Boy it took a long time to get this one out, but since the game has been out for so long, so lets hit the ground running.

Presentation:

Impressive from a tehcnical standpoint only in certain areas. The entire game seemed that it just wasnt quite there. You've got bump mapping, and great particle effectsin some parts, and muddy textures in others. Remember the whole "looks too generic" campaign that ran many months ago? Too bad that spilled over into the visuals. (Note, generic look and gameplay are different. COD 4 looked generic as another war shooter, but turned out to be one of the best first person shooters of all time) The back drop environments look TERRIBLE. Bland color pallet, fogettable "art direction", the game doesnt suck you in like most first person shooters should.

Gameplay:

Sure, HVS did the right thing by making the aiming controls completely customizable, that cant be denied. But some of the options represent some of the dumbest game design ideas I've ever seen. And when I say that, I'm looking at the aiming style. These aiming styles are purely gimmicks and show the lack of experience HVS has with shooters. IfI get into that, I could type a whole other post, but in short, u can do what ever you want in the single player campaign, but for the most of you, dont expect these obnoxious styles to work in multiplayer. The real testinment to aiming going up against tactical AI. Does that exist in the conduit? NO. Running through the game felt like a shooting gallery: Dude pops up, I pop him in the head. One level towards the very beginning of the game i was riunning up the stairs to the elevator and a Trust soldier is standing up there looking at me. I'm like, "WHAT R U LOOKING AT?" And he just stands there.Put a few rounds in him just to make him sturr, but he wont even budge. The only thing that made this game more challenging was the AI getting increasingly aggresive, not smarter. The entire game felt, op... here's that word again...GENERIC. Hallway after hallway ofcookie cut enemies popping up only to be mowed down shortly after.Rinse. Wash. Repeat. There was little variety in the gameplay, and this so called innovative ASE was a joke. Uninspiring to say the least.Even some of the worst shooters on other platforms can out perform the Conduit easily.

Multiplayer:

Good lord the multiplayer. I just gotta stay this, why the hell is the lock on system implemented into muliplayer? It (explitive) feels likeI'm playing (explitive)Metroid Prime! Anyone whohas played FPS's as much or more thanI have would laughed at this and fed the disc to their dog (feel free to call me a jerk for saying that. as it lacks logic, cause they could have returned or never bought it in the first place. which it what i did.). At leastthe lock on isnt a complete handicap where ud automatically shoot an enemy player, you still have to aim. But it just doesnt feel like I'm playing a REAL FPS. Match making is a pain in the rear. It could take up to 5 min to connect (note: dont you dare comment and blame this on internet connection. there's no excuse for this. my ps3 and 360 run perfectlyfine. the fault falls on either Nintendo, HVS, or both.), and other times it'll fail.The lobby is also a step backward. Other titles such as Halo and CODuse a veto system thatgive players the opportunity to experience all of the maps, and vote only the chosen map out, leaving them with the next choice. The voting system that the Conduit failsbecause most ofyou online sessions could be spent on one map (and im sure for the most of you, that map is Streets). Frame rate is a big issue and conflicts with these aiming controls.Its bad enough that these controls just arent that intuitive (yes, there. i said it. iwould much prefer dual analog, especially on 360 than pointer controls. juggling between COD 4 and the Conduit, COD boasts tighter and more reponsive controls. that "reality" that wii has better shooter controls hasnt been realized yet. even so, no shooter on wii comes close to any other console.), but the framerate interrupts the flow of combat. I cant really complain about the feature set in multiplayer becauseI expected it to be this BASIC.

So there you hav it. TheConduit is just not that great. I dont agree with gamespot's criticism, but this game is tailered to JUST the wii audience. Anyone who owns another console should just skipthis all together.