Sega in the late 90s and early 2000s was an interesting paradox. On a business standpoint, they were at their absolute lowest point. Poor business decisions after poor business decision, flop console after flop console, Sonic-related controversy after Sonic-related controversy, all the while Sony and Microsoft took its place on the console market. But in terms of software, Sega was absolutely killing it. The Saturn and Dreamcast are veritable treasure troves of hidden gems, ambitious ahead-of-their-time experiences, and lush blue sky visuals. Sega's willingness to experiment, take risks, and push their hardware to their limits was part of what makes this my favorite era of the company, and Nights Into Dreams is emblematic of everything Saturn-era Sega did right.
Nights Into Dreams is one of those games that still feels like one of a kind. Its gameplay and visual style feels entirely original, and there's nothing else quite like it to this day. The main premise is that two kids named Claris and Elliot who are both struggling with some sort of problem are swept into a dream world called Nightopia to help a weird genderless denizen named Nights save the world from the evil Wiseman, while also getting over their issues. There isn't actually much in the way of story here, but the inventive plot and concepts at play more than makes up for that, and there's still a fun Shadow-esque rival for Nights in the form of Reala.
Nights Into Dreams can be best described as a speed-focused flight-based platformer. You start as either Claris and Elliot in a vast 3D world and you need to find and free Nights, usually a very easy task to do. Once you do, you'll take control of Nights and have to fly through a bunch of 2.5D courses to retrieve orbs, all the while chaining tricks and collectibles to get the best score possible. It's a very Sonic Team-esque gameplay loop, built entirely around replaying stages, improving your score, and getting those elusive A ranks. The controls are also characteristically simple, you can only really fly around and speed up, but moving around still feels incredibly fluid and addicting. Nights' play feel really makes this game, it always feels like you are entirely in control.
The level design is fantastic too, really taking advantage of the 2.5D structure by giving each stage a bunch of intricate paths that interweave and give you a full tour of the entire setting. There's a ton of weird setpieces like the forest area where the perspective shifts entirely to top-down 3D, to the ocean level where Nights occasionally turns into a mermaid, to my personal favorite stage, the Soft Museum where you get to explore a surreal museum filled with bouncy walls and weird-looking paintings. The bosses are also a ton of fun, slightly jank at times, but all super creative and memorable, and figuring out how to take them out as fast as possible for a better rank is always very satisfying. The fight with Reala in particular is a big highlight of the game.
That being said, Nights Into Dreams is a very short game, capping in at only seven levels. Even if you wanted to also go for the A ranks, it won't take you more than a few hours to fully 100% the game. However, actually seeing everything the game has to offer will take countless playthroughs, Nights Into Dreams is filled with hidden areas, weird mechanics, and entirely secret systems that Sonic Team added just for the hell of it. Remember how I said you can roam around as Claris or Elliot before freeing Nights? Yeah, I meant to say you could explore the entire level as Claris or Elliot. There's no reason to, you'll be chased down by weird clock eggs if you do, but Sonic Team lets you just explore the whole environment on foot, find tons of weird easter eggs scattered around, and even start up your combo early. Sonic Team also includes a weird pet sim system where you can just stop what you're doing and interact with the Nightopians scattered around the stages. How the Nightopians feel will cause the music to change, and you can even breed these rare types called King Pians, and doing that a few times will cause them to build permanent structures within the level. Once again, none of this is necessary, you don't need to do any of this for 100%, Sonic Team just decided to include all these features because they wanted to. It's a perfect example of the sheer extra-ness Sega exuded throughout this era of their careeer.
Speaking of extra, I haven't even touched on Christmas Nights, the free bonus disc that Saturn owners got that Christmas. At surface level, it's a Christmas reskin of only the first level and boss of Nights, which is really cute and pretty, but not super substantial. However, Christmas Nights also includes a ton of presents you can get by racking up A ranks, and these presents include a ton of extra features like a bestiary of all the Nightopians you find, art galleries, the ability to play as Reala, Time Attack modes, a music maker, and coolest of all, the ability to play the first stage as Sonic on foot. That's right, on top of everything else, Christmas Nights is technically the first true 3D Sonic game. Once again, Sonic Team and Sega did not need to put this much effort into a bonus disc, but Christmas Nights manages to feel like an impressively substantial game that can stand entirely on its own.
And then there's the presentation, and where do I even start with that? Nights Into Dreams is proof that dreamworlds in video games are the best aesthetic. The world of Nightopia is so surreal, colorful, and otherworldly, and it's beautifully rendered by the Saturn operating at its peak. Despite being almost fully in 3D, Nights Into Dreams' visuals feel entirely uncompromised and still look striking and pretty thanks to its strong art direction and smooth integrating of sprites. All the boss, character, and Nightopian designs are top-notch too, as you'd expect from Naoto Oshima. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering it's a Sonic Team game, but the music is also incredible. Nights' soundtrack is primarily a collaboration between Tomoko Sasaki of Ristar fame and Naofumi Hataya of Sonic CD fame, and what results is just pure distilled Sega goodness. Nights has one of the happiest and most exhilirating soundtracks in any video game, sounding equal parts dreamy, otherworldly, lovely, and magical. There are so many highlights, but I particularly love Paternal Horn, Suburban Museum, The Dragon Gave A Loud Scream, In Silent Memory, and Message From Nightopia. But my favorite track isn't even made by Sasaki or Hataya. My favorite track is Nights is The Amazing Water, the first track Fumie Kumatani (one of my favorite composers due to her contributions to PSO and several 3D Sonics) made for a Sega game.
Overall, Nights Into Dreams is an incredibly one-of-a-kind experience, still unlike any other game out there. It may be short, but its addicting and satisfying gameplay loop, abundance of extra systems and features, and phenomenal aesthetic makes for a game that's incredibly easy to replay. There are a lot of Sega games I love, but Nights Into Dreams feels like the definitive Sega game. Everything I loved about them as a developer can be found within Nights.
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