A gem from a bygone era of gaming that wins you over with it's originality and charming design. The gameplay isn't always the easiest thing to get into. It's unique style of on-rails score hunting and exploration suffers from dated controls and surprisingly demanding requirements in place to end up with a good level rating. Nothing is explained going into it, so this is very much a learnA gem from a bygone era of gaming that wins you over with it's originality and charming design. The gameplay isn't always the easiest thing to get into. It's unique style of on-rails score hunting and exploration suffers from dated controls and surprisingly demanding requirements in place to end up with a good level rating. Nothing is explained going into it, so this is very much a learn as you go experience. However, it you take the time to learn all of it's intricacies, NiGHTS can prove to be a very rewarding game. It's just not going to grip everyone.
Racing the clock through different paths and trying to get as many points as possible can be quite fun when you aren't actually trying to win. The game's relaxing soundtrack, colorful graphics, and charmingly bizarre style makes it seem more accessible than it actually is. The boss battles are also exciting, if outright cryptic the first time through. One you realize that those final levels require you to hit a certain rating in each of the previous stages before you can unlock them, some of the enjoyment is sucked out of the experience. Getting higher scores and better end of level rankings requires more strategy than one would think. Memorizing the best paths and making the most out of the time limit is the name of the game. Unfortunately dated design and an unreliable control scheme make that much more of a pain than it needs to be. While I did find this to be an amusing experience, I was not enthralled enough with it to truly take the time to master it. I was perfectly happy with the hour or so it took me to get through the base stages (it's a very short, content lite game`).
Fans and newcomers alike are sure to find the inclusion of the Christmas level to be a real treat. One of my favorite things in this remaster was the option to play through the game with the original graphics or the newly updated ones. While the remastered visuals are crisper and easier on the eyes, the original look of the Sega Saturn's have their own appeal. So there's a little something extra here for those who are looking to revisit and old classic or those trying out the game for the first time.
So after all these years NiGHTS still has something to offer. The actual gameplay is of the hit or miss variety. This isn't the kind of thing that's going to appeal to everybody. At the end of the day though, even with it's flaws, NiGHTS has aged better than most other games from this era. There's also just nothing else like it out there. So whether it ends up being for you or not, I still think it's worth the risk to find out. Even if you only stick around long enough to experience the hour or two of base content that will allow you to find out what the game is about, it will at least be memorable and the low price tag means that it won't feel like you wasted a lot of money should you not like it. There's a reason this game has such a following. I wouldn't mind seeing a more casual, less exacting follow up sometime in the future. This is an original style of gameplay that might just be due for a return, minus the baggage.… Expand
NiGHTS into Dreams...Your Score0 out of 10User Score
