Game Details from SEGA:
"After a full-scale alien attack on Washington D.C., suspicions arise as to the involvement of the U.S. government. Armed with sci-fi gadgets and high-powered weapons, players will battle aliens, rouge agents and enemy forces as a former secret service agent codenamed Mr. Ford."
Review Summary:
High Voltage Software has electrified the Wii with The Conduit, pushing the Wii's performance and allowing a degree of FPS customization that even surpasses other next-gen shooters. The audio production, from soundtrack to voice acting, is polished. As for the storyline, it should satisfy conspiracy theory and sci-fi fans. If you want to experience a summer blockbuster story, you'll have to fight to unravel it in The Conduit.
Storyline: The Conduit draws inspiration from X-Files, War of the Worlds, Emergence Day, V, and many more conspiracy and alien invasion films, but it definitely holds it's own unique plot. It's a timely release during the summer blockbuster motion picture season, except you won't have hands free to reach for the popcorn. With the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in hands, you're off to fight for Washington D.C. The storyline centers around the game's protagonist, Michael Ford, who you'll play as. You'll have to uncover the clues over Washington D.C.'s invasion of The Drudge, an alien race, and The Trust, an underground organization lead by John Adams.
Gameplay: The Conduit is composed of a series of 9 chapters. The single-player campaign is balanced to just the right length, at about 10 hours. The amount of gameplay you get from The Conduit depends on how complete you want to be. There are lots of unlockable items to bring you back for more, including a multiplayer mode. The game has it's own achievement system, Concept Art and Cheats to unlock, as well as Hidden Messages and Data Disks to find with the All Seeing Eye item. By the end of my first play through, I found 47 of 60 Data Disks and 30 out of 42 Messages. I was taking my time combing through some areas, so there are some items that are well hidden. There was only one level where I found all hidden items.
The Conduit is a first-person shooter with about 15 different weapons at your disposal, including standard, Drudge and Trust weaponry. From light pistols and to heavy cannons, their performance varies on not only how quick you're at the trigger, but how you handle the Wii Remote. Some projectiles can be steered around barricades and corners, like you may have seen in Wanted: Weapons of Fate. With all those fancy weapons, there is one very different inventory item: the All Seeing Eye (ASE). It's not a weapon.
The All Seeing Eye is one of gaming's most unique gadgets seen in a while. The ASE will help you find hidden weapon caches, reveal hidden items (messages, mines, some enemies) and unlock terminals and doors. You can have either a weapon or ASE equipped, but not both at the same time. Keep that in mind when trying to pick up weapons, since you cannot with the ASE in your hand. You can perform melee attacks with the ASE equipped. To complete your various objectives, an on-screen indicator points you to your next destination. There's also a directional path that is available sometimes when you press the B button, as you may have seen used in the Dead Space game.
One slight oversight from High Voltage Software was not pausing the game and notifying you the Wii Remote battery has died. When my Wii Remote battery died the first time during play, I thought the game froze, but then I noticed the Wii Remote battery indicator was out of power. It can be an awkward interruption, and something you don't want happening to you during a battle, so make sure your Wii Remote is well stocked with power.
For the most part, battles take place in confined spaces, but there are some open ones, like when confronting the largest Drudge enemy, the Invaders. There is some enemy respawning, from Conduits and egg sacks. If you stay too long in one area, you can easily be overwhelmed. You'll have to hunt down the source where enemies are coming from and destroy it. One of the toughest challenges early on in the game is at the end of Level 3. There's probably around 4 or 5 Conduits that put out a steady stream of Drudge. From all the areas in the game, this is the one that cost me the most lives. It could be frustrating to some players that early in the game.
There are 5 modes of level difficulty: Low, Guarded, Elevated, High and Severe. You may want to start off in Guarded or Low. After your first play through, you can turn on the Stopping Power (one shot kills) and Fully Stocked (unlimited ammo) cheats to help you through the higher level difficulty modes.
Check points help to avoid repeating areas too often after getting killed. They are pretty well placed. Overall, the gameplay is challenging. Prepare to break a sweat at some point.
Graphics and Audio: Some environments look great, especially later in the game, but others can look a bit plain. There are some creative level designs like floor shields that rise out of the ground in the middle of a firefight. The graphic power is really showcased in the weapons, enemies and that shiny ASE hovering over your hand. There's also some nice visual effects, such as blurring and the glow emitting from items. High Voltage Software's proprietary Quantum3 engine powers The Conduit, which you'll likely be seeing more of in their upcoming games (or next Conduit game!).
The Conduit doesn't cut corners on the audio composition. The soundtrack changes to the pacing of the game and fits in perfectly. Rick Nielsen, from Cheap Trick, also contributed to the The Conduit's Soundtrack (more here). Voice acting is well performed by Mark Sheppard as Agent Ford, William Morgan Sheppard as John Adams, and Kevin Sorbo as Prometheus (who coincidentally is working on The Illuminati: Out of Chaos Comes Order film). The Wii Remote speaker is used for that added depth of audio, as well as rumble.
Controls and configurations:
The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are really pushed to a whole new level of control and customization. There are plenty of control configurations. I played with the default controls in my first playthrough, but there are 4 preset layouts and one that allows you to completely customize it yourself. You can adjust the controller layout and sensitivity, camera styles, auto-center cursor, player running speed, rumble, and Wii Remote Dead zone for camera sensitivity. I did find I was able to get some better control when I set the Wii Remote Dead Zone to a more rectangular format than the default square one for play on my widescreen display.
For display configuration, another standout feature of The Conduit is the ability to reconfigure the heads-up display (HUD). You can reposition all the elements, such as ammo indicators, health status, messages and more. You can also adjust the transparency to get a less obstructed view of gameplay.
Online Capabilities:
Adding to the replay value of The Conduit is it's online multiplayer gameplay. Up to 12 players can compete online in matches in Free-For-All mode, Team Reaper mode and Team Objective mode. Online play isn't the most user friendly on the Wii system. You'll have to use Friend Codes or share your Conduit code to find friends online. You can find matches by Friends, Regional and World Wide searches. I experienced mixed results when getting started with matches online. One thing was certain. It does take more than a couple of minutes to get it going. The good thing is, once I was in the game, I didn't notice any lag. The competition online is fierce. A Scoreboard keeps track of the match results. There is an icon which represents your rank and experience, which you can level up the more you play and better you get online.
You can finally put that WiiSpeak to use in an FPS. Wii Speak is supported for team communications. It's recommended you wear headphones when using the WiiSpeak to prevent echoes. There's also a few different skins and color customizations you can do to your character. An Agent Skin code came with the GameStop Special Edition of The Conduit.
Conclusion: The Conduit is an all-around fun gaming experience. If you're tired of game sequels and you're looking for an all new game experience, check out The Conduit. SEGA and High Voltage Software have delivered a standout Wii game that takes the system to a new level, especially in the degree of fine-tuning the controls. The Conduit will keep you challenged in exploring the single-player campaign and online multiplayer competition. It's a great addition to any Wii gamer's library.
Comments
Chicago Written by Guest on 2009-06-30 23:24:23This game should be commended as a technical feat in itself. The ability to completely customize the controls is just amazing. It will be interesting to see what other developers do to surpass the foundations laid out by this very game. It was certainly a bit generic for my tastes, but the controls/gameplay itself establishes the Wii as a console capable of great first person shooters. The graphics and textures were also phenomenal in many parts of the game. This game is definitely worth renting.
