Are you sure this isn't Halo watered down for Wii?
Written By Ben Salter
The Conduit has to be in the running for the most hyped game without a publisher. High Voltage Software’s FPS started out life as a tech demo that showcased the graphical capabilities of the Wii when pushed to its limits. A few years on and it has been released, published by Sega, and has become one of few first person shooters on the family friendly Wii. It looks fantastic, it controls like a gem, but does it live up to expectations on the all important gameplay front?
You play as Michael Ford, the one man who knows the truth, and the only person who can save the world from an alien invasion. The alien forces, known as The Drudge, have set up shop all over the place and within days will overrule Washington D.C. Throw government conspiracies into the mix along with a President who is oblivious to the whole thing and you have one hell of a cheesy story that’s full of holes everywhere you look. In other words, you have the plot of a generic first person shooter.
The single player campaign is a relatively bland affair and reeks of a generic run and gun shooter that is just crying out to be something more. That isn’t to say it’s terrible, it’s just nothing revolutionary as the hype had us believe. The first of nine missions introduce you to the controls and the All Seeing Eye (ASE) device. This feels similar to the visor system in Metroid as when equipped Mr.Ford can scan compatible objects. It is used to open locked doors, defuse ghost mines, and occasionally hack a computer terminal. The first few missions are full of action and introduce you to the world of The Conduit. Unfortunately nothing much happens after that. The levels, enemies, objectives and weapons are all essentially repeated with larger swarms of opponents coming at you more often as you advance. It’s disappointing that such a short game struggles to keep you entertained right up until the end because you feel like you’re doing the exact same thing over and over again. In total the game is only going to take between 5-7 hours to blast through. My playtime was only around the 5-hour mark, but that didn’t take into account my many deaths from running in and trying to finish off a horde of enemies without a hint of forward planning. By comparison it is around the same time as your general FPS on the Xbox 360 or PS3.
Most games in the first person shooter genre are very linear and The Conduit is no different. There is always only one way to go, with the occasional room which isn’t required off to the side of hallways here and there to visit for a restock of ammo. The AI of the Drudge is decent, although in saying that, it isn’t hard to out smart them. While they do advance firing at you ferociously, it’s easy to get them stuck running into something by standing directly behind it. There are normally enough enemies on screen to avoid this becoming a major issue, as by the time you’ve dodge an attack from another foe they have enough time to free themselves from that ghastly wall that they just couldn’t get enough of. High Voltage Software must have been playing Halo when they designed the enemies in The Conduit. I don’t want to say many of them are complete rip-offs, but they do attack in a similar fashion, look similar and have similar weapons; then there's the fact that they sound exactly the same as the Bungie’s brutes. To be honest there really needed to be a larger range of enemies to fight off, as besides the human forces there are only a handful of different types of alien to combat. Each enemy will keep spawning from either an egg sack, or a ‘Conduit’ until you destroy it. This forces you to look for, and destroy, the source before focusing your attention on each enemy on screen.
The Wii Remote and Nunchuck feel perfect for first person shooters, and yet developers have been hesitant about bringing the genre to the console. High Voltage Software have gone above and beyond the call of duty with the control scheme that they have implemented in their first Wii outing. The default controls are perfect, and every button is positioned exactly where it should be. The Wii Remote Pointer works flawlessly to aim your weapon and control sideways movement. The Z button isn’t really required, but is used to lock on to the general area of an enemy (still needs a little aiming with the IR, but it’s so good you won’t always feel the need to lock on). The A button is used to jump and the B button to shoot, in conjunction with left and right on the D-Pad to cycle through weapons and the – button to reload. Up and down on the D-Pad triggers a 180 turn and scope mode respectively, while + enables the ASE device. I wouldn’t have thought motion control would have had a major impact, but melee attacks by thrusting the Wii remote, and throwing grenades by swinging the Nunchuck has finally been executed well. Not once did it fail to recognise my small movements and each control felt natural to use. If there’s one thing High Voltage Software have done with The Conduit, it is show that the Wii can easily outclass its rivals with superior controls in first person shooters.
Not only does The Conduit have some of the best controls on the Wii by default, it has the highest level of customisation I have ever seen in a console game. If for some reason or another you are not happy with the control layout you can assign almost anything to where you want it. This may be particularly useful for people who feel disorientated using the Wii Remote Pointer to both aim and turn (as the second analogue stick on other consoles). If you so desire all movement can be mapped to the Nunchuck, freeing up your pointer to focus entirely on aiming. HVS have also given us options to change Michael’s walking speed, controller sensitivity the size of your aiming reticule. I found making this slightly smaller gave me a significant boost in accuracy (not that it was bad to begin with) and it was as good as playing a FPS with a mouse on a PC. What is even more amazing is the option to redesign your HUD. Using a drop and drag edit function you can reposition anything on your screen to suit your fancy.
Once the single player is done and dusted you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find the online multiplayer. A great online game on the Wii? That’s unheard of! Unfortunately friendcodes have reared their ugly heads, but a regional option is a welcomed addition as it limits us to playing with Aussies and Europeans and increases your chances of finding a local match. The 12-player online mode features a robust range of game modes. These include a straightforward free-for-all, team battles and objective based missions.
Overall I found the multiplayer to be a bit of a mix bag playing on a decent, but not fantastic, connection in Australia. About half the games I have played so far have been generally lag free, while the others were riddled with opponents running into walls and not dying despite unloading a magazine of lead (or plasma) into their abnormally moving body. This is something we’re going to have to deal with for a little while longer in the land of Aus, and while it’s not unplayable, don’t expect to be play lag free each time you jump online. Wii Speak support is a nice touch, even though I’m not a massive fan of the device and prefer a headset myself. The maps are designed well and something about them has a distinct Nintendo 64 feel. Perhaps it is due to the fact that you’re playing inside buildings with a variety of different rooms, that are full of perfectly positioned crates, rather than out on the battlefield. The Conduit is in a one horse race when it comes to online first person shooters on Wii. If that is what you’re looking for then you don’t have much of a choice. Fortunately it is surprisingly good and, depending on your connection, quite enjoyable. Just don’t expect it to be up to the same level as a game of Call of Duty 4's caliber - let’s face it, you didn’t buy a Wii for quality online titles – but considering it is a rare Wii online FPS it’s a solid effort and one we hope to see expanded on in the future. The one question left on the tip of our tongues was where is the split screen? Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that it reminds me a little of Perfect Dark, but The Conduit feels like it was made for split screen multiplayer.
HVS’s Quantum 3 engine pushes the Wii to its limits. It may not be at the same level as those tech demo shots we saw when the game was first revealed, but it’s up there as one of the best looking games on the system. It doesn’t quite translate into the multiplayer mode, which suffers from some slow down now and then due to so much action on screen, and some pixelated edges here and there but all in all it’s at the top of the pack when it comes to visual design. The Conduit features some decent voice acting from Kevin Sorbo and Mark Sheppard. However, the dialogue is utter tripe. The sound effects are great, and the Wii Remote speaker sounds are a nice touch. The music isn’t memorable, and almost seems non-existent in periods during online play. It feels as if the atmosphere needs to be increased by some tense background music when battling it out with 10 players online, but it just wasn’t there.
The Final Verdict
The Conduit is a good game that wants to be something more without trying hard enough. The single player feature stunning visuals and almost perfect controls, yet the gameplay is bland and repetitive; it is also easily completed within a night. The online mode is great for the Wii and will have you playing online for months to come if you’re a Wii only gamer. Make no mistake, there’s nothing special about the online component if you’re a seasoned FPS gamer on another console this generation. However, High Voltage Software is targeting the Wii exclusive gamer, this one is for you guys!