I liked this game much better when the context was much more vague...

NiGHTS, everyone who owned a Sega Saturn knew about this game, for better or for worse, and it came with a really bitchin' 3D Controller. It was a surreal little game, in which you flew around a Rail and- hell. I don't even remember, some crap about collecting balls, and you could make vortex's or some shit like that when you flew in a circle. Look, I don't even know the back story to NiGHTS, partly because the game offered us some FMV that featured background music, and that's it. The game was fun as all hell, and that's all that matters.

Fast foreward to 2007, right before Christmas, and this little nostalgic game "NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams" is released, for the Wii console. Well duh I'm going to buy it without any investigation, a.)Sega b.) Sega Saturn. I don't think I really need to expand on this idea.* After skimming over some reviews at work, I gleamed that the Wii Remote controls we're pathetic, which was no sweat off my back, I would only assume this much after my previous journeys into the world of guiding characters with the WiiMote (Point in Case: Red Steel)
When I got home, I quickly ripped open the case and jammed that fucking disc into my Wii as fast as I could (not helped by the Wii not wanting to give me back my copy of Ghost Squad, understandably so.) and was delighted to hear a vaguely familiar soundtrack, I pick my save files name, and this is where things go downhill.

Upon being presented with my selections on screen, I couldn't help but notice how sluggish the WiiMote's responce was to my motions, which seemed peculiar to me because my cursor was fast and chipper when I was on my main menu, either way, I make my way into the Main Game, and am presented with a nice looking FMV, wow that hair looks nice! Following the FMV, I'm now shown the actual game graphics.

Oh... is this what I was looking at 20 seconds ago?

The game looks... well... aged. You can tell immediately that the characters are probably based off the exact same models as their FMV counterparts, only the Wii couldn't render as well, so we're stuck with less vibrant, less lively characters (Animations do look jerky at times). Beyond the graphics... what the hell- some owl's talking to me or whatever, and I can't skip it. Agony. Honestly, thats the only word to describe what I was feeling. My childhood memories were... well... a hell of a lot less creepy. The game just has a much less mysterious, much more stupid feel to it, it was much better off as a silent film, as far as I'm concerned. Point of the matter: I don't care what the owl has to say, I want to fly around and kill shit.

On to where the game actually matters, and thats gameplay. It's... NiGHTS? That's really the only way to describe it, it shares much (if not all) of the exact same elements that we were treated with, even down to that crazy A-Life system :) Nostalgia at it's best! Where this game falls flat on it's face is the "default" control scheme. Everyone was right, controlling NiGHTS with your WiiMote sucks. Ass. Lucky for us you can use your nunchuck, or if you're so inclined, the Classic Controller. Either works well, and the option to switch to a use-able control getup is presented to you immediately (almost as if the dev's knew that no-one was going to use the native controls? Weird, ne?)

Conclusion: It's creepy, but if you liked NiGHTS, or are up for something new(?), give it a shot, it's a fun little game, if even for just a little while.
*(Note: I have a hard on for all that is Sega Saturn)