KidConfidence: Nights: Journey of Dreams - video game review for parents and kids

KidConfidence Rating: fair

6.5/10

Gameplay

6.5

Multiplayer

6.5

Replay Value

6.5

Educational Value

N/A

Members' Ratings:

Members who recommended this

18/25

Number of members who emailed this

Number of members who bookmarked this

Amazon Rating:

ESRB Rating: Everyone

Game Summary:

As a fantasy jester called NiGHTS, players will fly through Nightopia, a rich and vibrant world where dreams come to life. With the innovative Wii Remote, gamers will experience a heightened sense of gliding, spiraling, and looping through a variety of mystical dream worlds packed with high-flying adventure. Players must find inventive ways to confront the "Nightmarens" from the neighboring dark world of Nightmare using amazing acrobatic skills, freedom of flight, and other special abilities to protect Nightopia. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is an adventure filled with courage, hope and inspiration that the whole family will enjoy! ESRB Rated E for Everyone

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Game Review:

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is an action adventure game set in the fictional world of Nightopia. The story follows the dream of two children, a boy and a girl, who encounter a variety of magical creatures in their dreams. We recommend the game for player’s ages 8 years and up.

The majority of the game is spent flying, which unfortunately, leaves much to be desired in regards of maneuverability. The player must follow a pre-determined path – Or in other words, the flying is completely “on rails”. Players can execute horizontal moves, dashes, loops and transform into a rocket or dolphin. Doing these maneuvers drains the player’s power gauge, which can be re-filled by flying through rings. Sega tried to change things up by offering tunnel flying, rapids rafting, and traditional platform jumping levels.

The motion-controlled Wii Remote, the Classic controller or an old GameCube controller can be used to play the game. Regardless of what controller your family decides to use, maneuvering the characters is not an easy chore, mostly due to the rough physics system. Old School Gamers (Mom and Dad) may remember the Sega Saturn original from 1996, which by the way ran more fluid then this Wii game.

Failure to complete a level requires the player to start the level from the very beginning. It would have been nice to see a checkpoint system, which saves progress and let’s players restart from the last checkpoint within the level.

The game has two multiplayer modes allowing for two players to play local and online. The battle mode has players shoot projectiles at each other, while race mode focuses on fast flying and quick maneuvering. Additional tracks can be unlocked thru playing the single player Story Mode.

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams appeals to a wide audience, but sluggish controls and the lack of mid-level checkpoints will frustrate young gamers. You may want to wait for a more polished sequel.

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=Overall

A Night-Mare, 2008-04-13

Reviewer: J.M.

Nights: Journey of Dreams is a dissapointment in many ways. I've never played Nights into Dreams Before, so I'm new to the series. There are two stories you can play in: Will's dream and Helen's dream. Both of them are pretty much the same. I hated both of them. Nights is a strange character who flies around in circles. All of the characters, especially Nights, had terrible voice covers.

Graphics: Don't be fooled by the pictures on the back of the box (the cutscene graphics)! At first you are introduced to beautiful, jaw-dropping graphics, but as soon as the cutscenes are over, the game takes a turn for the worse. The graphics in the gameplay aren't impressive at all. The graphics look like they'd be bad even for the Gamecube. That is unacceptable for a Wii game. Sometimes the game is blury. Sure, there are bright colors, but that is not enough.

Gameplay: Overall, the gameplay just wasn't set up well. I'm sure it wouldn't be as bad if the camera angle was better. The camera should have been from the back of Nights, instead of the side of her. Probably the worst part of the gameplay is the repetitiveness. Flying around in circles as Nights is very boring, and who wants to spend their time chasing birds around in circles anyway? The boss battles are frusturating and are much harder than they need to be. I had no idea what to do on many of them. You also have a time limit on all of the levels and boss battles, which stinks. If you fail a boss stage, then you need to start the whole level over again! Lame!

Controls: THe game gives you the option to choose from four control options (nunchuk, remote, Gcube controller, and classic controller). In a way this is good because you can choose which one you like the best, but I thought they were all confusing. Nights is harder to control than she should be.

To sum it up, Nights is a boring game that wasn't thought out very well with a dumb storyline and sloppy controls. I've never played the original Nights before, but I'm sure this must be a dissapointment.

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=Overall

Nights Into Dreams, 2008-04-01

Reviewer: T. Shields

It's fun making the character Nights fly through the stages.
I remember this game from Sonic Adventure DX when you go to the Casino stage as Sonic. The character is quite like Sonic only he can fly. The levels are stunning and very colorful. I hoped this game would come out so I could play it and make Nights fly.I can use my Gamecube controller on my Wii.

I give the game 5 stars!

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Adriann Ricketts

Jan 21, 10:44 AM

In the Crystal Castle world, after the chase mission, you have to defeat the witch and her cats. I tried turning the platform every way, trying to get the cats off 5 times, but I can’t do it. Is there an easier way? Am I doing it right?

Online enabled games are updated frequently and may include user-generated content. KidConfidence reviewed Nights: Journey of Dreams on Nov 22, 02:51 PM. Your experience may vary if played at a later date. For news visit our Blog.