Reviewed on June 30, 2009
The Conduit checks most of the boxes on a first-person shooter features list, but it comes together in a very bland way.
Read Jeff Gerstmann's full review
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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.
Overview
Set in Washington, D.C. in the not-too-distant future, The Conduit follows the story of secret service agent, Mr. Ford, who is recruited by a mysterious government agency called The Trust to eradicate an invading alien force (the Drudge) and find the truth behind their incursion. The Drudge are divided into four main types of enemies: Drones, Mites, Skimmers, and Scarabs. Drones are the foot soldiers of the Drudge, and carry different types of weapons. Mites are smaller, some of which can fly and explode.Skimmers are alternate forms of Drones that can fly, and Scarabs are heavily armored Drudge with heavy weaponry, and a powerful exoskeleton. The Drudge will also use many different devices to hinder Agent Ford. Conduits are one of these devices, which are essentially spawn points for the Drudge. They will also use "Pulse Boxes" and "Regenerative Units". The "Pulse Boxes" will damage the player when in range of the device, and the "Regenerative Units" heal enemies and the player.
Players move Agent Ford through the environment from a first-person perspective and have access to a wide range of different weapons and technologies (human, alien, and hybrid) to use. Weapons include handguns, scope-enabled submachine guns, and Half Life inspired extraterrestrial weapons such as a missile-like projectile launcher that allows you to control the projectile after launch with your on-screen reticule. The player also has access to a unique handheld sensor, the All Seeing Eye (ASE) that can be used to detect otherwise invisible alien forms, find new weapons, and discover collectibles.
In addition to a single player campaign, The Conduit also features an online multiplayer mode with support for up to 16 simultaneous gamers. Multiplayer modes include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Bounty Hunter, and a variant of the Halo favorite Oddball. The Conduit supports in-game chat through Nintendo's WiiSpeak microphone peripheral. The Conduit utilizes Nintendo's Friend Code system for connecting with friends online. The game features a lobby system as well as random matchmaking. There is also a ranking system for the multiplayer, though it will not affect the player's gameplay.
Release Schedule
High Voltage Software is working with SEGA as a publishing partner for The Conduit. At the October Nintendo Summit the developer specified a release time frame of June, 2009. As of February 8th, High Voltage Software has announced that The Conduit will release on June 23rd in North America. No European release date has been announced.
The Conduit E3 Demo
Control
The Conduit features fully customizable infrared sensor controls, including real-time in-game dead-zone adjustments (the invisible box that separates aiming from turning), and fully-mappable button and motion functionality. The game allows for on-the-fly customization of cursor sensitivity, camera look angles, auto centering, and run speed.
Multiplayer
In addition to a single player campaign, The Conduit also features an online multiplayer mode with support for up to 16 simultaneous gamers. Multiplayer modes include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Bounty Hunter, and a variant of the Halo favorite Oddball. The Conduit supports in-game chat through Nintendo's WiiSpeak microphone peripheral. The Conduit utilizes Nintendo's Friend Code system for connecting with friends online. The game features a lobby system as well as random matchmaking. There is also a ranking system for the multiplayer, though it will not affect the player's gameplay. Technology
The game's developer, High Voltage Software, has developed the Wii-proprietary Quantum3 game engine, which facilitates the output of graphical effects and fidelity seldom associated with Nintendo's console. These effects include real-time shadow casting, dynamic environment mapping, bump mapping (with selectiable embossed-style bump lighting), camera-space RGB gloss maps, texture-space RGB gloss maps, and standard tangent-space normals maps (with real-time adjustable bump intensity). The game has a control scheme inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor Heroes 2, both Wii games with well-received control schemes.Voice Acting and Score
High Voltage Software has announced that the games' main character, Mr. Ford, will be voiced by Mark A. Sheppard. Additionally, William Morgan Sheppard has been revealed as the voice of the character John Adams and Kevin Sorbo (who played Hercules in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda) will lend his voice to the games' antagonist, Prometheus.
In addition to the game's primary score, which is being composed by Diego Stocco, The Conduit's soundtrack will also feature original guitar accompaniment written and performed by Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen.
Release Schedule
High Voltage Software is working with SEGA as a publishing partner for The Conduit. At the October Nintendo Summit the developer specified a release time frame of June, 2009. As of February 8th, High Voltage Software has announced that The Conduit will release on June 23rd in North America. No European release date has been announced.
| Game Name | The Conduit |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes |
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| Original US Release |
June 23, 2009
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| Original US Release |
July
2009 know the real date? |
| Aliases | |
| OFLC |
OFLC: M
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| ESRB |
ESRB: T
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| PEGI |
PEGI: 16+
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We don't have any info about The Conduit's franchise games.
