12. Weird Dreams

(Amiga/ST/C64/PC, Rainbird, 1989)
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today"
That's all well and good James Dean but what happens if your dreams are trying to KILL YOU. The concept in Rainbird's Weird Dreams is just that, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.

Weird Dreams is one of those games from the late 80's/early 90's that played with a whole manner of completely experimental ideas just to see how things would work out as a result. The game came with a sixty four page novel featuring the game's backstory, the novel ends at the point where the player begins the game.
Essentially, a young man named Steve falls in love with a girl called Emily who, unbeknownest to him, is possessed by a demon. The demon within Emily tricks Steve into taking some medication, ostensibly to cure his mild illness. Instead, these pills allow the demon into Steve's mind, forcing him to undergo terrifying lucid nightmares. Steve has brain surgery to try and control his restless nights and the player controls Steve as he is under anaesthetic on the operating table, walking him through his nightmares and hopefully keeping his heart rate steady to avoid our hero being literally scared to death.

Pretty heavy stuff, huh?

Weird Dreams is a sideways scrolling arcade adventure and arguably an early example of survival horror. Steve makes his way through a series of bizarre and frightening sequences, fighting and dodging all manner of surreal and mysterious creatures. As the levels take place within the human mind, all bets are off and absolutely anything can (and will) materialise to either help or hinder Steve in his quest to survive his surgery and clear his head of his demons.
Weird Dreams is, as it title suggests, an incredibly surreal experience, like real-life dreams, there is no rhyme or reason to the enemies, weapons or locations. Events change by the second and this perfectly captures the unpredictable and sometimes very scary imagery that dreams can evoke. A suitably eerie soundtrack by veteran David Whittaker punctuates the story with both original tunes and twisted classical music.
It is worth noting that a special version of Weird Dreams was made for children's Saturday morning UK TV show Motormouth, viewers would call in and control Steve via their telephones. Back then and still today I think it was a very odd choice of game.

Weird Dreams is far from fantastic. Questionably balanced difficulty and typically horrible Amiga load times can ruin the momentum. Steve is quite clunky and slow to respond to the player's controls which can lead to some frustrating deaths. I'm sure you're aware by now that I'm a huge advocate of experimentation and any attempts to try something "a bit different" from more mainstream games. In that regard, Weird Dreams rates highly, with a bizarre and dark plot, a novel for an instruction manual and a very eerie approach to visualizing the subject matter of nightmares, demons and major surgery. Weird Dreams is an unsettling and unforgettable experience with a healthy dose of twisted Python-esque humour stirred in. I would recommend any gamer to give it a try. Don't expect anything fantastic, just let yourself soak in the surreality of game which sees you trapped in a wasp infested candy floss machine and also features attacks from killer footballs and giant piano keys.

Just don't let the bed bugs bite. Literally.