myself being an artist in training (I have no room to talk), I honestly have to say that I am starting to realize that they need to work a little harder next time around if they want to impress me. Again, by no means am I DaVinci, but I no my way around a piece of paper by means of a pencil.
I don't necessarily know if it's a combination of all of their teams, but that's what I think. You can't blaim everything on just the art direction of the game. Everyone seems to be having the same issues with the Conduit though, and this has really made me start thinking about the actual game itself (a game I was excited for).
I hear most people say the game has a bland art direction, which I agree with, but disagree at the same time. Visually, there wasn't anything that made the game stand out compared to any other sci-fi shooter for the Wii, let alone... any console. The weapons were creative, and visually tasteful (imo). The enviroments were rather bland though. As to where I disagree, it's with the enviroments. I mean, yes... they could've went with a different artst*le better suited for the Wii. But Washington D.C. isn't really the most vibrant/beautiful ofcities in the world either. So I'm about 50/50. I honestly think if they would've chosen a different location for the setting, it "might have" been a little different, but again.... that would really depend on how they handled it. We'll never know, because we were stuck with the same, boring office buildings for the most part. My biggest complaint for enviroments was the online maps. I don't feel like listing all the details, but I don't honestly feel that most of them had abad flow, which in turn, hurts the multiplayer experience. Whether you like it or not, there were some technical acheivements (considering the Wii's power) when it came to visuals as well, so good for them on that. I would say they need to work with who does their textures as well. Some parts of enviroments have great looking textures, while other spots look horrible/dull. All the characters looked pretty good to me, but I think they actually look too good for the game, as well your character's hands/weapons. It makes me think (in comparison) that I'm playing a Wii game (with Wii quality characters), but with GC enviroments (technical wise). I think they should've balanced between the two.
When it comes to other parts of the developement team, I think this was my biggest problem with the game overall. The script was nothing astonishing, or outstanding which probably didn't attract most people (including myself). Depending on the game (especially single player campaigns), I usually hate the game if the story is boring, or un-interesting. Conduit was alright, but again, nothing special... or definitive.
I didn't really have a problem with the sound department, so I won't touch on that.
The multiplayer.... we all know what that's all about. Probably the best part about the game, depending on how your experience is. It usually works pretty decently, but it has it's kinks. I don't even mind the ocassional lag (hopping around). I do hate how long it takes to connect to the lobby, find players, and the ocassional respawn timer reset. Again, I also don't really care for at least 85% of the maps either. They might have been better if they included a "sprint" button. It just takes too damn long to get back to the action, unless you're consistantly playing "the streets."
Control wise, I don't have any problems except for the no "spring" button. Other than that, controls are pretty solid.
over all, the game was a solid 6.5-7 game. It definitely could've been a 7.5-8 imo, but if they would've worked more on the above. That's an average score, for an average game... nothing more. Oh well, I'll rent the Grinder this time around and see how it shapes up.
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