The folks at Eurogamer.net and Game Life have had a chance to check out NiGHTS for the Wii while they were at the Tokyo Game Show and they both have their hands on articles up. Here’s some portions from each article where they discuss graphics, gameplay, the state of the game, and what NiGHTS is all about. Click over to the links for their full write-ups.

From Eurogamer.net:

The basic concept is somewhere between racing and action, and despite the (not particularly fancy, but certainly artistically satisfying) visuals, you move across the world along set routes, shot from the side to give the game a 2D feel. As you move left to right (often diagonally) with the analogue stick, you must collect orbs, fly through hoops (often having to loop the loop) and track down a flying bird off in the distance ahead of you. The idea is to tackle the bird, toss it out of the way and retrieve a key, which allows you to continue onto the second “lap” of the course when you complete the cycle.

As you work through each lap-based bird-chase, the route changes, sending you underwater, in-between tight rocky clusters, bouncing off clouds and even down a sort of rollercoaster. The perspective sometimes shifts to behind, giving you the job of manoeuvring across the screen to reach hoops and orbs as though you’re flying down a tube. Other level objects include weird orange hanging-light things that either speed you up or change your path - I couldn’t quite figure it out - and a range of obstacles, which you want to avoid contact with because they add seconds to your time, which in turn reduces the likelihood of your successfully completing a lap. On the plus side, you can press the A button to produce a burst of speed, which is useful for closing the final few metres to the gallivanting Nightmaren.

From Game Life:

In the level I played, I had to use the A button to make Nights dash quickly through the air and catch up to birds who were carrying keys, then fly back around the “track” to cages in the air that I could unlock by flying into them. The control felt smooth, and looping through the air is as fun as ever, although pressing Up and Down to rise and fall takes a bit of getting used to since the camera isn’t directly to the side of Nights.

After you unlock each cage, the path on which you fly changes. In the third and final bit, you enter a cave and the viewpoint shifts to directly behind Nights. This makes the control a little more natural, as up, down, left, and right now correspond exactly to Nights’ position on the screen.

The stage ends with a boss battle. A giant horrible fish monster starts chasing Nights around a tight circular path. You have to make Nights do a loop in the air, which causes a burst of energy that damages the monster. At this point he turns into a giant pile of colorful bubbles, which you can loop around to destroy.

Sounds great and even though I didn’t spend too much time with the original NiGHTS, I’ll definitely be picking this one up.