A long, long time ago, back when this Gaijin was just a little otokonoko , there was a console from Sega called the Saturn. Although this console was prematurely snuffed out by the PS1's gargantuan third-party support and the N64's pre-release hype train, it managed to crank out a few memorable games before its untimely death. The most memorable among them is a difficult-to-describe on-rails-'platformer' by Sonic Team called NiGHTS: Into Dreams.
Unlike anything that came before or after it, this game combined the elements of platforming with on-rails flight. The only thing that could 'kill' you is running out of time (being hit by an enemy would subtract seconds from your clock). I'll admit I didn't spend a lot of time playing the original NiGHTS, but the game is fondly remembered by gaming enthusiasts as being astonishingly unique and fun for the time, and one of the only games really worth playing on the Saturn. Fans of the original have begged and pleaded with Sega for an entire generation of consoles to produce a sequel. And finally, that time has come... on the Wii.
Developed by the American branch of Sonic Team (uh oh...), this game continues the spirit of the original NiGHTS, but tacks on some Wii control schemes, voice acting, and additional modes for a good-but-unpolished experience that's at least worth a rental, if not a purchase.
The story revolves around two children - Will and Helen - who are transported to the Night Dimension when they fall asleep. Apparently, an evil entity known as Wizeman is using creatures known as Nightmarens in an attempt to take over, or something like that. His motivations are never really revealed early on in the game, and there are a few twists and turns in the plot along the way, including a startling revelation about NiGHTS him/her/itself. In general though, the story plays second fiddle to the gameplay, which is definitely the star of the show. This gameplay stays true to the original NiGHTS - mostly.
There are seven levels total, plus a hub world. Each is very unique in its design and fun to explore, with 5 stages to each level culminating in a boss fight. The stages that make up each level contain similar goals, such as flying through a certain number of rings, defeating a certain number of enemies, collecting Nightopians along a track in a timed race sequence, etc. The boss battles at the end of each level are both fun and challenging, though if you cannot figure out the boss's weakness quickly it can be easy to run out of time. On a normal boss stage, this really isn't too much of a problem since you can just start the battle over again. However, each level's chase sequence (the first stage in each level, where you have to free NiGHTS from a cage by collecting 3 keys from Nightmarens) climaxes in a 'preview battle' with the level's boss. If you die in this 'preview battle', you have to do the entire chase sequence over again, which can be frustrating. Thankfully, the chase sequences tend to be a lot of fun, so this really isn't much of a problem. More annoying is the fact that you can't skip the in-game cutscenes, ever. Watching the same 2-minute intro sequence each time you mess up on a stage gets old quickly. The platforming segments where you play as the human characters rather than NiGHTS are easily the weakest part of the game, both graphically and otherwise. Speaking of weak points of this game, flying with the Wiimote is next to impossible. Don't even try it. Just hook up a nunchuk or use a Gamecube controller...then the game controls like a...uh...dream. Hehe.
Graphically, the game is a mixed bag. When walking around as the human characters, it's blatantly obvious that most of the textures in the game were designed to be seen far away, from the perspective of NiGHTS. Close up, everything's muddy and blurry, and looks nowhere near as good as a game like Super Mario Galaxy. However, once you begin to fly around as NiGHTS, you begin to appreciate the detail and care that went into each level (my favorite being the City level that contains casino and billiards elements). There's some real care that went into the design of these levels, and I can't underestimate how much fun it is to fly through them. Boss stages are even better. If this game would have had a little more time in development, it could have been a graphical showpiece for the Wii. Instead, it's merely above-average.
There are additional 'bonus features' in the game as well, such as a customized garden where you can keep the Nightopians you save during the adventure (you can also visit other players' gardens if you wish using the Nintendo WFC). But this feature is just as tacked on as the Chao garden in Sonic Adventure 2, and is a mere afterthought to the main game. The other uses of the Nintendo WFC are much better, as the racing levels in particular are a lot of fun to play online. The "battle mode", while interesting in concept (you're flying around on rails, hurling huge spheres suspended in space at your opponent, who is trying to do the same thing to you), does not transfer well to the control methods provided by the game.
Rating System: Who needs stars and numbers? I'm all about the otaku emoticons!
*-* = Amazing
^-^ = Good
-_- = Fair
T_T = Poor
Graphics: ^-^
Great when you're up in the air, but lousy when you're down on the ground, this game could have benefited greatly from a little more time in development in order to sort out all the graphical issues. The in-game look of the human children is downright creepy at times, which is just wrong.
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