The Final Word game review

Nights Into Dreams... -- Sega/Sonic Team

R.I.P.
As far as must play Saturn games go, Nights Into Dreams... ranks pretty highly on the list. This game really captures all of the intense speed found in Sonic 2 on the Genesis (without the Blast Processing... cough). While not quite a platform game, Nights really is off in it's on category.

The premise is you are flying through dreamscapes on a sort of fixed path trying to recover the bits of your dreams that were stolen away from you. I say "sort of" because the path is more of a plane that is cut through the level area. You can move up and down and perform may type of aerial stunts while you move along the path, but you cannot veer from the path itself. ...unless your time limit runs out. Then you fall from the sky and must run across the ground of the level to get to the finish point before you are kicked out of the level by the clock sentry. This can be a pretty frantic activity.

The music and visuals in the game are fantastic, and the play control is right on the money... although you absolutely have to play this game with the Sega 3-D controller in order to not only have any success with the levels, but also keep from mangling your thumb trying to play. Once you get going you will soon find you are doing constant full and partial rotations on the controller in your efforts to get through the level as fast as possible. All the while, you are also also collecting the required items in order to get the best score for each area (the better your scores and completion times on the bosses, the more time you have to solve the final stages). It's a shame that this game really does require the special controller because as the years pass, it will be harder for gamers to find both game and controller together for the full experience unless they find a used set.

If you own a Saturn, you really owe it to yourself to pick up this game and give it a go. It's really well worth the time. And for those of you who enjoyed the game, there is also a much harder to find, limited circulation Christmas bonus CD which has lots of new artwork and additional Christmas themed levels.

(11/2003)