STORY

It's Christmas Eve. Everyone is excited, preparing for the big day, hoping Santa will come. And Dizzy, the kind-hearted soul that he is, has been busy decorating Yolkfolk Village. But after all that hard work, he's now feeling exhausted, so he lies down for a little nap. Before long, Dizzy is fast asleep in his bed, dreaming of Christmas.

But Dizzy's dreams can be a little... strange. And this is no exception. In his dream, poor Dizzy has lost all his Christmas presents. All the gifts he bought for Daisy, GrandDizzy, Dylan, and the other Yolkfolk are now missing. So Dizzy has to search the village until he finds all the presents. Not only that, but he has to find out what's in each present, to he knows who to give it to. Quite a task! Can you help him, so he wakes up on Christmas Day?

GAMEPLAY

I love how Dizzy's dream is based in Dizzy Prince Of Yolkfolk... except now it's Christmas. As with all Dizzy games, Dizzy is controlled by using the keyboard. You can make him move left & right simply by pressing the Left & Right Arrow Keys, while hitting the Space Bar makes him jump. If you want to Quit, Restart, or adjust the volume, simply press 'Esc' to bring up the Main Menu. The Enter key allows you to interact with someone, or pick up an item, or use an item already in your inventory. The trouble is, you can only carry 3 items at a time, so you sometimes have to drop items in order to pick up other items - just remember where you drop things, hehe. As you progress through the game, be on the lookout for ice cubes. They act as coins, and you have to find 25 of them in total. The number of ice cubes you're already found is shown at top of the screen. Finding the ice cubes can be tricky though. And the fact that you only have 3 lives, and no Save slots makes it even trickier. I hope you're up to the challenge!

GRAPHICS

Graphics in Winter Nightmare Dizzy are very colourful and cartoony, which makes the game a lot of fun to play. Dizzy's movements are very smooth, and his unique style of somersaulting is fun to watch. Snow falling outside is lovely to see, and just perfect for Christmas. Watch out for bats though. Their bite is deadly, and if you get too close, you're a goner! One feature I especially loved was the x-ray machine. It was a lot of fun putting the presents in there to discover what is inside them - you just have to figure out how to get the x-ray machine to work first, lol. The length of time you play is shown at bottom right of the screen, but if you don't like it, you can easily turn it off via the Options in the Main Menu.

SOUND AND MUSIC

The sound effects for this game are just like the classic Dizzy games that we all know and love. The distinct sound of Dizzy jumping is just right for the game. And sound effects for Dizzy picking up an item or dropping an item are just as effective. An instrumental version of 'Nothing Else Matters' plays in the background as you play. It's a beautiful version, but it is repeated endlessly, and can get a little tiresome after a while. If you get too fed up with it, you can easily go to Options via the Main Menu, and set the music volume to 0% (likewise, with the sound effects volume).

SUMMARY

Winter Nightmare Dizzy is a fun little game that allows us to revisit familiar territory - Dizzy Prince Of The Yolkfolk - in a completely new adventure. I love Dizzy completing various tasks and searching for his lost presents, desperately trying to wake up in time for Christmas. It's easy to interact with Dizzy's world, simply by using the Arrow keys to move him, Space to make him jump, and Enter to see his inventory items. You need to plan things carefully, however, as you are only able to carry 3 things at a time. Snow falling outside are lovely to see, and I love how it piles up on the ground. The x-ray machine is a wonderful touch, and proves very useful in finding out what is inside each present - providing you can get it to work, that is! Finding all the ice cubes can be very tricky, so look everywhere! The music is an amazing instrumental version of 'Nothing Else Matters', and it is nice listening to it for a while, but it repeats endlessly and can get a little frustrating. All in all, a lovely game that I can recommend.