GamesRadar not only had a chance to check out NiGHTS, but they’ve finished the game already and have their impressions posted. There’s a few surprises and a few spoilers even towards the end and I’ve grabbed a few quotes below that sum up their views on various aspects of the game:

..it’s in the sky that NiGHTS has always excelled and, fortunately, this is where the majority of the gameplay is to be found. The mechanics have been stripped down considerably since the bewildering original, so now you don’t have to search out 20 blue chips then get to the end. Instead, in the game’s primary levels, you must simply chase a bird through the course until you grab it and retrieve the key to NiGHTS’ prison three times. Passing through hoops replenishes your dash attack bar, so you’ll get there faster by flying accurately.

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A new feature we saw was a section called ‘My Dream’ which is an area you can customise, hidden away behind a door in the main hub level. The landscape in My Dream begins as a flat square, but the Nightopians (A-Life creatures like the Chao in Sonic Adventure) you evolve in the game will make the environment change as they grow. Nintendo WiFi Connection will make the weather here echo the real weather at the time of play. You can also invite other players to your space, allowing for some social gaming possibilities.

The Wi-Fi link will also allow for multiplayer races. These can take place on one console via split screen, between friends on WFC or in a random match against a player you don’t know. Sounds good.

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All in all, very promising. But we do have one nagging concern. Apart from NiGHTS’ voice, it’s the control that really worries us at this stage. Basic flight is not as responsive as before and you’ll often find yourself overshooting a right-angled hoop just because of the delay. It also feels a tad ‘digital’ with the analog stick on the nunchuk, although we didn’t have a Gamecube controller with us to test it as the team’s been playing it. There’s still time to sort it out and you can work around it, but we did feel half the battle was against the controls in the preview build.

Sounds great, I can’t wait to check it out! Another must buy for the Wii in my book.