The Conduit places you in the role of Michael Ford, an agent for a mysterious organization called the Trust. Recruited by Trust commander John Adams, Ford is sent into Washington D.C. to recover an agency-developed prototype called the All-Seeing Eye (A.S.E.) from a terrorist known only as Prometheus. Meanwhile, the city is in a state of chaos, caught in the grips of an alien invasion while suffering from the spread of a flu-like affliction that turns humans into alien puppets. Ford sets out to recover the A.S.E., unwittingly pulled into an ever-growing conspiracy.
And thus we come to the most glaring flaw of The Conduit: to call its story, setting, and characters clichéd is being kind. The government/alien conspiracy angle has been done to death, and it isn't taken anywhere new here. Enemy and weapon designs are highly reminiscent of Halo 3, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Resistance 2, and the side-story broadcast by radios scattered throughout each level is straight out of Resistance 2 as well. The first-person shooter genre has never been one known for its originality, but seldom do you come across a game so wholly derivative of others on the market.
Fortunately, these retreaded elements are wrapped in a completely new - and excellent - graphics engine built from scratch for the Wii hardware. Environments are varied, expansive, and detailed throughout the game's nine single-player levels. You'll battle through underground bunkers and subways, a meticulously-recreated Jefferson Memorial, the offices of the Pentagon, and even the White House itself. While some textures are recycled a bit too much, the look and feel of each level is different right to the end. There are occasional frame rate drops in larger rooms, but gameplay is never affected and the experience is a smooth one overall.
The Conduit's audio is generally good. Featuring voice acting by Kevin Sorbo and Mark Sheppard, High Voltage certainly spared no expense in telling the game's story. While the voice acting could be better (Sorbo and Sheppard have a fairly wooden delivery and some of the dialogue is downright cheesy), it's nice to see such attention to detail in terms of presentation. The musical score varies in quality, ranging from the excellent theme to forgettable background tunes, and sound effects are your typical alien screams and explosions.
These technical achievements would mean little if there wasn't a solid game to back them up, and The Conduit delivers for the most part. There's a substantial single-player campaign (about 8 to 12 hours in length) complemented by dozens of achievements, as well as unlockable art and cheats. There are several different difficulty levels as well, giving dedicated players plenty of reasons to keep playing, and of course its extensive online multiplayer component.
The Conduit's control scheme is very similar to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, with forward and lateral movement handled by the Nunchuk joystick and the Wii Remote acting as a mouselook and B-trigger. The bounding box concept is employed, meaning that moving the Wii pointer outside of an invisible box in the middle of the screen causes the player's character to turn in that direction. Some of the default Wiimote button mappings are difficult to reach (the spin and grenade selection commands, for example), but everything is customizable, so if you don't like the default layout you can switch up the controls however you want.
The motion controls are excellent, allowing you to turn quickly and zero in on targets accurately; aiming takes skill and a steady hand. The most unexpectedly impressive aspect, however, is throwing grenades with the Nunchuk. A thrust of the Nunchuk tosses a grenade, but how softly or hard this is done is accurately reflected by how far it's thrown. There's nothing more satisfying than dropping a grenade right in the middle of three enemies, exactly where you intended.
The Conduit is a brisk run'n'gun experience in the classic mold, pitting you against waves of enemies intended to prevent you from completing objectives and advancing the storyline. In addition to blasting baddies, players use the A.S.E. to hack into computers, decipher hidden messages on walls, and even uncloak invisible aliens. Like the scan visor mechanic in Metroid Prime, the A.S.E. is fun to use and gives players incentive to explore their surroundings. If you enjoy first-person shooters, you'll definitely find a lot to like here.
However, fans of the genre will also find a host of minor annoyances. There is no on-screen grenade indicator (like in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), meaning that you'll run towards grenades as often as you run away from them because you aren't sure where they are. Objectives aren't always clear either, forcing you to pause the game and check your list to determine what to do next. You sometimes aren't explicitly told if your goal is to clear out enemies or their spawn points instead, so you may waste time unwittingly killing an endless stream of enemies.
Checkpoints are also problematic. Since checkpoints are the only way to save the messages you've deciphered with your A.S.E., dying means you have to decipher them all over again to get credit. Checkpoints also take an exact snapshot of what you're doing when you pass through, so if you're facing a wall with the A.S.E. equipped instead of a gun you'll start that way every time thereafter. These sound like nitpicks, but over the course of the game they become increasingly frustrating.
Level design is good for the most part, but there are irritations here as well. Later levels don't increase difficulty in any way other than throwing more enemies at you, and the general lack of enemy variety doesn't help. While none of these issues are game-breakers by themselves, as a whole they make the single-player campaign feel less polished than it should.
For all of the flaws of the single-player campaign, The Conduit's online multiplayer component is excellent. The lack of local multiplayer is disappointing, but there's still plenty to do. Players can challenge up to twelve friends or regional/worldwide opponents in solo deathmatch, team deathmatch, or team objective play. There are seven different maps, several different weapon sets (Alien, Human, Explosive, etc.), and many different game types to choose from. Among the best are A.S.E. Football (a variation of "Hot Potato" with each player competing to see who can carry the A.S.E. the longest), Bounty Hunter (one person is the target, and players lose points for killing anybody other than that person), and the classic Marathon (kill as many players as possible within a time limit). Throw in an online ranking system and full stat-tracking, and you have a multiplayer game that you'll be playing for a long time. Performance is also relatively lag-free, with some hitches when playing worldwide matches but nothing too distracting.
What makes The Conduit's online component so impressive is its robustness. Multiplayer is WiiSpeak-enabled (for friends only), allowing players to chat with others in the lobby and during gameplay. The quality isn't always the greatest: you'll get echoes depending on the speaker setups of other players, and voice chat sometimes cuts in and out, but it adds so much to the experience that it simply doesn't matter. There's nothing better than talking smack after an especially satisfying kill. Friend code management is also a breeze, including functionality that allows you to add mutual friends and send invites that others can accept later. It's as fleshed-out as anything you'd find on the Xbox 360 or PS3, and can only be described as a remarkable achievement.
This is the paradox of The Conduit. Its disappointing single-player component seems hastily-designed with its cookie-cutter plot, limited range of enemies, and myriad elements copied wholesale from popular recent first-person shooters. On the other hand, its multiplayer component is great, matching online shooters on other platforms feature-for-feature and providing a no-hassle experience that's among the best on Wii. Hopefully High Voltage will learn from The Conduit's shortcomings for their next game, but for now, Wii owners will have to settle for something very good instead of truly great.
Pros:
Lastability: 9.0
The single-player campaign features multiple difficulty levels, dozens of achievements, and lots of secrets to find. The online multiplayer mode is deep and will have you playing for months. This is a great value.
Final: 8.5
The Conduit sets a high bar for future first-person shooters on the Wii. Its derivative story and single-player mode disappoint, but its online multiplayer is excellent. As jam-packed with features as this is, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better first-person shooter on the system.
Does Call of Duty get penalized for its limited range of enemies?
Mop - Yes, there are definitely some minor graphical glitches, and some of the environments re-use elements quite a bit. The engine isn't as polished as, say Mario Galaxy, which I consider to be the pinnacle on the platform, but it's still very good.That's kind of my point though. Super Mario Galaxy didn't advertise its graphics as one of its features, nor was it a main focus in development. This game's developer has touted the graphics since the beginning, even going so far as comparing it to the XBox 360 I believe and also sacrificing features, and it isn't even the best the system could handle? Eek.
Broodwars - There aren't any bots. It's strictly online multiplayer.
As I recall, Perfect Dark and Timesplitters definitely have better single-player. It comes down to one word: personality. The Conduit's story and characters are so generic that it's hard to care about the story at all. And I won't get into any spoilers, but I will say that the story's conclusion is less than satisfying. Perfect Dark and TimeSplitters weren't that original, but they had interesting and witty characters and stories that you could care about a little bit.
The online is really fun when playing with friends. I haven't tried random matching yet.
Broodwars, would you consider renting it just to see if the online is alright for you? Or is it not technical issues that you are referring to when you say you've had poor online experiences. It would be a shame for you to miss out on it if that were the case.
...it's always been a rather soul-less experience without that person you're playing with there right with you.
...it's always been a rather soul-less experience without that person you're playing with there right with you.
So you'd rather play with bots? ;-)
You can hear even fruends even if you don't have WiiSpeak and Kraken so far has gotten by without it.
At least with bots I can enjoy some aspect of multiplayer without my best friend buying a Wii, a copy of The Conduit as well, and both of us scheduling simultaneous play sessions between the mounds of other stuff we're both playing on our own time. Besides, AI bots done well ala Perfect Dark (i.e. with AI personalities) can make for quite enjoyable experiences. They'll never match the quality of a true human being, but they have their uses.If anything I think bots are more important than ever, especially for anyone who doesn't buy a game on its release date. If I were to go out and buy The Conduit next week, would I stand a chance against the online competition who've been playing non-stop all week? Not even close. Bots allow people to set up practice situations so they can improve their skills at their own pace instead of having to deal with snobby veterans who wouldn't give them a chance. Bots also allow 2 players to play team matches and other possibilities.
I'll tone down my skill. I did it for Kraken so he could get used to using my favotire gun I pwnd him with tonight. ;)Can I set you to six different difficulty settings? Can I choose to make you slow or fast? Set you to use only explosives? Give you a super powerful shield? Make you vengeful? Make you careless? Can I have eight of you?
I'll tone down my skill. I did it for Kraken so he could get used to using my favotire gun I pwnd him with tonight. ;)Can I set you to six different difficulty settings? Can I choose to make you slow or fast? Set you to use only explosives? Give you a super powerful shield? Make you vengeful? Make you careless? Can I have eight of you?
You'll never be as awesome as a bot. :P
I'll tone down my skill. I did it for Kraken so he could get used to using my favotire gun I pwnd him with tonight. ;)
It is my crutch gun.
Speaking of which, I see your cons list doesn't include "no local multiplayer" which I suspect is fairly important to many people.
BWii needs more than just decent shooting controls, it also needs "go there" orders and better ways to handle split forces. Currently they all want to follow you in a giant clusterfuck instead of letting you, say, keep the arty behind without it wanting a hug from you every time it kills its designated target.
Pro is getting chocolate in my peanut butter.
Good Review by Lindy.
This is interesting cuz I'm assuming you haven't played the first game.
I blame it more on the sheer amount of them they throw at them.
It reminds me of some Goldeneye levels on the harder difficulties that had infinite spawning enemies. I always hated that about the game. It was a spy game and I thought you should be able to eliminate every enemy in the level and wander around freely to finish the objectives.
I blame it more on the sheer amount of them they throw at them.
It reminds me of some Goldeneye levels on the harder difficulties that had infinite spawning enemies. I always hated that about the game. It was a spy game and I thought you should be able to eliminate every enemy in the level and wander around freely to finish the objectives.
You could in some cases. I had a blast in that one Goldeneye level where you had to escape from the jail cell and take out the facility just luring enemies into my cell one-by-one so I could take them out and take all their guns. Then I'd just tour around the facility blowing things up with no one left to stop me, even on the highest difficulty level.
EDIT: Incidentally, I was window-browsing my local Gamestop today and they still had one copy left of the Conduit Special Edition. Damn, I almost bought it just to have a copy without the ****ty cover art...but I must resist...Batman's only 2 months away, and my backlog's insane as it is...
I find it interesting they left out IGN's score of 8.6
I find it interesting they left out IGN's score of 8.6
Thats what I was thinking when I saw it.
Include NWR but leave out IGN? didn't make much sense unless they like what was said specifically in the review from NWR.
I find it interesting they left out IGN's score of 8.6
Thats what I was thinking when I saw it.
Include NWR but leave out IGN? didn't make much sense unless they like what was said specifically in the review from NWR.
Because IGN is awesomer than IGN. That chart there, see, was not about Conduit ratings. It was about website awesomeness. And NWR is at the top if it.
Frame rate sucks in Conduit especially in Multiplayer.
The game feels chintzy.
On the other hand there hasn't been an fps on the Wii since Medal of Honor if I remember right so Wii owners who want an fps on the system are starving. And when you're starving folks will eat anything.
Frame rate sucks in Conduit especially in Multiplayer.
The game feels chintzy.
On the other hand there hasn't been an fps on the Wii since Medal of Honor if I remember right so Wii owners who want an fps on the system are starving. And when you're starving folks will eat anything.
^
Seriously! I own all 3 consoles and I still enjoy this game.
It runs 30fps. Your internet connection probably sucks is why you are lagging online.
Wii owners are like the fat ugly guy at the prom, they'll take anything they can get.
I have a theory that some "hard-core gamers" are trying to assert themselves after being picked on by bullies in school. They have become the bullies. WHO'S THE TOUGH GUY NOW VINNY
All The Conduit discussion is banned until it has been released in Europe.
As you were.
I hope so too because it sounds like the game has enough issues without a bad conversion.
No local multiplayer, framerate problems, that sort of thing.
Framerate is a very solid 30. I have not played a local multiplayer on a FPS for at least 3 years now. Why would you? Smaller screen, bumped down graphics, and the other person can look at your screen....Because then you can play with 4 people without everyone having to own the system and a copy of the game, and you don't have to deal with possible disconnections, poor quality voices, and other problems which can arise from online gaming.
Framerate is a very solid 30. I have not played a local multiplayer on a FPS for at least 3 years now. Why would you? Smaller screen, bumped down graphics, and the other person can look at your screen....Because then you can play with 4 people without everyone having to own the system and a copy of the game, and you don't have to deal with possible disconnections, poor quality voices, and other problems which can arise from online gaming.
Local multiplayer > online multiplayer. Always has been, always will be. The best games offer both, like Mario Kart Wii.
Local Multiplayer= Limited to playing with people you live by.
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
Well, back in my day, you had yer split screen, and only yer split screen. And we were happy. None of this new-fangled world wide web nonsense. Why, on some games, you actually took turns playing! Imagine that! [/grump grump old man mini rant]
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
Well, back in my day, you had yer split screen, and only yer split screen. And we were happy. None of this new-fangled world wide web nonsense. Why, on some games, you actually took turns playing! Imagine that! [/grump grump old man mini rant]
Old people are lameo.
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
Well, back in my day, you had yer split screen, and only yer split screen. And we were happy. None of this new-fangled world wide web nonsense. Why, on some games, you actually took turns playing! Imagine that! [/grump grump old man mini rant]
Old people are lameo.
That's funny because you are older than me by a few months. So come join me and Cranky Kong in our rockers and wax over the glory days of games when you could count the different colors on your fingers.
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
Well, back in my day, you had yer split screen, and only yer split screen. And we were happy. None of this new-fangled world wide web nonsense. Why, on some games, you actually took turns playing! Imagine that! [/grump grump old man mini rant]
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
Well, back in my day, you had yer split screen, and only yer split screen. And we were happy. None of this new-fangled world wide web nonsense. Why, on some games, you actually took turns playing! Imagine that! [/grump grump old man mini rant]
I remember back in my day, we played FPSs that didn't have lousy level-design in their single-player modes and the experience was varied with multiple tiers of objectives depending on the difficulty level. Nowadays the only thing the game asks of the player is to decide what weapon to carry with them and how quickly to point it at everyone else. Young whippersnappers ruining it for everyone...
(Translation: Yeah, I'm playing the Conduit's SP, and I definitely agree with Lindy: it's not very interesting and definitely needed bigger focus from the dev team)
If I play local I play LAN. I do that quite often but I never play a FPS with multiple people on the same console.
Well, back in my day, you had yer split screen, and only yer split screen. And we were happy. None of this new-fangled world wide web nonsense. Why, on some games, you actually took turns playing! Imagine that! [/grump grump old man mini rant]
I remember back in my day, we played FPSs that didn't have lousy level-design in their single-player modes and the experience was varied with multiple tiers of objectives depending on the difficulty level. Nowadays the only thing the game asks of the player is to decide what weapon to carry with them and how quickly to point it at everyone else. Young whippersnappers ruining it for everyone...
(Translation: Yeah, I'm playing the Conduit's SP, and I definitely agree with Lindy: it's not very interesting and definitely needed bigger focus from the dev team)
Sounds like most FPS games out there, seriously singling Conduit out for it is silly at best. Believe it or not, FPS games are not like Bioshock for the most part. The only thing that separates some from Conduit is prettier visuals, but most are quite linear and require the player to aim and shoot to get through them. Conduit just eliminates most of the excess garbage that many have which is why I enjoyed the single player campaign more in Conduit then most other FPS games I've played.
Some of them "mix things up" by having you aim and shoot in a tank or something but for the most part that is how things work now in the FPS genre. There are exceptions like CoD4 (But really it is pretty much like the previous games in the series), and of course Bioshock. But for every one of those you get FEAR, Resistance, Halo, and a smattering of others.
Bioshock is not a paragon.
Bioshock is not a paragon.
Wrong.
Bioshock is not a paragon.
Wrong.
Okay, what is it epitome of? FPS? there are better first person shooters. Graphics? nope. Story? this is its strongest point but no, there is better. control? It controls poorly as a shooter. Depth? still nope. Bioschock is overrated. It is a good BUT linear single player fps with gussied up inventory control.
Doom2 surpasses Bioshock in almost every category.
Doom2 surpasses Bioshock in almost every category.
Don't make me get broodwars in here.
I'm sorry, but a game that has the option between horrendously evil and disgustingly good does not equal 'emotional effectivness' to me.
I'm sorry, but a game that has the option between horrendously evil and disgustingly good does not equal 'emotional effectivness' to me.
Wrong part 2.
