Fond memmories on NiGHTS? Try it! New to the franchise? Love it!
The story goes around two kids, Helen and Will, each one with a deep fear affecting their lives. In their dreams, each one meets with NiGHTS and find out how the "dream" world is being threatened. In joining NiGHTS they will attempt to save this world and, at the same time, confront and overcome their fears.
About the story. Is a very engaging and cute one, depending on how sensitive and open you may be, is really easy to get in touch with the characters and, despite being a short affair, it's still an enjoyable one, and soon you may feel the characters growing in you.
The general world design is very nice. A really oniric one which helps to establish each character mood and interests. The graphics are top notch and really show you how the art direction can achieve a great sense of immersion. The world design is colorful and with strong contrast when the time or situation is appropriate, for example, when you encounter a stage boss. There is, also, a good amount of detail, although some textures may seem a little bland and is hard to say if this was a design choice, to represent the dream world, or a lack of effort. Light effects, reflections and shadows are also on the bright side, but some animations may look unpolished and awkward.
One of the greatest departments in the game is the music and sound one. The whole game has a beautiful soundtrack, very moody, and the way it changes to reflect certain events is just great. In one level you have to keep the pace in a gigantic partiture, and play accordingly. This works just great and adds a good deal of challenge to score perfect. The voice acting is also good and reflect well the emotions of the several characters.
About the gameplay you may find a certain amount of repetitiveness in the organization of the worlds but, considering is a short game, it doesn't affect at all. Some on foot platform games are interesting, but they are not very polished. You can say the main effort was on the flying sequences, as the running feels too mechanic.
A final word on the playing mechanics is that they offer several controller configurations: Wii-mote only (IR focused), Wii-mote/Nunchuck (Analog stick), and classical controller (Analog stick).
I can say the IR is really broken, as the sensitivity is to high and any movement is overly complicated. Accuracy is no where to be found and, all the control schema feels like a total waste because it was a really clever idea.
My best recommendation, stick to the sticks. Is much easier to control, either NiGHTS or the kids this way, despite the fact you may feel the Wii-mote as a dead load in your hand because is not really used other than for rumble as all you need is one stick and one button. Some flying tricks were added to Wii-mote movements, but they are not really needed.
Finally, there are some extras that can be unlocked depending on the grade you obtain in each mission and some collectibles. And a "sand-box" where you can keep inhabitants of the dream world and do some interaction. This "garden" is also available to receive visitors via WFC, which is a nice addition.
On the WFC/Multiplayer side, you can also battle and race against a second player locally, and race online with friends or random players. The stages available for this can also be unlocked via the main game.
In general, is a great effort and, despite the control failures, it really deserves a place in your library (although not permanently if a sequel manages to fix these details).