You know how, when you haven't played a game in years, that game will continue to look awesome in your memories? It's as if our memory installs graphical updates to keep games we played in the past looking 'next-gen'. I already made that mistake once when I played the original Carmageddon (1997) for the first time in years, somewhere in the Gamecube era. In my subconciousness, the images I recalled of this game were elevated to the point that I expected them to look on par with the latest Need For Speed games. Yet when I started playing it again, it was an awful mess visually that was hard to swallow.

It happened on a few other occasions, but in all cases they were games from other eras I hadn't touched in years. What I didn't know, however, is that the same effect could take place within a matter of months. When I first started playing the Wii-exclusive FPS The Conduit at the start of this year, I didn't think it was great-looking, but it looked decent, and I was genuinely impressed by the high amount of detail on the character models.

About 3 months ago I got a gaming PC, and because I wanted to explore that new medium fully, I stopped playing my Wii temporarily to be able to give full attention to the PC and its huge gaming library. I played great-looking games such as Metro 2033 and Crysis on very high settings, so I got my fair share of eye candy as well. But when I returned to the Wii and started playing The Conduit again a few days ago, I got a real scare. The blurriness, the jaggies, even the unclear character models: every visual aspect of The Conduit seemed to have been downgraded, but it was the same game I enjoyed and beat twice. I even noticed how simplistic the AI was after my experience with PC shooters.

Granted, after a few levels I somehow adjusted myself to not be annoyed by the graphics, and I even noticed how the game looks a lot better in small areas and hallways, but it's weird how the mind can be so deceiving in a matter of months. Shows you how much witness statements are worth in police investigations...

Oddly enough, Metroid Prime 3. Fortunately, because I wouldn't want one of my favourite gaming experiences of this generation being ruined because I was spoiled by PC graphics.

I'm still having fun playing The Conduit, by the way. :)