When The Conduit was first announced it was hyped and heralded as a killer app for the Wii, one meant to revolutionize FPS controls forever. Developed by High Voltage Software, the game’s hype was nearly overwhelming. Gaming blogs and websites were abuzz with the details of the shooter for nearly a year. The game has since then been released (June 23rd in the US) and I was able to spend some fair amount of time with it.
Did it live up to the hype? Was it the experience that I was hoping it would be?
Notes
Game: The Conduit
Publisher: Sega
System: Wii
Released: 23 June 2009
The Conduit tells the story of Michael Ford, an agent employed by the mysterious Trust organization to hunt down a terrorist named Prometheus who is causing havoc in the streets of Washington DC. This initial storyline begets several twists and turns that challenge Ford’s own faith and belief in who is (or isn’t) telling the truth. The game is essentially aimed at making a social commentary about the current state of US governmental affairs: if you cannot trust your government, who can you trust? Think of it as a conspiracy theorist’s dream videogame come true, to some extent. Aliens and portal-travel are also thrown in to the mix for special sauce.
Likes:
– Visuals: The visuals are some of the best on the Wii, with a level of polish (especially in the character design and particle effects) that rivals many “Next Gen” games. No, this is not XBox 360-level high def stuff; it is a level of fidelity that shows that the attention to detail was a high priority. I actually felt as though I was running through the White House blasting holes in walls.
– Controls: Initially, when I picked up the Wii-Mote and began to play, the experience was awkward. I had finally felt as though the dual analog stick was a comfortable control method, and although I wasn’t hesitant to try the new controls it did take me some time to get used to them. But once I did, I felt as though this was as natural as (and perhaps more enjoyable than) dual-analogs. While not as exact as dual analogs, the amount of “fudge” space was gracious enough that I didn’t feel the need to be pinpoint accurate. The bounding box (the dead zone around which the pointer controls when the screen rotates) was good, and although the preset controls were fine, I enjoyed further tweaking them in the options. And even though the melee attack sent my screen into a dizzying spin, I found myself adapting to it after a few tries.
– Customization: The amount of customization in the controls and appearance of the game was astounding. From sensitivity in controls to the location of menus and overlays, the amount of personalization was almost overwhelming. Although the casual player may not utilize it, it is enough for any core player to appreciate.
– Multiplayer: With 13 modes of play, the online multi has a good amount of variety. This is easily where the game gets its longevity from, offering everything from team to free-for-all modes, capture the flag, and more. I found myself playing online often and never really having any issues connecting to the network. There were times when the amount of players online was few, but I never felt as though the competition was shallow or lacking.
– Achievements: More and more Wii games are adopting Achievement-like methods of gauging accomplishments. The Conduit rewards players collecting Achievements with galleries and cheats. The Achievements and rewards are simple (kill 100 of this enemy, use that weapon for 250 kills) but offer a reason to replay the single-player mode over again.
Dislikes:
– Repetitive environments: The levels, although varied in overall location and style, are slightly “corridored,” generally consisting of a series of tunnels. This leads to a serious amount of repetition within the levels, utilizing certain sections over and over again. In one level, a battle takes place in a lab. Once cleared, the doors open and reveal a tunnel which leads to… an identical lab. Rinse and repeat. This is lazy level design at its best. Or worst.
– Storyline: For a game that dwells on the search for truth as a social parallel, the game’s storyline is very… non-inventive. In fact, the story holds no interest for me. As a fan of science fiction and video games, this is a stereotypical story, right down to the initial big twist and the twist at the ending. The story feels extremely shallow as does the interaction between the characters. Some more time was definitely needed here.
– Confused identity: At times, The Conduit feels like a well-designed core game. At others times, it becomes “My First FPS.” This back and forth affects not only the difficulty and design, but the way the game is played. With a control scheme that is extremely mature, it is a shame that the story falls behind considerably. The inevitable sequel will need to do a better job of bridging this gap.
And finally:
Although the story development was lacking, I found myself really enjoying The Conduit. In fact, I almost wish the game was longer than the 6-7 hours it took to complete. The attention to detail was great, as I often would stop in the middle of a mission to explore paintings on walls or listen to a radio broadcast SOS. However it was the controls which sucked me in the most, providing a hybrid light-gun/FPS method that was enjoyable and refined. While The Conduit‘s controls may not appeal to everyone, it left me hoping that future FPS games on the Wii utilize the same controls. This is a solid addition to the Wii lineup, if anything else than for some great multiplayer action.
[Images courtesy SEGA]
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