The Conduit makes a Valiant attempt at greatness;though it is one of the best FPS on the system, it falls short.
(Wow. Where did all the time go…? I've been meaning to write a review for this game for a long time now, and only now have I found time, a day before the sequel is released.)
The Conduit is a completely original shooter for Wii developed by High Voltage Software. It takes place in the near future, in Washington D.C. You play as Michael Ford, a stern sounding secret service agent, who is enlisted by a clandestine organization known as the Trust for a special assignment.
This assignment turns out not to be all its cracked up to be, and to make matters worse, Washington is invaded by Alien invaders. That's all I can say, as saying much further will ruin the games fairly decent Storyline. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice story, and the voice acting is superb. In fact, the voice of the Trust Leader, Mr. Adams, is one of my Favorite parts. The problem with the story is just how it's told to you. Voices are basically heard through an earpiece in Mr. Ford, and through a disembodied briefing before each mission. True, there are Radios and televisions around each level, storying the chaos in the city, the fight against the invaders, and the opinions of many of the areas Radio Personalities (or Crack Pots).
This does add an interesting touch to the game. I found the urge to have to find every radio, and listen to every station, just to try to piece together all that was happening, but what the game gives you is a very loose cobweb of an idea of what is happening.
The controls of this game, however, are superb. The Wii is more accurate than it's ever been in this game, and completely customizable controls felt almost redundant since the default is already good. In fact, there are options for almost everything in the game, and the game even sports a customizable HUD.
There are also 5 difficulty settings, ranging from the brutally easy low, to the vaguely hard Extreme. The difficulty is a lot harder is some sections than others, and a few required multiple tries.
The game might have been harder, had it not been for the rather stupid AI. Enemies hide in-between poles; they also have trouble at getting good cover. The fact that they spawn from Conduits however, is not a frustrating as some would make it out. These portals are fairly flimsy, and most parts containing these were just right, except for a few parts that, like I said, only require a few extra tries.
The Graphics in this game were good. Definitely some of the best on the Wii, though some parts look better than others; Unlike Golden eye (The graphics weren't bad in that either though!), I had no Eyestrain while playing.
There are a wide variety of weapons available, spanning from the usual ones to the downright bizarre ones… I especially enjoy the Carbonizer, a special energy cannon type weapon that fires a beam of material that shocks and carbonizes the enemy
Now the games multiplayer. That's a mixed basket.
For one it has an excellent system, with lots of Fun modes. Many of these are unique, especially the Bounty Hunter Mode, in Which each player is given a target and will those points if they don't kill only that player.
However, Multiplayer is ruined by the fairly simplistic ways to abuse the game. Everyone and their mother knows how to glitch the weapons to fire faster, have unlimited ammo, or how to break through walls. One example is a glitch that allows you to combine the effect of one weapon with the rate of fire of another. This leads to the most annoying glitch, a Rapid Fire Automatic SMAW launcher, which when fired shoots explosive rockets at you in a near continuous stream. These rockets, if they don't kill you first, will often stall the game when they explode near you.
Simply put, these abusers don't know what the word "Gaming" means.
If it wasn't for this, I could have easily rounded this game up to an 8. But because the Multiplayer, which would have been one of the best parts of the game, is broken, this game will just have to settle its self as good.
The Conduit gets a 7.5.
Yet may I declare a toast; to tomorrows strongly anticipated sequel, and to better days ahead!