In NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, there is an alternate universe within every human; a kind of parallel dimension forged by our experience, our memories, our doubts, our fears, or more simply by our subconscious. This place, a reflection of our hearts, has a name: Nightopia. If once plunged into sleep everyone has access to it, few are the spirits strong enough to be able to explore it. Indeed, the durability of this World of Dreams is ensured by the continual existence of the Ideyas, these luminous manifestations of the values that our hearts carry. Obviously, these passports to the World of Dreams are constantly threatened, and despite their weaknesses, Will and Helen are among the privileged visitors. Having courageously resisted the sordid onslaught of Nightmarens - creatures responsible for turning a dream into a nightmare - our young heroes will be able to take off on an introspective journey that will restore their Nightopia.
dream party
Takashi Iizuka and the Sonic Team being visibly aware of the high expectations for this sequel, it is with minimal risk taking that they set to work on one of the most anticipated titles by the Sega community. It indeed seemed difficult to satisfy a demanding niche with a completely original concept, the scope of which would have been uncertain among purists. This is why the gameplay that many expected to be revolutionary, with the help of the Wiimote, is in fact only a copy of the basic concept that appeared in 1996. Remember for those who missed the boat that NiGHTS is a long aerial, dreamlike ride , albeit a little silly, during which you have to complete different mission objectives. In this regard, gossip may tax Journey of Dreams by Wiimake, which is not entirely false, but the Sonic Team has made efforts to increase diversity in this half-suite. Finished the simple race for Ideyas – which didn't quite have the same role as here – and make way for a bit of extra audacity. During the same dream crossed, you will never fly behind the same objective, which is a nice surprise for connoisseurs of the original opus. The first minutes are made of a pleasant rediscovery of this atypical game design, where we are now asked to deliver a NiGHTS trapped by Nightmarens, to chain the links or to collect various things in particular; unfortunately the pleasure of this new variety quickly gives way to a certain redundancy, since each of the three dreams of our heroes are built from the same pattern, which can give a slight impression of chaining the same three times at regular intervals thing. Fortunately, flights on rails are no longer the only component of the various dreams, since we can see the appearance of real platform phases with Will or Helen in the role of the main character. Timed and rather pleasant to go through, these levels can unfortunately suffer from hazardous management of the camera, which will have the effect of annoying some of you. On the other hand, it is useless to tell you about the sequences on board the NiGHTS Boat and the NiGHTS Coaster which obviously were simply added to please the youngest.
The Science of Sleep
Technically, we regret that the quality of a Super Mario Galaxy is still an exception on Wii. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams does not really honor the artistic work carried out upstream. Even if launched at full speed, the game gives us the impression of swimming in the middle of colorful explosions with rather pleasant pyrotechnic effects, the slightest dead time or the first cut-scene that comes will quickly bring us back to Earth. Looking more closely, we quickly notice the general lack of care given to the textures which can frankly appear as coarse at certain times. Similarly, the different 3D models were apparently not created to achieve unanimity, because what could be delightful in artwork or CG is simply missed once the interactivity of Nightopia is immersed. Fortunately the World of Dreams can still be crossed pleasantly, since on the handling side, there are no surprises to report. It's simple and intuitive. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams uses in all and for all only one key in addition to the movement tool (pointer of the Wiimote – Mental Vision here – when it is used alone, or analog stick for the other configurations), which obviously makes it accessible to as many people as possible. The lucky players who have tasted the first opus will easily find their marks and the range of movements so characteristic of the twirling purple jester. Drill Dash to dash towards the Nightmarens, Paraloop to send them into the My Dream or to grab the surrounding Blue Chips. Nothing really new in short, if not the appearance of Personas, an addition whose interest may seem somewhat superfluous. Once equipped with one of its masks, NiGHTS will have additional abilities that only allowed us to overcome two bosses, which is very meager for one of the only new elements in this Journey of Dreams. Because make no mistake about it, this episode is above all an extension of Into Dreams, with always these same liberticidal rails which can unfortunately seem obsolete in our time. In the same way, the lifespan in a straight line is still just as short, count around 7 hours of play, even if the most fans know that the replay value will necessarily go through the uninterrupted search for the maximum score.
In addition to this high score race, which is definitely in vogue within the blue hedgehog firm (cf. The Club), NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams offers to extend the experience through a two-player mode. If these simple speed tests and this combat mode based on the confrontation with Reala may seem limited, they nevertheless have the merit of existing, and there is no doubt that Wi-Fi compatibility will help them find their audience. As for the A-Life system, we will not expand on the subject. Let's just specify, for those who don't know it yet, that this is yet another manifestation of the tamagochism that lives in the Japanese, and that it is possible, if your console is connected to the net, to visit the My Dream (name given to the garden which welcomes all the beasts) from all over the world. Unfortunately, the debug version provided by Sega did not allow us to connect, which therefore prevents us from commenting on this option, as does the compatibility with the weather channel and the stability of the game in multiplayer.
