Christmas Nights into Dreams (Christmas Special)

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

Christmas cheer rating: 

Honestly this is probably the most Christmas-y game I've played yet, not just for the beautiful music and the change in backgrounds, but because I love that the game's objective isn't to recover presents, save Santa or any other materialist/commercial aspect of the Holiday, instead, you're trying to find a magic star that will give people back their cheer, you can tell that bad narrator aside, there's a lot of heart in this game. Five snowmen out of Five.

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Jack in the Dark (Christmas Special)

Developer: Infogrames

Publisher:  Infogrames/Interplay

Played on: Alone in the Dark: The Trilogy

Jack in the dark was a short promotional game/teaser for Alone in the Dark 2, its theme is a strange mix of Halloween and Christmas, in which you play as Grace Saunders, a young girl who was out trick or treating and enters a toy store that is apparently haunted, as all of the toys come to life, kidnap Santa Claus and want to kill you (Am I the only one getting a Nightmare Before Christmas vibe?).

The game plays as a survival horror, in fact, being a teaser for Alone in the Dark 2, it was probably to second game in the genre to have ever been created (that is, if you only count the standard formula for the genre). 

Unlike the first Alone in the Dark, here there is no combat, the game focuses entirely on puzzle solving which is an odd thing considering Alone in The Dark 2 was almost exclusively focused on combat, but the problem here is that even though this is just a short 5-15 minute game, a lot of the puzzles require quite a bit lot of lateral thinking, seriously, how I was supposed to know you have to feed candy to the jack in the box and THEN show him his reflection?

If you've played the old Resident Evil games you're probably familiar with the concept of 'tank controls' which is the perfect way to describe how it feels like when controlling Grace, she's a slow walker, slow turner, it's a pain to get her to sprint, even the act of investigating nearby items requires you to enter a menu, choose your option and then leave said menu.

Graphically the game doesn't look too hot, every character is made out of a few flat shaded 3D polygons whereas the backgrounds are 2D animations, possibly pre-rendered, if you're going to play this on Dos-box, I recommend you fiddle with the options and add some Anti-Aliasing.

There's only one song in the game and it's constantly repeating, though it's pretty Christmas-y in the mood it sets, however, I always found it interesting that if you turn the music off, it suddenly feels like you went from a Christmas themed game, to a scary Halloween themed one.

Overall Jack in the Dark is an interesting 'game' it's not a demo of Alone in the Dark 2 but neither is it really a game, it's part Christmas and part Halloween so if nothing else I can say it's an interesting title, a shame for its obtuse puzzles and controls.

Pros:

- Interesting mix of Christmas and Halloween themes
- A piece of gaming history

Cons:

- Not really a game, not really a demo
- Tank-like controls are a pain
- Some of the puzzles require a bit of Moon-logic

Final Grade: N/A

Packaging Review: This game was played using the 'Alone in the Dark: The Trilogy' compilation 

Christmas cheer rating: 

The game's Christmas theme feels a bit slapped on, remove the cheerful music, Santa and the Christmas tree outside the toy shop and instead you get a Halloween game, though the ending does feel like something you'd expect from a Christmas game, but everything else is just skin deep. Two and a half snowmen out of five.

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