"It's time to go to work..." The Conduit Review

Finally, the Wii owners have a "real" FPS game on the Wii. While the PS3/360 have been getting all the fun, Wii owners have, as usual, been getting left in the dust with one of the most popular genres on a gaming console: the First-Person-Shooter.

Sure, some developers attempted to try this during the Wii's launch with games like Red Steel, COD3, and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. While they all may either be good or bad, since I don't have them, Wii owners were still feeling left out. They weren't getting that one "true hardcore FPS title" that other console owners were getting such as COD4 (which is finally coming to the Wii), Bioshock, Battlefield Bad Company. All they were getting were somewhat faulty attempts, toned down ports, and WWII shooters. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption proved that FPS can work with the Wii, but it wasn't exactly a FPS; it was more like a FP Platformer. Medal of Honor proved to be good, but it was still a WWII shooter (I'm only assuming). Red Steel was supposed to be the first revolutionary FPS with swordfighting, but as I read in many reviews, the controls were very faulty. And of course, the COD games were just toned down ports, but World at War was better than 3 as I keep hearing.

So that only left Wii owners with a total of 5 FPS titles to choose from while the PS3/360 owners had all those fancy other FPSs mentioned earlier. Where has the love gone? To High Voltage, that's where, and what better way for them to get noticed more is to bring out a true atttempt at the hardcore Wii FPS genre with a game called The Conduit. This game was going to bring out the best of the Wii, and to show other third-party developers (both lazy and "true") that something remarkable can be done on the Wii, and not just something to port or tone-down games for. It was going to be tricky, though, because the Wii was made way different than the PS3/360 in terms of hardware technology. Did they succeed? Well to be honest it's not bad for a first attempt, but this game is kind of almost on par with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Let me explain:

Controls 10/10: This was the primary reason why I bought the Wii: absolute customizatable controls, something you hardly see on any other FPS for any other console. This game lets you tinker and play with the control interface so that you can get more comfortable playing the game with them. From moving HUD pieces, increasing/decreasing dead zone, to even changing the turning and running speed, this FPS can deliver control ranges from dual-analog-like controls to PC-like controls. This FPS can do it all.

Story 9/10: This was the secondary reason I bought this game: the plot-twisting, mind-bending, crazy-thinking story. On the surface, it may just be your ordinary "alien FPS where one man saves the entire universe," but it's not exactly that, and you'll see why if you play through the campaign and get a sense of what's going on. The only gripes are that Promethius' voice is on monotonic mood-swings, and the A.S.E.'s beeping is REALLY annoying.

Gameplay 8/10: What can I say? You shoot aliens, that's what this game is about. A somewhat generic shooter that Wii owners finally have! But be warned, there are repetitve levels and few easy boss fights in the campaign. Unlock cheat codes, achievements, more difficulties, and play over 13 variations of Game Modes on online multiplayer! There's a Special Edition of the game which adds special costumes and other stuff, but it's very likely to not be selling anymore since you have to Pre-Order from GameStop first.

Graphics 8/10: HVS made the Quantum3 engine specifically for Wii games. The engine maxes out the Wii's graphical power with cell-shading, bump-mapping, water textures, etc. HVS was orignally going to make this game 60 frames-per-second, but dropped it to 30-fps, which I'm not sure if that really was a good or bad thing. You will still most likely experience frame-rate chugs in the campaign and a LOT of lag online, depending on your connection. But keep in mind, that HVS wasn't finished with the engine when the game released. Characters are good, but the environments need a little more ("bland" is the word I'm looking for)...but it still immerses you into the real life city of Washington D.C.

Sound 10/10: Love the music, hope the soundtrack comes out sometime.

Multiplayer 7/10: I'm not deducting points because of the multiplayer being bad, I'm deducting points because I'm frustrated that HVS put so much work into this game, that already 2 days after launch hackers have discovered how to cheat online. (hetoan2, I'm looking at you on YouTube) So far I've seen about 5 hackers online, and also a beta test level they hacked. The online is very laggy depending on the connection, or the amount of players. Also, you still have to exchange the stupid Friend Codes online. But at least the WiiSpeak works, right? Right?

All in All 8.5/10: HVS did not make a bad first attempt; I just hope that they fix the mistakes, errors, and glitches in The Grinder and/or Gladiator A.D. Hopefully, hackers will be banned next time in The Conduit 2...if there ever is going to be one.

Nice review, and I still haven't beaten this game yet. -.-

FaytSaratome wrote:Nice review, and I still haven't beaten this game yet. -.-

Thanks.

THANK YOU!! Someone finally took a not-on-drugs look at this game...

ElkinFencer10 wrote:THANK YOU!! Someone finally took a not-on-drugs look at this game...

And THANK GOD!! I don't do drugs. No sarcasm intended.

And check out my Metroid Prime 3: Corruption review while you're at it.

AWESOME GAME

Jaques7Chef wrote:And check out my Metroid Prime 3: Corruption review while you're at it.

You got it.

nice review.

its a good review and good read ... the beginning was all true we where feeling left out like developers didn't gave a shit about us, only 1 company saved the day and that was HVS ... we will praise them

Great review, my friend. I can see the honesty

spawn glitch patched

Jade789119 wrote:spawn glitch patched

Where did you hear that from?