You know those games that you picked up when you were younger, didn't really get, and ended up putting down? Nights Into Dreams was one of those for me. Starting the game up, you get jumped by these weird bastards, walk into a thing and just kinda... fly around, collecting orbs and having the option of taking longer to collect more of them after cashing 20 of them in. Having finally sat down and committing to beating the game in a single sitting...
I get it now.
Nights embodies so much of what I love about video games, with its emphasis on ranking you for going above and beyond in a stage, rather than just calling it a day upon collecting enough Ideya to progress to the next section of the level. It's in the same camp as Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, any number of arcade games or, well, Sonic. Paralooping around objects, flying through hoops, and boosting to keep your combo going. It's endlessly addicting in the same way so many other games with an emphasis on score attacking have been for me, where the short length of the game is massively helped by being endlessly replayable with its focus on bettering yourself as a player.
Combining it with incredibly strong art direction, no doubt thanks to Sonic designer Naoto Oshima at the helm, and some music that genuinely had me tapping my foot and grinning throughout almost the entire game, you've got an all-timer that I'm overjoyed to have given a second chance to. Here's hoping Sonic Superstars finally gives Arzest a good game that Oshima can be proud of, after years of being known as the 3DS 2D Platformer Shovelware and Balan Wonderworld guys.
I get it now.
Nights embodies so much of what I love about video games, with its emphasis on ranking you for going above and beyond in a stage, rather than just calling it a day upon collecting enough Ideya to progress to the next section of the level. It's in the same camp as Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, any number of arcade games or, well, Sonic. Paralooping around objects, flying through hoops, and boosting to keep your combo going. It's endlessly addicting in the same way so many other games with an emphasis on score attacking have been for me, where the short length of the game is massively helped by being endlessly replayable with its focus on bettering yourself as a player.
Combining it with incredibly strong art direction, no doubt thanks to Sonic designer Naoto Oshima at the helm, and some music that genuinely had me tapping my foot and grinning throughout almost the entire game, you've got an all-timer that I'm overjoyed to have given a second chance to. Here's hoping Sonic Superstars finally gives Arzest a good game that Oshima can be proud of, after years of being known as the 3DS 2D Platformer Shovelware and Balan Wonderworld guys.