Review:

Now, I don't play many FPSs or shooters in general, so The Conduit was an eye opening experience as to what exactly I'm missing. I got the chance last night to play through nearly half the single player campaign and even squeeze in a few rounds of online. Take a look below to see my thoughts.

Pros: Intense, fast paced story mode, some really good plot twists. The controls are hands down the best I've ever seen in any video game, period. The rendering of national monuments looks fantastic, as well as all of the guns, the ASE, your hand, the enemies, and the conduit portals. The soundtrack is good. Multiplayer is very addictive.

Cons: Story is a little cliche. Single player is not the greatest thing ever, but it's good. Exploration is somewhat but not a major part of the game. Very similar enemies all throughout. When you're not in a monument or outside, the environment look rather bland. Not much interaction. Good music tracks not used as often as I would like. Dying sounds like getting beat with a frying pan.


Story: The single player places you as Michael Ford, a secret service agent whow as inducted into an organization known as the Trust. Most of the pre-game story isn't explained in the game's opening, but rather in the handbook. There are some very interesting twists, like the one outside the Jefferson Memorial for starters, that prevent this from being the same old "save the world from aliens" type of game we've all seen before. Now, because I don't play very many FPSs the whole thing was actually rather refreshing. In some places I had no idea where the story would lead. However, to veteran shooters, this game's story may seem that it is a little clihe, and boring until you get to a dramatic plot twist.

Gameplay: Very much a run and gun, linear game. Think Perfect Dark. And in being a linear shooter with light exploration and puzzle elements it suceeds very well. Don't go into this thinking you'll find a Metroid Prime scale adventure. You'll be dissapointed. It is however, loads of fun to just mindlessly gun down enemies. Especially with some of the 1-hit kill weapons you may find along the way. The Conduit is slightly repetitive. Some of the same general level layouts are recycled a few times, but overall I found it to be rather enjoyable. It's also not one of those games with absolutely incredible physics or such. It plays alot like an old school shooter.

The game isn't overly difficult ( I never once ran out of ammo), but it has it's challenges. The Jefferson Memorial in particular was really hard for me. What it is is that there are four Conduits inside the memorial that you have to blow up, as well as all the enemies, and the defend yourself from attacking hordes as you wait to be rescued. It's a lot more dificult than it sounds But overall it was a moderately challenging experience.

The controls are absolutely amazing. I'm sure by now you know that you can customize every bit of them. So I'll skip talking about that part. One gripe I had with it was some of the awkward button placement. Often, I would accidentally throw grenades and kill myself, due to a movement of the Nunchuck. I suggest mapping Grenades to Down on the Control Pad, then map Zoom to Up, and 180 Spin to Nunchuk shake. This made things a whole lot easier.

One final thing I have to comment on is lack of a radar in the single player. Many times I often find myself being hit by hidden snipers from behind, without any inkling of where they are. There's one in multi, but in single it would be greatly appreciated.

Graphics: Many things in the game look incredible. Hands, guns, ASE, aliens, and monuments come to mind. I also have to mention the water. The water is IMO near HD quality. Simply amazing effects. The environments in a few areas, though are rather bland and repetitive. They recycle most of the enemies graphics with only slight variations throughout. Overall, many of the things look great, but I wouldn't put it on the same graphical level as Galaxy or Prime 3.

Sound: The soundtrack is good, especially the title screen music. My only few gripes is that the really good tracks aren't used often enough. Leaving you with a many more boring tracks than great ones. The SFX are good. The guns sound okay enough. The aliens grunt and moan and scream. All that good stuff. The voice acting is pretty good, though I think the best actor of the bunch is the guy who voices Prometheus. Overall, the sound isn't the best part but it's up to par.

Multiplayer: There's no split screen mode, but online is very versatile. I enjoyed it alot even though I sucked majorly at it. You can vote on weapons, stage, and play mode. There are over ten different play modes broken down into Free For All and Teams. I experienced no lag whatsoever in the random matches I played. In fact, it played exactly like playing the regular game. This is very addictive, and a good online component is a major plus for any Wii game.

Overall: The Conduit is a solid shooter. It's by no means perfect, but it is very very enjoyable. I hope that the sequel will improve upon a lot of the issues. IMO the best FPS on Wii, even if the Single Player may be somewhat lacking. With the Controls, Online, and the amazing weapons set the game is ready to become the Perfect Dark for Wii. If you haven't bought it now, go and purchase it for two reasons.

1. The Multiplayer is better than Brawl, better than Mario Kart. It's the best, hands down.

2. The more people who buy it, the more developers will be encouraged to produce this kind of amazing game on the Wii.

Go! Buy! Buy!

Questions:

1. What are your two favorite and two least favorite weapons?
2. What would you like to see in a sequel?
3. Should we petition a COT Forum Leader for an Official Conduit Topic?

1. Faves: Deatomizer, Strike Rifle. Hates: SMAW, SMAW, SMAW, SMAW, SMAW, SMAW, oh and those little Flash Grenades.

2. Split Screen, an updated engine like in HVS's The Grinder, Vehicles, and a better storyline.

3. Heck yes!