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The Conduit
This is the Wii version of Perfect Dark.
June 28, 2009 | 11:28 PM PSTby: Matt Furtado
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What The Game's About
The day has finally come for gamers to get their hands on The Conduit. After being teased with footage, screens, and tons of media releases, we gamers will finally be able to see the first Wii offering from High Voltage. Claiming to offer 360 visuals and a true FPS experience unlike anything released on Wii before, High Voltage had a goal to achieve and they wanted to capture that goal by using The Conduit as their flagship Wii title.
Following the generic sci-fi storyline, The Conduit follows Mr. Ford, The Trust, and the mysterious Prometheus through a series of conspiratorial events and happenings. Mr. Ford will traverse all throughout Washington, D.C. and partake in numerous firefights and puzzles as he learns the truth about the origins of the alien species known as the Drudge.
What's Hot
The Conduit had a lot of hype around it and High Voltage pumped a lot of the hype out by their hand. The main thing they spouted time and time again was the graphics engine. They felt that developers weren't utilizing the Wii hardware to the max potential and they sought to fix this situation. Sporting vibrant visuals and detailed character models, The Conduit is one of the best looking games on Wii thus far. A lot of detail went into making the game look bright and colorful and the color scheme works remarkable well. The main points of focus in the game all look great. The enemies are nicely detailed and the guns are rendered wonderfully. Little details and bump mapping make the game come to life a lot more than any other Wii shooter on the market. The presentation found in the game is simply amazing. The music and graphics create a spectacular world to engage in. As soon as you pop the game into your Wii you'll be impressed by the presentation the game throws at you. The menus are setup nicely and the main title music is simply great.
The single-player campaign is constructed overall very nicely. Prior to each mission you are breached about new information and informed about your incoming mission. Naturally, the story is told via these segments and it'll be vital to listen to all the information to get a firm grasp of the happenings in the game. If you don't care about the information or what's going on in the game, you can skip these scenes once the game finishes loading. Each mission will essentially play like the previous one. You'll need to shoot everything that comes in your way and vanquish any conduits that stand in your way. To kill all these foes, you have a vast arsenal of weapons at your disposal. The human weapons are your run of the mill guns, minus The Trust creations. You'll have pistols, machine guns, and the works. The Trust weapons have a little more of a unique spin. They are essentially still human weapons to an extent, but The Trust crafted weapons a little more advanced. More powerful pistols with a zoom feature, a high-energy machine gun, etc. They very closely resemble the guns you'd fine in the DataDyne institute in Perfect Dark. The alien weapons have extreme power and you'll find yourself equipping one of their weapons quite often.
The topping of the cake is the online play. Sporting a solid online multiplayer setup, The Conduit is clearly trying to become the Halo of Wii. With WiiSpeak support and a better Friend Code system in place, The Conduit is really trying to get the Wii crowd in the mood to hop online and play. Offering your standard deathmatch mode and other modes, players will be able to find their favorite playlist and enjoy the online mode. Overall, the game is lag free except on a few occasions during my playtime. This game is definitely a contender for the best online experience on Wii. The only problem really working against it is due to Nintendo's system. Since you can't see when friends are playing Wii, you need to coordinate your own times to play together. Unlike Live or PSN, you can't just check a menu and see what your friends are playing at any point in time.
After you get yourself into the game and get a feel for everything offered, you'll find yourself customizing the controls to your own perfect feel. The controls options are deep and everyone will be able to find a setting they are comfortable with and find perfect for battle. More FPS titles need this kind of customization setup in place.
What's Not
The game isn't perfect and does have some problems with it. The graphics, while impressive for the most part, do have some noticeable flaws. The environments are dull and lackluster. This doesn't look like a 360 game. Compared with the rest of the game, the environments just look too generic and blah to really impress. The edges of objects look unclean and just appear to be a bit off.
The enemy AI is also very inconsistent. They'll both pin you down and massacre you or they'll stand in an open location and not react. I can't really say the AI is dumb, because they do react to most stuff. It just becomes inconsistent when you are engaging in battle with several at once. I've also opened doors into new rooms and have had the enemy miss me from mere feet away. Other times I find myself getting shot in the head by the enemy. You don't know what to expect out of the AI.
The single-player campaign just feels a bit generic and too linear. There are some opens areas that you'll need to visit to get all the unlockables and achievements in the game, but overall you just walk straight, blowup a motion-sensing mine, scan the area for door nodes, and then progress. It's what you usually find in your standard FPS, but it just feels a bit more obvious this time around.
Final Word
This is the Wii version of Perfect Dark. The campaign, guns, and feel are so reminiscent of Perfect Dark it's undeniable. The Conduit feels like a revision of Perfect Dark. Even with the feel of Perfect Dark there, The Conduit has enough standout merits to make the game one of the best third-party efforts on Wii. The online is great and can really help form a solid online Wii community. The Conduit is the best Wii FPS. Just get ready some minor problems here and there that really detract from the overall experience and keep the game from greatness. Still, if you want a great FPS experience for Wii and aren't expecting the next big thing in the FPS genre, The Conduit is a solid FPS and you should definitely check it out.
What The Game's About
The day has finally come for gamers to get their hands on The Conduit. After being teased with footage, screens, and tons of media releases, we gamers will finally be able to see the first Wii offering from High Voltage. Claiming to offer 360 visuals and a true FPS experience unlike anything released on Wii before, High Voltage had a goal to achieve and they wanted to capture that goal by using The Conduit as their flagship Wii title.
Following the generic sci-fi storyline, The Conduit follows Mr. Ford, The Trust, and the mysterious Prometheus through a series of conspiratorial events and happenings. Mr. Ford will traverse all throughout Washington, D.C. and partake in numerous firefights and puzzles as he learns the truth about the origins of the alien species known as the Drudge.
What's Hot
The Conduit had a lot of hype around it and High Voltage pumped a lot of the hype out by their hand. The main thing they spouted time and time again was the graphics engine. They felt that developers weren't utilizing the Wii hardware to the max potential and they sought to fix this situation. Sporting vibrant visuals and detailed character models, The Conduit is one of the best looking games on Wii thus far. A lot of detail went into making the game look bright and colorful and the color scheme works remarkable well. The main points of focus in the game all look great. The enemies are nicely detailed and the guns are rendered wonderfully. Little details and bump mapping make the game come to life a lot more than any other Wii shooter on the market. The presentation found in the game is simply amazing. The music and graphics create a spectacular world to engage in. As soon as you pop the game into your Wii you'll be impressed by the presentation the game throws at you. The menus are setup nicely and the main title music is simply great.
The single-player campaign is constructed overall very nicely. Prior to each mission you are breached about new information and informed about your incoming mission. Naturally, the story is told via these segments and it'll be vital to listen to all the information to get a firm grasp of the happenings in the game. If you don't care about the information or what's going on in the game, you can skip these scenes once the game finishes loading. Each mission will essentially play like the previous one. You'll need to shoot everything that comes in your way and vanquish any conduits that stand in your way. To kill all these foes, you have a vast arsenal of weapons at your disposal. The human weapons are your run of the mill guns, minus The Trust creations. You'll have pistols, machine guns, and the works. The Trust weapons have a little more of a unique spin. They are essentially still human weapons to an extent, but The Trust crafted weapons a little more advanced. More powerful pistols with a zoom feature, a high-energy machine gun, etc. They very closely resemble the guns you'd fine in the DataDyne institute in Perfect Dark. The alien weapons have extreme power and you'll find yourself equipping one of their weapons quite often.
The topping of the cake is the online play. Sporting a solid online multiplayer setup, The Conduit is clearly trying to become the Halo of Wii. With WiiSpeak support and a better Friend Code system in place, The Conduit is really trying to get the Wii crowd in the mood to hop online and play. Offering your standard deathmatch mode and other modes, players will be able to find their favorite playlist and enjoy the online mode. Overall, the game is lag free except on a few occasions during my playtime. This game is definitely a contender for the best online experience on Wii. The only problem really working against it is due to Nintendo's system. Since you can't see when friends are playing Wii, you need to coordinate your own times to play together. Unlike Live or PSN, you can't just check a menu and see what your friends are playing at any point in time.
After you get yourself into the game and get a feel for everything offered, you'll find yourself customizing the controls to your own perfect feel. The controls options are deep and everyone will be able to find a setting they are comfortable with and find perfect for battle. More FPS titles need this kind of customization setup in place.
What's Not
The game isn't perfect and does have some problems with it. The graphics, while impressive for the most part, do have some noticeable flaws. The environments are dull and lackluster. This doesn't look like a 360 game. Compared with the rest of the game, the environments just look too generic and blah to really impress. The edges of objects look unclean and just appear to be a bit off.
The enemy AI is also very inconsistent. They'll both pin you down and massacre you or they'll stand in an open location and not react. I can't really say the AI is dumb, because they do react to most stuff. It just becomes inconsistent when you are engaging in battle with several at once. I've also opened doors into new rooms and have had the enemy miss me from mere feet away. Other times I find myself getting shot in the head by the enemy. You don't know what to expect out of the AI.
The single-player campaign just feels a bit generic and too linear. There are some opens areas that you'll need to visit to get all the unlockables and achievements in the game, but overall you just walk straight, blowup a motion-sensing mine, scan the area for door nodes, and then progress. It's what you usually find in your standard FPS, but it just feels a bit more obvious this time around.
Final Word
This is the Wii version of Perfect Dark. The campaign, guns, and feel are so reminiscent of Perfect Dark it's undeniable. The Conduit feels like a revision of Perfect Dark. Even with the feel of Perfect Dark there, The Conduit has enough standout merits to make the game one of the best third-party efforts on Wii. The online is great and can really help form a solid online Wii community. The Conduit is the best Wii FPS. Just get ready some minor problems here and there that really detract from the overall experience and keep the game from greatness. Still, if you want a great FPS experience for Wii and aren't expecting the next big thing in the FPS genre, The Conduit is a solid FPS and you should definitely check it out.
December 28, 2009
