit on the Nintendo 64, and the environments of the levels will make you say, "wow" the first time you play it. NiGHTS itself/himself/herself looks beutiful as well. The only thing here is that I am not reviewing this game as if it were 1996.
Sound - 9/10: The sound in NiGHTS is absolutely phenominal! When you jump as Claris or Elliot, their voices sound life-like. As NiGHTS goes through rings, collects stars, blows up Ideya Capsules etc, the sound effects fit the musical tone. Speaking of the music... the music is one of the best features of the entire game. Each song fits the level's action, and the music tone changes as you help or hurt the natives of the good dream world, of Nightopia, Nightopians. If they like you, the reward is happy music that you can practically dance to; hurt a Nightopian, and the music gets depressing. To date, this is the only game where the music switches according to your actions. It's a cool feature. Arguably, most say the best song is the ending credits song, "Dreams, Dreams", in which kids sing about love and friendship. It's really cute! Get all A's in the levels, and you can choose adults to sing the credits, although the kids sing it better. As stated, the music in this game is nearly flawless.
Value - 10/10: With the fantastic environments, great enemies, a well-done A-Life system reminiscent of Sonic Adventure's Chao's, and the tendency for people to try and beat their previous high scores, NiGHTS Into Dreams will have you coming back for more. And more. And more.
Tilt - 10/10. What other game in history has you fly around as a purple demon, in dreams, with tons of acrobatic moves, changing music tones, and a cool A-Life system? As well as a kids' song that kicks ass? None. A true creative masterpiece.
If you kept your Saturn (if you ever had one), and had NiGHTS, then you know how great this game is, that a score is reatively meaningless, although Gamespot requires one. This game must be experience to see its true beauty.