NiGHTS into Dreams...

Like many people, my age, my first interaction with the Nights franchise was the cameo in Sonic Adventure. As a kid, I had no idea what the heck a Nights was and why the music was so goddamn good. Most of my life later and I finally got around to playing the original game and it was better than I expected. Not only is it incredibly charming with its brightly colored levels and amazing soundtrack but the gameplay, even without a tutorial, is quick to pick up on and very satisfying to get the hang of. Mastering the movement to the point where you can quickly guide through the levels was a very magical moment experience.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone as I feel it encapsulates a time when games weren't bogged down by all the changes in the industry over the past years. Despite its short length, the game captures childlike wonder in a way that leaves me smiling every time I play it. It really is something special.

You play as two different children, Claris and Elliot, whose stories intersect. They enter the dream world of Nightopia and meet the jester-like creature known as NiGHTS. Apparently Nightopia is under attack by the Nightmarens, led by the evil Wizeman.

The game has no tutorial, so you only have a vague idea what to do by going into the menu and reading the How To Play section.

In each level, NiGHTS is imprisoned so you climb into the cage and dualise (fuse) with NiGHTS, he then can escape and begin flying. NiGHTS can only move in a 2D plane (up/down, left/right) and moves in the 3rd dimension automatically; so it feels on-rails. The camera is a bit too zoomed in for my liking, so you don’t get a good view of your surroundings.

The levels are basically circuits but you can go either direction. Your aim is to collect a set number of orbs then return to deposit them. There are 4 sections, with the environment changing in each.

After the four sections, you move onto a boss stage. If you defeat them, then you clear the stage, otherwise all your previous hard work is worthless. The bosses usually involve chasing them and ramming into them several times.

On the standard stages, you can fly through the rings to gain points. You can loop in a small circle (paraloop) to collect the orbs inside and drill dash to fly faster or attack enemies. There is no health system, so when you get hit by an enemy, you get penalised with 5 seconds. There’s not many enemies around and they generally seem passive, so I didn’t even notice them on many levels.

If you run out of time, you return to child form, and you then must collect your scattered orbs and return to NiGHTS’ cage.

You are graded on each level from A-E, and are required to rank C or above in order to play the final level and complete the game.

It's a short and somewhat shallow title; just three stages per character, plus the final stage. It is possible to finish the game in 1.5 hours if you know what you are doing.

Personally, I find it hard to recommend the game since it feels so basic, but many others seem to find enjoyment in it but I cannot see why. There’s not much substance to the normal stages or boss battles. There seems to be more focus on visual spectacle rather than gameplay which could be said about some of Sonic Team’s other work.