Review by: Wicked Mat

NiGHTS is one of the top-ten pieces of software that has ever been created for the Saturn. That is for sure. From my point of view it could well be the best one ever.

It is undoubtedly the gameplay that makes this one stand out from the crowd. One do buy games to have fun, and all the graphics and sounds in the world could never make up for an unplayable game. Judging strictly by that philosophy though, Tetris would perhaps be the best game ever created in the videogames history, so letīs just say that gameplay is more important than pretty graphics and fat soundtracks.

NiGHTS, however, has all the features. Wonderful, colorful graphics, very well animated, lovely tunes with sparkling sound effects on top, and a simply amazing gameplay.

The object is to obtain energy, by walking/flying around in a 3D landscape. You can pick up a huge variety of objects, collect blue chips, golden stars and perform acrobatic stunts that give You higher points the more complicated and beautiful they are. Flying through a complicated "link" and managing to go through all the loops on one go is a tremendous ego-kick. Seeing the timer countdown below 5 and being on your way to the next level in hyper-speed, bouncing off the walls gives You an incredible adrenalin-rush. Will I make it?

The landscapes are actually dreams (yes itīs true, it said so in the manual), and when 4 stages of a dream is cleared you proceed to a nightmare. There is a monster to be outwitted in each nightmare, and itīs up to You to spot the monsters weakness.

Once Youīve beaten the monster, the dream has been mastered and You get access to new dreams...

Thatīs it really. Doesnīt sound like much of a game to You? Well, go to the nearest store and try it out. Like a videogames magazine put it: "More of a bizarre encounter than a game really"...

Now for some ratings:

GRAPHICS:
The resolution is quite high, although not the highest the Saturn is capable of. This makes the characters very pretty, as well as the backdrops. The colors are stunning, and the level design leaves nothing more to be desired. Animation is superb, and the 3D-engine that works this game could well give the Nintendo 64 something to think about. Like, "how did they squeeze a Model3 board onto that CD?" Lovely...and just an inch from perfection, due to a slight problem with pop-up, but I assure You, this does not affect the gameplay. 9.5/10

SOUND:
As this game is developed by Sonic Team, many of the sound effects bare a resemblance to some effects in the Sonic games. Nothing wrong with that though, as those sound effects suit the game excellent. The tunes are wonderful fusionjazzmelodies with a very fresh attitude. You actually get happy listening to these soundtracks, no matter how much youīre into drumīnībass, hard house or grunge. 9.5/10

GAMEPLAY:
Well, what can I say? This is where the game outruns all other games on the Saturn. It is fast, furious, simple to learn, hard to master, funny, addictive, bouncing, jumping, flying, running, climbing...and still so easy to control. With an analog pad this could be the best thing that has ever happened to videogaming as far as gameplay is concerned... And You just want more. Itīs a timekiller...do not insert the NiGHTS disk into your Saturn CD-drive early workdays/schooldays. The chance that You will arrive at work/school on time, or maybe at all, is very small. 10/10

OVERALL:
Letīs put it this way: If You could afford ONE game only for Your Saturn, ever...You would probably be best off with this one. There are actually only four or maybe five "must-have" titles for the Saturn this far, and NiGHTS is one of them, and it has a lastability unthreatened by any other of those titles...

10/10 says Wicked Mat, Stockholm City, Sweden