Dreamland R Final Mix

Welcome to the review of Dreamland... R Final Mix!
This game from Judeau Games is the 2005 remake of the Dreamland trilogy (made in 2001-2002)... erm... I guess of the first one, but being the original trilogy only available in german (despite the title) I am not sure of this.

Dreamland R Final Mix is clearly inspired to Resident Evil and Silent Hill: there's this big ghost city that seems appeared from nowhere, and the protagonists suddenly finds themselves lost inside a disturbing place without exit with zombies and other horrible creatures. Will they survive?
The playable characters are different and unrelated (even if they all play the same and share the same inventory): we have Brad, the main protagonist that escape a bloody shootout, then Rinoa that was separated from her fiancee, and Seth & Carter, two criminals that owe money to Ruben, a powerful and merciless one-eyed gangster.
Without telling much, let's just say that once in the city each one will have to face both the dangers of the city and the ghosts of their past.


OMG! Zombies! Run, Brad, run!

Even if the perspective costantly shifts between the protagonists, the gameplay is classic (for a survival horror): kill monsters and collect supplies (ammo and medicines), find keys and solve puzzles to progress.
This is a survival horror so it's in real time, and besides the usual commands you have four extra keys:
A - lets you face one direction so you can strafe.
S - is used to attack (the action key is used to interact instead).
D - is used to change weapon, in the beginning these are pistol and knife.
F - is used to holster the weapons so you can interact with the surroundings (not entirely true, since I noticed that you can often do that even with the weapon in hand!).

Besides this additions it's a classical Rm2k3 game: you have life and first aid to recover them, hemostatics and antidotes to cure negative statuses like bleed and poisoned.

Combat consists in shooting or slashing the opponents in front of us avoiding to be hit (usually enemies are zombies or dogs or other feral beasts). If possible it is suggested ti avoid enemies, this is a survival horror so there is little benefit to fight when it is not necessary (it's often a waste of bullets if you do not use the knife, of course).
Anyway some opponents must be defeated in order to progress the story, and some are bosses with special attacks that require certain strategies to be "killed" (for example there is an undead that is harmed only when hit on the back, and you fight him in a cave with platforms that can paralyze him for some seconds). In some situations the game clearly tells that running away is the only option, and the game when it tells you to run is always right!

Then we have puzzles, because, as Resident Evil taught us, it's fun exploring creepy places and shooting ugly monsters, but sometimes you also need some diversions. Expect to find lever puzzles, solve jigsaw puzzles, look for codes to open chests and doors, find keys and other less common items to unlock new areas. There's also a sort of "invisible labyrinth in which you have to pull a stone to a precise location, but I assure you that's easier than it sounds. Not every puzzle is good, some are just little nuisances and time-wasters (I hated the one on the elevator, for example but it's a matter of taste), luckily they are many, different and short.


There is Rinoa and a train, but this is not FVIII! Oh, and do you think that they will listen to her?

Graphically the game uses sprites from many different sources. There are no facesets, and while some charsets are edits from Romancing Saga (Ruben, Taso and Carter), others are instread taked from other games (Brad, Seth and Rinoa are palette swaps of Chrono Trigger characters, others sprites comes instead from Terranigma, Tales of Phantasia and Suikoden): they look appropriated to the setting, but sometimes they do not match because of different proportions and graphic styles. Same goes for the chipsets and other sprites, anyway it's not a terrible problem: I know that resources for modern setting are hard to find since most game are fantasy or sci-fi. Oh anyway in these editd there's lots of blood too, so you are warned, even if it's just pixelated gore (but lots of it!).

Music is atmospheric, but the best are all the little details, sounds and screams that together with flashes and scary images makes the experience "unsettling (illusions and images, not to mention lightining and thunders makes this game really atmospheric).

The Bad
Unfortunately there are some little things that should be perfected, in my opinion:
First there is no indication of enemy lifebar duting boss fights, and this is a bit of a problem since I wasn't always sure I was harming them! I mean, some have different stages/sections and still I do not know if attacking the minions summoned were worth something, since they disappear and reappear. Or if the opponent was harmed only if hit during some sections... it wasn't always clear.
There is the same problem with normal enemies: once I hit a zombie until he fell. You can hit him until he "dies" and he's no more "hittable" (he loses blood and does not get up), but I found an enemy that (due to a but) acted like he was still alive even after being killed. I also experienced another bug that made Brad walk at the speed of light after the subway part (this was quite hilarious during cutscenes but really annoying during combat!).

Then there are some unfair situations in which the enemies catch you and hits several times before you are able to disengage (often this happens with those who suddenly appears as you open a door!), often causing bleed that it's an annoying effect since there are few emostatics around, until much later in the game. But yes, that's not something that will kill you, at least not at medium/normal difficulty (that's the option I choose at the start, you can of course decide for a harder or easier option!).

Last problem is that sometimes it's hard to understand what you have to do: while there are sometimes hints and indications about the next goal, in certain situations I had to interact with everything or enter and exit a location to make the game progress, but there was no clear indication of the next move (in one case I noticed I even skipped a passage!). Anyway this is a lesser problem compared to the others.


Huzzah! I solved this (easy) puzzle and now I can open that chest! What there will be inside?

Final Verdict
Dreamland Final Cut is (for what I have seen) surely the best looking of the Dreamland series. It's also a good game that unfortunately suffer of the limitations of the engine for what regards real-time combat. It's not a big problem but this can be a problem for someone, considering that there are no shops or equipment management, but you have to rely only on looted items (that are not many, even if the game says that most enemy drop items... well that's not true!). Puzzles are really good, while bosses are sometimes a nuisance, but in the end this is a solid game and a good experience: the story and the spooky atmosphere are both very good, while dialogues aren't too bad despite few typos and imprecisions of the german translation (and also some untranslated text). But nothing too terrible, for a game released in 2005 this pretty good.

It's surely NOT a one or two star game, but I like a lot the graphics and story (despite the mish-mash of styles and the predictable ending), the effects used are great and the narrative excellent, pity that the gameplay isn't as good as them. I found some annoying and unclear parts, but I never rage-quitted the game, and I was able to com p lete it because I wanted to know what was going to happen. So I will give a total rating of 4.

In the end this is still a nice game to play despite the issues I mentioned, but there are four difficulty levels, so I guess that playing at the lowest difficulty level can make more casual players enjoy the story (even if some puzzles and unclear indications will still be present, of course!), while instead hardcore (or masochist) gamers can try the hardest setting. I was fine with the medium option, it was not too difficult when you understood what you were supposed to do. This is a useful and extremely rare feature for a rmk game, that clearly shows lot of work, effort and dedication, so if you like the genre give it a try!