A Fun Shooter for the Wii with Excellent Controls
It is not very original, and yes it's very linear. But the visuals are nice and the controls are smooth. There's a nice selection of weapons as well and some fun enemy design. The game is a bit repetitive, but again, I found it a fun experience - I could not put it down. The campaign is also a bit short.
Some of Gamespot's review I agree with - the huge boss fights are fairly lame, but luckily there's only a few. As far as being "pinned down" with enemies spawing out of nowhere and the invisible bombs, I would say that these few occurances were challenging, but not frustrating - I got past these section on my second or third attempt - no big deal. The reviewer sounds like a novice gamer who couldn't get past the level and made it sound near impossible - no it's not like that at all - it's really not. You have to take out the bad guys in the windows with the sniper before you hit the street and then just have a little strategy as you move forward. As far as enemies "spawing out of thin air" or however they put it, they spawn from portals, and you just have to throw a grenade into the portal to blow it up to stop the enemies from appearing - wow that was hard. By the way didn't wave after wave of enemies just sometimes drop out of the sky in Halo from the mother ship above? Or just appear from behind a door? How is this any different.
As far as the AI, it wasn't the greatest but I've seen so much worse. There were times that the AI in The Conduit kicked my butt and there were some good firefights that I very much enjoyed.
Let's talk about originality. Yes at times I felt like I playing a Halo rip-off. But guess what? I didn't really care. And how original is Halo anyway? Hmmm, the Needler gun? Anyone ever play to the end of Half-Life 1? Anyone ever watch the movie Aliens? Some originality Halo had. And If ever I played a game where a lame and confusing story was attached to an excuse to shoot wave after wave of enemies it is the Halo series. I tried to pay attention to the story in Halo and I just couldn't because it was so inflated and boring - so it was just shoot wave after wave of alien - ok.
Now The Conduit is not amazing - let's be honest, but it is fun. I feel that it deserves at least a 7.5 or 7.8. I remember way back when Gamespot reviewed Halo 2 and gave it a 9.4. Then I played Halo 2 and couldn't believe what a high score they gave it because it was one of the most boring and repetitive games I ever played. I was thinking "REALLY?? A 9.4??" This is a perfect example of a skewed review.
The controls in the Conduit are fantastic, and completely customizable. The developer made a game for the Wii that I have been waiting for. Why other developers have not utilized the Wii's abilities up to this point in such a way is beyond me. It was a pleasure to control. High Voltage could make many more games with this game engine or sell it another developer - it's that smooth.
Bottom line - if you own a Wii and like FPS's and Sci-Fi games, give the Conduit a try. If you expect amazing, you will be dissapointed. If you expect good FPS fun with nice visuals and satisfying controls you will be happy.
I am looking forward to the Conduit 2 because I know that the developer is going to implement some of the suggestions made by players. I am rooting for this developer. I will remember that if Gamespot rates The Conduit 2 at a 6.5, then I will translate that into 7.5 or 8 and know that it's a fun game. I'm not sure why, but I do feel sometimes that Gamespot is off base in their reviews and they forget that not everyone is a "hard core" fanboy type of gamer. I play both 360 and Wii games but I also have a life outside of sitting on my couch and so I'm not a "hard core" gamer I suppose.