Christmas Nights into Dreams

Developer: Sonic Team

Publisher:  Sega

Released as a free demo with the purchase of Saturn exclusives back in '96, Christmas Nights into Dreams is one of those rare cases where the demo is just as sought after and nearly as expensive as the game itself.

The 'game' opens up with a motion comic style intro narrated by a woman who sounds extremely bored as she reads her text, telling you that it's Christmas, but people seem to be missing the Holiday's spirit because the Christmas tree's star is missing and that it's up you two underage kids to find it.

The demo consists of two levels, the latter being a boss fight, though what set the demo apart was its clock setting, on December 25th, the game's theme shifts radically to a Christmas setting, the once green mountains are now fully covered in snow, decorated with Christmas trees, stars and other Holiday decorations, even the soundtrack changes to a beautiful instrumental rendition of Jingle Bells, with that said, I felt that the boss fight as easy as it was, could've used more Christmas cheer, sure, the backgrounds and graphics were changed and decorated with presents but the background music clashed with the rest of the demo.

Once you're done with the two short levels you'll find an assortment of unlockables, but really, I didn't find them all that interesting, you get some karaoke songs where you can change the pitch of the singers and some poorly aged mid 90's CGI rendition of our characters, but that's about it, with that said, props to Sega for actually giving you a proper ending for completing the demo, it's just a shame that it's narrated by the same person and she still sounds bored out of her skull.

Overall, Christmas Nights into Dreams is impossible to rate because it's just a short 10 minute demo, but when you're in a Christmas cheer you'll be hard pressed to find a better 'game'

Trivia: Did you know that despite its name, Christmas Nights into Dreams also changes on other occasions? During the New Year, you get a 'Happy New Year' message, on Valentine's Day you get a Valentine's Hearts and on April 1st you play as the series' main antagonist.

Pros:

- A normal demo for most of the year, but on certain dates it throws you some nice curve balls
- Beautiful rendition of Jingle Bells
- I'd argue the demo has a better art style then the actual game
- The motion comic style intro and ending adds to the demo's whimsical nature

Cons:

- It's just a demo, so you'll be done with it in 10 minutes
- The unlockables are really not worth the time
- Why does the Narrator sound so bored?
- How many times have I said 'Christmas' in the review? Somebody make a drinking game out of that

Final Grade: N/A

I have to say, I don't like the artwork on the disc at all, I know it's just an enemy from the game, but it really doesn't do anything for me.

The demo originally came with a slipcase that I seem to have lost over the years, though to be fair there was never a whole lot of packaging to review here, so even if I had it, the final score would have been the same.

Packaging Grade: N/A

Browse More Articles

Tweet

Written by Unknown

We are Creative Blogger Theme Wavers which provides user friendly, effective and easy to use themes. Each support has free and providing HD support screen casting.