NiGHTS is an amazing game that provides a totally fun and unique experience. But it's not without its flaws
First, the good. The good thing is NiGHTS is unlike anything you've ever played before. You take control of the main character, NiGHTS, who lives in the strange "Night Dimension", a place that humans can only visit in their dreams. You with two children, Helen and...some other kid who's name escapes me, join forces in the hopes of saving the land of Nightopia. Okay, the plot is pretty lame, but it's the gameplay that sucks you in. Flying with NiGHTS is, no pun intended, dream-like. You fly on a 2-D (ish) plane, flying through rings and collecting things called "blue chips" through beautiful and stunningly designed levels. Fancy camera tricks make the experience feel more 3-D, and the result is something that really sucks you in, and feels great to play. Oh and it's fun. I probably didn't describe this terribly well, but just know that the flight based gameplay is absolutely breathtaking.
The problems start arising when you're NOT flying around as NiGHTS. Like a Mario game, you have a central hub (in this case its the Dream Gate). Your main character is actually a kid who traveled to the Night Dimension in a dream, so in the hub world you're actually controling a kid. You take control of NiGHTS when you "dualize" with him (dualize pretty much means "combine bodies, and yes. NiGHTS is a dude). There are six missions that you choose through each door in the dream gate, and they're not all winners. Most of the levels revolve around flying with NiGHTS--a good thing. However, some levels require you to play as one of the kids--not a good thing. These missions turn a really unique game into a lame traditional platformer. Thankfully, there's not a lot of these missions, and they don't last long. They do, however, muck with the over-all experience.
Another big complaint for me was the graphics, which are really inconsistant. I'm not someone who normally cares about graphics, but they really could've been better. The flying missions with NiGHTS look outstanding, and provide some of the Wii's best visuals and art direction. However, the characters and levels that AREN'T flight based look quite unpolished. You'll go to "holy crap this is a good looking Wii game!" to "huh. Well it'd be a good looking PS2 game I guess" to "okay. Now this looks like a freakin' N64 game". The main problem is that it's clear that in some areas it's clear that Sega just didn't polish it up enough. A little more time in development, and this could've been one outstanding looking Wii game.
However, all these complaints sort of take the back seat when its backed by such an amazing soundtrack. This soundtrack is undoubtedly one of the all time greatest in the history of videogames. It really is that good. There's not a bad song in the bunch, and they all add to the over-all dream-like quality of the game.
A little longer in development and NiGHTS would've been one of the greatest games ever made. Seriously. It's flaws are a bit too big to give it that coveted 9.0, but that's not to say that NiGHTS is a bad game. In fact its a great game, and one of the best, most fun, and most unique on the system. It's not for everyone, but I urge all who are interested to at least give it a rent. Believe me--you'll want a sequel.