Nerd Mentality

REVIEW: The Conduit

Posted July 13th 2009 by Daisy Garcia.

The wait is over for the hardcore Wii-only only owners who've stood by their system from the beginning. You probably haven't heard of The Conduit until recently, but some die-hard fans have followed it ever since its announcement. So does it live up to the amazing experience developers were preaching to us?

The game opens up like National Treasure if it were a first-person shooter, with sci-fi elements from games like the Metroid Prime series scattered throughout. You play as Michael Ford, a smooth but cynical badass, bent on getting to the bottom of strange happenings in the Washington D.C. area. Along the way, you are recruited by John Adams – no relation to the former president (thought possibly an allusion to him) – who runs a mysterious society known as The Trust. Mr. Ford then has to work with The Trust to stop a threatening invasion of aliens, known as Drudge, from attacking the city. And with the mystery of The Trust organization comes inevitable betrayals and twists that leaves the player wondering what will happen next, right up until the very end.

The problem you may have already noticed with the plot is that it's a little too generic. We've seen it recently in games like Beyond Good & Evil and just about any game with government conspiracy or betrayal in the plot. It has several conspiracy elements thrown in that have been done countless times, and while it isn't necessarily bad, it just doesn't tell a unique story. There's a great foundation for a story, what with all of the historic locations and political reference potential involved with being set in our nation's capital. And while I was playing through this, I thought there would be some exciting revelation when the pieces came together but instead I got an abrupt ending that left me wondering why the credits were rolling. Fortunately for those not big on stories, most of the storytelling takes place through short character conversations before missions and optional radio broadcasts.

Where The Conduit really shines is its controls. When I played this at E3, the controls felt way too loose and I found myself spinning in circles every time I turned my Wii Remote. But when I got a chance to sit down with the game and widen my bounding box, everything felt perfect. Dual analog is no comparison against most quality first-person shooters on the Wii, and this game is near the top for controls on the Wii. But while the Wii offers some realism to shooting a gun, even The Conduit's controls don't quite match the control interface of a mouse and keyboard. Still, control customization doesn't involve a mere handful of options; almost every control aspect is customizable. You have the option to change controller layout, HUD placement, camera style, sensitivity, running speed and several other aspects. It may take a while, but players can customize almost anything to their liking if they give it time.

Single-player mode gives players a decent length adventure with mostly straightforward run-and-gun gameplay. If you like randomly shooting shit and unloading ammo on any living thing in front of you, then you will like this. Most of this occurs in rooms and corridors and consists of a few scattered enemies, with little to no backtracking. The difficulty comes in certain large rooms where you're bombarded with enemies that will almost certainly kill you if you don't have a strategy. Part of this is due to conduits (hence the name) that spawn aliens, which continuously walk out if the holes are not blown up. Then you have giant alien egg sacs which also spawn annoying creatures and other enemy waves that prevent you from continuing until all is clear.

Most of the puzzle solving aspects are completed with a little round floating device known as the All Seeing Eye (ASE). This is used to hack just about any electronic device, find invisible enemies, find hidden buttons and blow up invisible mines. This may sound difficult but all of this can be done by whipping it out and holding a button, which makes makes puzzle solving incredibly easy. In fact, it almost becomes a menial chore to continually blow up invisible mines in a room to get the constant beeping noise of the ASE to go away, only to run into one you missed. This is where I would've liked a little more challenge or variety to the mix.

Another detail that brought a lot of hype to the table are the graphics, and this is certainly one of the best looking games on the Wii. I say that with mixed feelings, though. On one hand you have weapons and objects like the ASE that show off the game's finer details. Alien weapons have an almost pulsating organic quality to them and shoot luminous balls of light at enemies. Even reloading weapons is an amazing thing to watch, as everything on the screen except the gun blurs and comes back into focus once restocked. Then there's a color fading effect that happens when Mr. Ford's health is too low. Adding to the immersion is a muted sound and heavy breathing effect that lasts until health is restored. On the other hand, the art direction of stages doesn't quite match up with the technical achievements. Most wall textures are bland with simple tones that seem to repeat throughout a mission, and yet there are some beautiful textures seen in cave tunnels and outdoors for only a few instances in the game.

The audio also has a strong showing, though not as refined as the graphics and controls. The Conduit makes use of three talented voice actors for the main characters. Kevin Sorbo, who plays the supporting character through much of the game, stands out with his strong yet calming voice as he assists Mr. Ford during certain tasks. It's a shame we don't get to see some live cutscenes involving character interactions instead of hearing the voices in-game, though. The soundtrack for each stage certainly keeps the action moving. Composer Diego Stocco built several unconventional instruments to produce the score. This helps add an unsettling sci-fi vibe that sets it apart from other first-person shooters plagued by casual action music.

Players wanting more than the standard eight-to-10 hour single-player adventure have the additional option of online multiplayer. Online features up to 12-player games with several free-for-all and team options. It also supports Wii Speak but I admit I haven't tested it out, because spending $30 on a peripheral isn't worth it to me at this point in time. I would rank online multiplayer with some of the best out there on the Wii, though some would argue that games like Call of Duty: World at War are slightly better. I noticed some lag and occasional glitching but this is nothing out of the ordinary if you are a Wii owner. It provides for a fun experience in addition to what is a solid single player game.

If you fell for some of the hype surrounding this game, thinking it would be the definitive first-person shooter that would revolutionize all other games in the genre, then think again. It's a good, solid game with a lot of effort put into it, but it could only be amazing if all necessary parts came together with some tweaking. The pieced-together plot and lack of creative environments hamper some of the more defining moments. The framework is there, and with a few new ideas I think High Voltage Software's future endeavors could turn out great.

Posted in: Reviews, Gaming

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