My night with NiGHTS...

[shams]

Had this coming weekend to myself, so decided to head down to local video store and rent a new Wii game. Had a couple I wanted to play (RE:UC was rented out) - but NiGHTS won out (considering I didn't intend to buy it down the track).

I may have only clocked 30-45min (very start of the game) so far - and completed the first level, and had a muck around.

Here are some impressions... I may post more later on - if I can be bothered to play more of the game...

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The game starts with a fairly nice rendered intro - then immediately takes a bad step. I always get the feeling I can tell a lot about any game when examining the first few minutes of 'coded' game (i.e. non-rendered intro).

You get to choose your name, and at least they have implemented proper Wiimote control - so you can select the letters in your name.  But - the controls are very loose, and the cursor is a fairly large circle (no crosshair or anything like that) - so it makes selecting letters a little confusing. Not the ideal start really. In many ways this sums up this game.

You then choose the character you want (picked the boy - not sure how different the girl is) and the game dumps you in a platforming gameplay section.

It then does a "classic Sega" (I know nothing about the original NiGHTS btw...) - tries to explain some convoluted game plot, introduces lots of new characters, terms and concepts - and then tries to wrap up the story with a "collect these balls" gameplay.

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My initial impressions of the very start of the game weren't great.

Within a couple of minutes, I had my character standing in midair (collision mesh extended way too far from the actual geometry!), was doing unrealistic/wierd jumps (no gravity or sense of weight here).

The graphics were also... I have to say, TERRIBLE. I have been playing DQIX on the PS2 recently - and it looks MUCH better than this game did. Its also sad going from playing Galaxy (which is gorgeous and lifelike) to this - dull, flat textures, dead feeling world, poor geometry, minimal special effects... walking around the grass felt like I was back on the N64, with some ultra-basic particle engine and a 4k texture.

In short - it really feels like the game was rushed, and lacks a heap of polish.

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Then I got into the game itself. Things didn't get much better. In parts, the graphics are good - but the framerate felt like it was suffering (not even sure if it was running at 60fps - or closer to 20?).

But the real killer was the controls.

I *hate* playing this game with the analog stick. It just feels wrong. It doesn't control very well (over sensitive and hard to control steering properly) - and this *is* the Wii for heavens sake. Why not implement a proper control system? This game *could* have rocked. With the analog stick, better off putting it on the 360/PS3 - cranking up the res, frame rate & gfx.

So I tried the pure Wiimote control (no Nunchuck). It sort of works ok - you control the character by moving your screen cursor to the direction you want them to fly in (think in 2D terms here).

Only one problem - the input code is basically broken. Controlling the on-screen cursor works pretty badly - especially when compared to any other decent Wiimote game (even Galaxy, RE:UC, etc..). If you point just off the screen, it loses control - and your cursor position "freezes". There seems to be little/no filtering of input position, or any real attempt at implementing a "good" Wiimote control system. And its a real pity.

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Apart from all that - I managed to finish the first level, and the matching boss (both with a 'C' rating). It was sort of fun - the boss was cute (original!),  but the camera got in the way several times (a couple of times I got stuck against "something" - outside of the boss as well - and the camera was in a spot, such that I couldn't see myself).

The first boss was quite pretty - with some sort of effects applied I think.

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All up (so far) - the game is a definite disappointment. Design-wise it has real potential - the 2D flying (in a 3D world) could be a lot of fun - if implemented properly.

Its very obvious the game was very rushed, and too much effort put into things like the 2player mode, the online mode (etc...) rather than the core game itself.

Given another 6-12 months of development, it could have been a really excellent title.

I would struggle to recommend this to anyone - even to fans of the series (maybe). Lets hope Sega produces a sequel, and maybe gives it to a more accomplished team to create.

(Impressions score/after 1hr playtime: 4.5/10)

(*note - IMO, its still lightyears ahead of "The Simpsons Game" that I also rented a while back - and that sold 4m units WW on all platforms...)