NiGHTS: A retrospective
Tue 3 Apr 07 20:00 | Tags: Games
Class, today we have a video. In light of the recent announcement of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, a sequel to the classic Saturn game NiGHTS: Into Dreams… I present:
Some things I forgot or didn't have time to mention in the audio:
- Note the fast loading speeds. I wish that every new game released could load this quickly.
- A run-down of the controls: The analog stick pointed you in the direction to fly, and the A, B and C buttons all triggered the sprint, which made you momentarily fly faster (note the "sprint meter" in the lower-left of the screen). The left and right triggers, combined with a direction on the analog stick, triggered stunts, which were fairly useless except when you had the stunt ribbon thing and could earn points by doing them. The X, Y and Z buttons do nothing.
- As you can see, when you play as NiGHTS, you're restricted somewhat to 2D gameplay. You can fly up, down, left and right, but not in or out.
- Note the trail of stars that follows NiGHTS. Doing a loop (by flying through your own trail) will suck in and collect all the objects inside and near the loop, so you can more quickly collect those objects, as well as collect the items in the inaccessible third dimension (in and out).
- If you're astute, or maybe just a video game graphics nerd, you noticed that the game's graphics are not entirely polygonal; many of the objects, like the enemies, collectible items, and the dots that make up the rings, are 2D sprites.
- My video capture hardware causes the video to look a bit darker than it really is. Fortunately, this game is bright enough that it doesn't matter too much.
- Also, it sounds like my nose was a bit congested when I recorded the voice-over… I normally don't sound that nerdy. Really.
I have a higher-quality version of this available for download if you're interested -- just contact me and I'll let you know how to get it. I don't want to make it publicly available, though, because it's a pretty hefty download and I don't want to stress my server.
So, want to give NiGHTS: Into Dreams… a try? Search for it on eBay. (aff)
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#1 | Josh | 4 Apr 07 02:51
As Garrett's ex-roommate I can confirm.
he really does sound that nerdy.
all the time.
This is my first witnessing of the actual gameplay of Nights, and it doesn't seem any more different than Sonic the Hedgehog. The music was also lacking.
Though, if I played it back in the day, I'd probably have some high nostalgic anticipation for this new release.
Sonic was the first thing that came to mind as well. I was wondering what all the hype was about for this game. Seems like a bit of a let down, heh. But yeah, I can see the nostalgic value.
#5 | marurun | 8 Apr 07 13:34
I find this game far more compelling than Sonic. Yes, it's fast, but it's more point/performance based and it's a lot more artistic. And the music, on the whole, IMO, is actually really good in places. There's a lot of depth and strategy in the game once you get playing. I guess you just have to try it. It helps that the atmosphere, music, look, etc... are all really good at getting an emotional response from people.
#3 | Garrett Albright | 4 Apr 07 16:26
Hmm, I never thought about it like that before, but I suppose it is pretty much like a fast-paced platformer.
There actually never was a proper Sonic game for the Saturn. One was in development hell for a long time, only to ultimately get cancelled.