NiGHTS into Dreams HD was developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA. It was released on October 2, 2012 for $9.99. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
NiGHTS into Dreams HD is a beloved title that originally came out for the SEGA Saturn back in 1996 (and ported to the PS2 in Japan only in 2008). The game not only brought us a new controller that introduced a joystick to the Saturn family, but also garnered quite the following. There’s simply nothing like it on the gaming market, which might be the reason why it never became the established franchise SEGA wanted it to be. As of lately, however, SEGA has been doing a great job bringing the nostalgia back to older gamers. With Jet Set Radio HD, Sonic Adventure 2 HD, and now, NiGHTS into Dreams HD, they’ve really been catering to a certain audience.
The story in a nutshell follows two children who are in a dream world, Elliot and Claris, and are aided by a Nightmaren named NiGHTS who must stop the evil ruler of Nightmare, Wizeman in order to restore peace in the real world. NiGHTS into Dreams has a unique style and can be challenging at times, so it might not be for the gamers of this generation. This is a classic game remade for the people who remembered it in the 90′s and want to relive a bit of nostalgia, or for the people who were always a bit curious.
The basic idea of NiGHTS into Dreams is to collect 20 blue orbs and deliver them to the giant crystal looking orb found in each level called the Ideya within 120 seconds (180 seconds for the final level). After doing this for all four of the tracks in each level, you are presented to the boss at the end of every stage. The boss fights are trial and error for the most part, but they’re not too difficult once you figure them out. Both Claris and Elliot have four stages each, and the only way to advance to the final one is to earn the grade of at least a C in the previous three stages. Going for the A grade in each level is the biggest challenge of the title, and will require you to master acrobatic tricks and looping around the stars and blue orbs.
Read the rest of this entry »
