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Well I'm quite sure you've heard of this marvellous game made by the Sonic Team (no prizes for guessing what other games they make) for the Saturn. This was set by Sega as a Mario killer before Mario 64 came out in the market.

Just recently I've got a Saturn (whoopee) and one of the first things I asked are what the best games for the Saturn were. One of the first games was NiGHTS. So I picked it up and started playing on my li'l Saturn.

Basically this game is like flying on rails; but it's quite good becoz if anyone tried flying 3D you'll have to contend with the controls as if NiGHTS was a flight simulator. Definitely not the case here. Well there's this bad guy Wizeman bent on creating nightmares. Which is usually not a good thing. A rebel nightmarian, no other than NiGHTS himself; sets on his mission to save Nightopia from the nightmares. He needs the help of Elliot and Claris; two children (oh well it's a lot better this way) who possess the Red Ideya Courage. Why the Ideyas? Only because naughty Wizeman has the other 4; and the object is not to let him have all of this. So there you have it; the beautiful plot of NiGHTS. (the rest you'll have to find out yourselves...)

The aim is to collect 20 Ideyas, deposit them in the Ideya Palace and get as many points as you can. Sounds dumb at first collecting points but this affects your final grade. You are given 120 seconds per area (4 per level) to collect the ideyas, dump them in the ideya palace and then get as many points as possible to earn a 'A' grade. If you're out of time, you fall as Elliot/Claris and lose all your ideyas and points, virtually guaranteeing a 'F' at the end of the act. (okay okay i meant area; gotten too used to Sonic already)

Talking about Sonic, NiGHTS has a great resemblance to Sonic in a number of ways, ranging to the beautiful landscapes to great music and basically LOTS of speed.

Of course now down to the review. I played this game using the normal controller (The shopkeeper recommended the 3D pad). So of course I really screwed up at first; thinking that this was a flight simulator; pressing up to go down and pressing down to go up. This game is a totally different genre (closest is action/platform) from the basic few genres; you press your controller where you want Nights to go. ie. press up to make Nights go up, and down for the opposite. Pressing L and R makes him do great stunts (after you blast the Ideya Palace to bits) and A,B,C are for drill attack (or making Nights go faster). Paraloops are formed by going into a loop that sucks enemies away.

The graphics of this game are surreal; and it fits the game completely. They are stunning for a Saturn and it's really the best I've ever seen. I know there is a several bit of pop-up and clipping and even slowdown; but the speed that Nights is going at is usually too fast for you to notice. That also means that when you are one of the children the graphical glitches come to full effect. Ah well...

Sound and Music: The best. Trust me.

Gameplay: well there are 3 levels for each character and a common final level; making it 7 in all. That's quite short if compared to the likes of Crash or Mario; but the grading system makes up for part of it. You need 'C's for your levels to access the final stage.

Here comes the little criticism I have for this game. It IS too short. Playing with one character (at a time, using Elliot first); on my 1st try I completed the game in just 2 hours!! (with 'C's in the 1st 3 stages; but 'B's and 'A's in the final stage as I stumbled with Wizeman a number of times) The ending was real sweet however. Anyway I completed Claris' levels (with Cs) and completing the game in another 1 1/2 hours (that's because I've gotten used to the control system and I could whack Wizeman's butt easily already). There is also NO difficulty level. ie. this game is way too easy.

However the grading system means that you would not leave the game with great satisfaction until you finish with a perfect 'A' gradings. Well that's my opinion; you guys may just say hey I've finished the game and so there little replay value isn't it? Well frankly after a few rounds of NiGHTS there is little replay value.

--> In the end I can only conclude that NiGHTS was rushed as it had enormous potential. Christmas NiGHTS which I bought later has all the great secrets and options the Sonic Team have left out in the original mainly because they were rushed by Sega to release it before Mario 64. That is just a large disappointment.

However the game is still a marvellous masterpiece worthy of everybody's purchase as this game's benefits outweigh its faults; you'll have to be extremely picky to strike this game off your list of Saturn CD purchases.

Verdict: You HAVE to buy it, at least together with Xmas Nights to get a full picture on Yuji Naka's masterpiece.

Ratings:
Graphics: 98%
Music: 100%
FX: 90%
Playability: 80%
Lasting power: 75%
Gameplay: 92%

Overall: 91% (not an average)
> worthy of your purchase; as the Saturn has never had such good games before. :)