A Review of Dream Island
by Gideon, HSM team writer
Over time, the expectations and anticipation of personal spaces have increased quite dramatically in Home. While each personal estate released will no doubt have some appeal to one group of players or another, the most successful estates are those that appeal to the broader Home audience and are able to deliver a sense of wonder and discovery to the player. Many estates enhance the sense of adventure even further by offering accompanying furniture, clothing, and activities within the personal space itself. The new Figment personal space, Dream Island, is a testament to the advances made within Home personal spaces and gives players nearly everything they have come to expect from Home and Lockwood.
When first entering Dream Island, it seems deceptively small. The player spawns into Dream Island, and they find themselves in a medium sized room overlooking the distant ocean horizon through a wall of glass. As the camera swings to the left or right, the rooms to either side are unveiled. One room leads to an enclosed balcony, the other leads outside. Once outside and down a flight of stairs the space opens in all directions. In the shadow of a massive stone formation players are treated to about half a dozen partitions to explore within the single space.
Infinity Pools are Infinity Cool!
Sizeable weathered stones lead to the different areas of Dream Island. An expansive lower room houses a pair of commerce points, one for Dream Island clothing and one for apartment accessories, and plenty of room for parties and events. A pair of decks, one on either side of the lower room, rests over the water, one much higher than the other and each evokes differing atmospheres. The elevated deck has a more somber tone and seems better suited for evening events than lower, brighter deck that features a functioning telescope for getting a better look at the passing ships and adjacent islands.
A third deck is situated off to the side of an infinity pool that features the new swimming action and is a much-welcomed addition to this personal space. The aesthetics of the infinity pool seem a bit odd, since stereotypically, infinity pools are offset from the ocean by some expanse of land, but the effect is impressive nonetheless and doesn’t affect the functionality of the pool. On the opposite side of the deck, hugging the island stone’s face, a pier extends away from the infinity pool over the water.
Meandering its way toward the ocean, the pier ends in a bench and a small activity available to players. The pier itself looks weathered and contrasts the modern look of Dream Island. This hints at a far removed but not forgotten past to the island and speaks to a history that might not ever be told. At the end of the pier, Lockwood included feed-able fish that swarm just under the surface of water. These are not, however, the only wildlife to be found around Dream Island.
Want all the prizes? Gotta find ‘em all!
One of the most alluring features of Dream Island is its small selection of wildlife that are scattered about its different partitions. Finding the various aquatic and reptilian inhabitants is the means by which Lockwood has chosen to deliver a handful of unlockable rewards to player, which seems to be a mainstay of the higher quality apartment features. The only downside to the wildlife around Dream Island is that there are not more. A more vibrant and lively Dream Island ecosystem would have been welcomed.
While seeking the wildlife, players will no doubt find the grotto that is tucked away within the stone that supports the island. Behind a waterfall, careful players may just be able to catch a glimpse of a rainbow as they approach the entrance to the dank cave. Once inside, glowing stalactite-type structures will light the space. The natural surrounding feels like a welcome bonus when compared to the rest of Dream island.
Sandy beaches, swimmable water and a sailboat await the player outside of the grotto. Unfortunately, the sailboat is not board-able, but that pales in comparison to finally being able to swim within PlayStation Home, a feature that has been longed for since the early days of the program. Having a pool and the ocean to swim in adds to the robust list of features hosted within Dream Island and doesn’t feel unnecessarily redundant.
Each partition is cleanly and clearly separated but all come together to create one large homogeneous experience. Overall, this is by far one of the most varied and well-conceived personal spaces that has been produced. This is when considering the space alone and doesn’t include the various items that can be purchased for the space.
Just as many spaces before it, Dream Island hosts a collection of accompanying items which are meant to compliment the personal space perfectly. The specific items meant for the Dream Island do not, however, fit exclusively with the personal space. Although the aesthetics of the dining room and bed as well as the workout equipment, which can be sat on, fit nicely with the space, they don’t come across as being created specifically for Dream Island and would go wonderfully with any other personal space in Home.
Truth be told, the modern architecture is generic and clean enough to fit almost any furniture a player wants to use. The only piece of furniture that seems at all out of place is the sofa, which is a dark chocolate color and glistens a bit too brightly. Lockwood doesn’t seem content with a one-and done approach to this space and are planning additional furniture releases for Dream Island, something that should keep fans of the space interested and will bring new players to its whimsical shores.
The clothing, which is standard fare for Home, is a perfect fit for PlayStation Home in general. The male version of the Dream Islander outfit is shirtless beach-ready look that fits within the quality standard of the Figment line. Female avatars are treated to a layered outfit that features two tops and two bottoms. A tied shirt and shorts can independently be changed to a bikini, which complements the male Dream Islander outfit nicely.
Not surprisingly, Dream Island features some impressively user-friendly features for the Home decorator. Any area a player can walk to can hold furniture, and there are a whopping eleven furniture spawn points. There are multiple wall locations open for wall mounts, even a spot on the stone outside of the grotto. In fact, Dream Island seems to have been designed specifically with the new LOOT EOD options in mind. One space, which can be considered the bed room, features a thick wooden panel mounted to the wall that would be perfect for a 60″ television.
On top of all this, the Dream Island is a decent value when all is considered. The space itself can be purchased for $7.99 USD with various bundle configurations increasing the price a dollar at a time to the reasonable price of $10.99. The bundles include various furniture items so players can pick and chose which items they would like to own. The furniture can be purchased separately, but isn’t as cost effective as the bundled offerings. The male outfit is available for $3.99 and the female outfits can be bought for a dollar more for the price of $4.99. Both outfits are separates and include accompanying hairstyles that can, of course, be mixed and matched with other Home outfits.
We can swim in Home, your complaint is invalid.
As impressive as the Dream Island is, it isn’t without its faults. There can be the slightest hesitation when navigating between the rooms on the upper floor. When there are other people in the space, there can be some issues where the swimming and running animations being confused. This leads to some hilarious results of people swimming in mid air or running in water. The sailboat sitting innocently nearby isn’t interactive or accessible in any way. Lastly, the Dream Island could have taken the space even further if it included a day/night option in its list of features.
Even with these issues, the Dream Island is an impressive space for PlayStation Home. Lockwood continues to outdo themselves and they build upon what they have learned in the past about Home and player expectations. Every Home player owes it to himself or herself to check out the Dream Island in its open house, until September 12th 2012. Once experienced, it’s a pretty sure bet that if they are able, most Home players will wind up purchasing the space for themselves.
- Swimming!!
- Large, explorable space
- Crisp, clean design
- Multiple "partitions"
- Activities to play with
- Unrestricted furniture
- Unlockables
- Could use more animals
- Small navigation glitches
- Perpetual daylight
- Would love to be on the boat :(
September 4th, 2012 by Gideon | 5 comments
Gideon is a team writer for HomeStation Magazine and likes cheese in all its forms. Whether it be block, slice, cream, wheel, log, string or aerosol, Gideon cant resist the pungent bitter taste of good cheese. Heck, he'll even take mediocre cheese, as long as its slapped between two pieces of whole wheat bread with a little bit of mustard.
It is indeed a very beautiful space, but so big I think might force another out-cry for a item limit increase again. Even with no Actives, 100 slots for this place will have you working it around like we used to when we only had 50 slots. There are notable places obviously made with the new screens in mind, but again at a massive 25 slots for one screen you face the problem of Empty Space Syndrome once you stick one in there.
I’m a sucker for stuff that looks good though, so even with its limitations in its item capacity, I still love being in this place.
I like these picture perfect spaces, hopefully the swimming motion will not be as bugged as it is in the open house. perhaps as we are getting more and more spaces with they own bundles of furniture to save item numbers perhaps they could make items that would go tegether such as tables and chairs as 1 item instead of 5.
Excellent review Gideon
Additionally, the swimming glitch has been fixed and submitted to Sony, and you can expect it to go live on September 12th.
Thanks!
Excellent review Gideon! Hmmm Day/Night controls. Now that would be cool.