The long anticipated return of one of Sega's greats keeps the company moving back to its former glory.
The Bad: Exploring as the kids is mostly lame; voice acting is either so-so or just plain bad; the Wiimote-only controller option is poorly executed; the stupid talking owl that no one likes.
NiGHTS was once one of Sega's most popular characters. Back in the day, when Sega made systems and competed with Nintendo and Sony, the purple jester was in glory alongside Sonic, Samba de Amigo, Parappa the Rapper, Beyond Oasis, and Shining Force. Now, however, all those franchises have been sloping downhill, or have ceased to exist.
Sonic pulled out some great 2-D, and yes, 3-D games back in the day (Sonic Adventure 1 and 2). Since then, his games were either just ok or awful. Sonic Heroes was ok, for example. Shadow the Hedgehog, or the new Sonic the Hedgehog... not so much.
But even Sonic is back on his 3,000,000,000 mph feet with Sonic Advance 1-3, Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure on GBA and DS, and his best 3-D work in years, if not THE best, Sonic and the Secret Rings. It looks like Sega is finally figuring out how to get back on track, and Secret Rings was a great start.
Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Black Knight, Samba de Amigo and Major Minor's Majestic March are all coming from those old developers now, too. They want to see if they can keep this snowball rolling, and I certainly hope so.
NiGHTS was one of those big ones too, and it's getting revitalized at long last thanks to Secret Rings' success, too.
So has NiGHTS aged very well?
Sadly, not exactly. Like Sonic, NiGHTS isn't quite what he (or she?) used to be. But in terms of Sega getting back to becoming Nintendo's biggest competitor, or biggest partner, or wherever they're headed, NiGHTS is another good move forward.
Controlling NiGHTS is simple. You move the control stick around to move him/her up, down, left and right in a quazi on-rails path (on-rails like Secret Rings before it, in other words). You can also make huge circles to suck in your opponents, grab hold of them and send them flying, and collect blue bubbles in the air to allow you to fly like fifty times faster.
As lame as my description sounded, it really is pretty addictive. The levels are all way different from each other, even though the bosses are often the same ones (though they sometimes become more difficult as you go). You can become different forms of NiGHTS too, which just adds to the fun, not detracts from it.
The levels also have quite a bit of replayability. You'll be shooting for the highest grade, just as in Sonic and the Secret Rings (same devs, if you were wondering), and it's going to be in the process.
On the downside, playing as the little kids isn't so great. You'll pick a boy or girl character in the beginning, and they'll have their story intertwine with NiGHTS's. They basically make for a platforming element in between the NiGHTS levels. While every once in awhile you'll get a fun, maybe even vaguely challenging level, it's mostly a bit dull. It's spiced up more when the kids are working together though, so it's not a total disaster.
The NiGHTS levels are where it's at, in other words. The kid story won't crush the game's fun, and again, isn't always bad but NiGHTS is far better to play as.
The voice acting is so-so at its best, with NiGHTS and most of the enemy characters, but the kids and the stupid owl (the reincarnation of Kaepora Gaebora) are pretty bad. Similarly, Sonic and the Secret Rings had decent acting for Sonic, the final boss and maybe Knuckles, but the idiot genie and Tails were pretty lousy. It's a bit of a shame for both (possibly due to budget issues), but again, it's not a game destroying complaint.
The music, on the other hand, is pretty good. Sonic and NiGHTS each have lyrics in their music, and Sonic does more often, but neither is really bad. Neither's fantastic either, but it's generally a plus.
The graphics (again like Secret Rings) are wonderful. They don't prove the Wii's potential, but they aren't half-baked efforts by any stretch, and some of the better graphics from a third party to date. It's good to see Sega did indeed put their time and effort in here, like with the rest of the game.
The length isn't extremely long or short, but the replayability helps the matter. I compare Sonic and NiGHTS so much because the two games are very similar. The graphics are great, the music's ok, both are on-rails (sort of), the voice acting's awful, the controls are pretty good, and the replayability's great. Each is a big step for Sega becoming what it once was. And each is really pretty fun.
This team (who made both of the above) is some of the best in years for the company, and they have more coming up. If these two giant characters have even better improvements, Sega could at last have the blue blur compete with Mario once again. That unforgettable war from the Super Nintendo and Genesis years would be great to see again to get platforming, and Sega, back on track. And judging by this game and Secret Rings (assuming this keeps up), it's coming, if very slowly.
Would I suggest NiGHTS? Yes. It's not one of the most fantastic games on Wii, but it's definitely fun, just like Secret Rings, as always. Both are worth a look, and if not a purchase, at least a rental. C'mon Sega, let's keep this snowball rolling.