The Conduit is a futuristic first-person shooter developed by High Voltage Software exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. The game makes use of High Voltage Software's proprietary, Wii-specific Quantum3 game engine.
I hope this isn't the definition of "High Quality Wii games."
The complete customizable controls and almost decent online multiplayer might add some replay value, but the short campaign and less than expected technical achievements make this game fall shorter than it deserved too.
Haven't heard of it yet? It's The Conduit. Remember it now? Maybe not. Even though it's one of the most hyped games of the summer of 2009 for the Wii, it still falls shorter than anybody could've hope for. It is an achievement for the Wii, yes, but it's not the first alien sci-fi game and not the last. Had it been done on the Xbox 360 or PS3, it wouldn't of had a 3/5, and nobody would've been quite so proud of it.
The campaign has you as Mr. Ford mainly, an agent that a government sector called The Trust has hired to soften up what seems to be a terrorist attack. Simple enough, or is it? When you really get started, it turns out that another terrorist attack has been planned near a public transportation place, but it gets more complicated when the people working forThe AI is too smart at times, in that it follows you anywhere you go as if it's stalking you. the government go against it and start attacking you. It get's pretty hectic at times when the AI comes out of nowhere and follows you, but the story is pretty simple and doesn't have much in store for Michael Ford, especially considering the short gameplay of around 9 missions. At times, it does get a little more interesting with the All Seeing Eye (ASE). It can see things that your human eye couldn't see without it, such as written messages and data discs. It can unlock secret passages and unlock concept art, as well as show you the path to your primary objective. But at times it can get just as repetitive, mainly if you're in the middle of a dogfight and it detects something. Plus the secret passages won't really reward you much, and the concept art is just as uninteresting.
When you've finished the campaign or had enough of it, you're probably going to be looking for online multiplayer; it's here. There is no local multiplayer, but the online multiplayer makes up for only that. There are 12 different modes you can play in, each divided up into 3 groups of 4. When you choose one, you automatically go to a server with that gameplay mode running. After a round, you go to a lobby to vote on the rules, the weapon set being used, and the map being used. Free for All has you by yourself with your own tasks. Team Reaper has your team trying to kill the other team. The last one (can't recall the name of it) has your team sharing objectives to win. Some of these modes are very interesting, mainly in Free for All, and especially Bounty Hunter. In it you have a target youThe multiplayer isn't too bad, but it can be confusing at times, and Wii Speak support doesn't help. want to kill for points, but killing anybody else results in losing points. While you've got a target, a target has you. Interesting.
Another interesting mode is ASE Football. It's sort of like normal football, but used with the ASE. In general, you want to hold the ASE for as long as possible, before getting killed so someone else can take the ASE. Some other modes can be just as fun, but of course there are problems. Mainly, the servers can be severely unreliable. While playing online, I had mixed results, but many of them weren't too good. In the worse games, there was plenty of lag and you would have no idea what was going on. In the worst case, after the almost 4 minutes of loading, I had a blank, brown screen and considering my TV was working and I didn't shit on the TV, the blame went to the servers.
So, in general, this is sort of like a sci-fi version of Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 for the Wii, with aliens in it. Besides the customizable controls being different, they both have almost the same number of missions in the campaign, and they both have the almost same multiplayer, except it seems as though Medal of Honor did it better. The Conduit has hectic gameplay on and offline, and the multiplayer is pretty confusing, as well as laggish and buggy. It may have been the best Wii multiplayer game of the year, but that isn't particularly saying much. That's almost like saying Big Rigs is the best buggy, crappy, over-the-hill racing game with spelling errors. Saying The Conduit has the best Wii multiplayer of 2009 just seriously isn't saying much. That's where the game suffers most. Decent multiplayer would've added lots of replay value, as well as another star in this review, but The Conduit doesn't pack the punch in the multiplayer, or really anywhere in this game. It's disappointing for a game that should've been so good.
What are you on about 'best wii multiplayer isn't saying much'? What about Wii Sports Resort? The wii is probably the most sociable and multiplayer friendly console surely? The standard for multiplayer gaming is pretty high on the wii.
Sorry, but your review doesn't have enough content to convince me. You forgot to talk about sound, enough about the controls, and you didn't really give me an hour count to exactly how short this game is. I agree with your opinions about The Conduit, but the review itself is lacking persuasiveness.
" Sorry, but your review doesn't have enough content to convince me. You forgot to talk about sound, enough about the controls, and you didn't really give me an hour count to exactly how short this game is. I agree with your opinions about The Conduit, but the review itself is lacking persuasiveness. "
That's because there isn't too much to talk about with it. And the game is like 5 hours long.
" What are you on about 'best wii multiplayer isn't saying much'?What about Wii Sports Resort? The wii is probably the most sociable and multiplayer friendly console surely? The standard for multiplayer gaming is pretty high on the wii. "
I'm sure he's talking about Online, or competitive. Besides, a mere handful of games isn't very impressive compared to other consoles.
" What are you on about 'best wii multiplayer isn't saying much'?What about Wii Sports Resort? The wii is probably the most sociable and multiplayer friendly console surely? The standard for multiplayer gaming is pretty high on the wii. "
Yes, but unfortunately not every game meets that standard. So just because a Wii game has the best multiplayer on the Wii doesn't mean it's actually good anymore, compared to games on the PS3 and Xbox 360 multiplayer modes.
" This game doesn't have the best multiplayer on Wii. Brawl, Wii Sports, or Mario Kart are. "
Those games aren't from this year though, are they? "
That's a weird response, but yeah, they aren't from this year. "
Exactly. "
...ok. "
What? Do you plan to play Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl forever? "
No. But at least those games last A LOT longer than your typical multiplayer game on another system. Let's not get on talking about quality, but so far, the Wii is obese on multiplayer games.
" This game doesn't have the best multiplayer on Wii. Brawl, Wii Sports, or Mario Kart are. "
Those games aren't from this year though, are they? "
That's a weird response, but yeah, they aren't from this year. "
Exactly. "
...ok. "
What? Do you plan to play Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl forever? "
No. But at least those games last A LOT longer than your typical multiplayer game on another system. Let's not get on talking about quality, but so far, the Wii is obese on multiplayer games. "
They do last a lot longer than a typical multiplayer game on another system, and the Wii does have an average selection of multiplayer games, but of them, not too many are good and aren't exactly hard to come on top of. Some are good, yes, but not enough are good. Also, the best multiplayer game on the Wii doesn't stack up to the best multiplayer game on the Xbox 360 or PS3.
The Conduit has been put in quite a tough position. It's not only been pinned as "the savior for core gamers on Wii", but it's also been looked at by numerous publishers to see whether or not there's a core market worth investing in. That's a pretty high bar raised for High Voltage, but ultimately, they do succeed... in most ways. The Wii doesn't have many FPS titles, and the ones it does have are largely not worth anyone's time. But this one does warrant giving a shot.The setup is simple. ...
The Wii hasn't had too many third party games to be excited about, not surprising for a post-SNES Nintendo console, nor has it had many first person shooters that have taken advantage of the Wii remote. For these reasons, along with gaining much E3 hype over the years, The Conduit has become one of the most anticipated Wii titles in a while. Like Red Steel before it, the developers have played their marketing campaign smart by unveiling little and letting the audience's imagination fuel th...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful.
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