A lot of people are getting very excited over The Conduit, and on paper it's easy to see why. The Wii isn't exactly rolling in first-person shooters, and this one's technically much more impressive than most. It's got great controls, detailed environments and some interesting weaponry. But fire up the disc and compared to even the most bog-standard FPS on Xbox 360, PS3 or PC, it seems fairly clichéd, uninspired and quite forgettable.
The game's plot could be summarised as 'The X-Files meets 24 in a car park', or even more succinctly as 'pap'. As a be-suited secret agent known only as Mr Ford, it's your job to... well, it was all a bit confusing really, but rest assured it was Top-Secret Government Stuff. Some shadowy bloke called John Adams sends you places - such as the airport and library levels we got to see - and in those places you shoot, grenade and melee people up. In addition to more standard human foes, you'll also face a race of fearsome aliens named the Drudge, who should really consider a spot of deed poll name-changing.
Bearing a drudge Wii FPSes live or die on their control schemes, and Conduit's is one of the best we've come across. It's not overly sensitive, like in Red Steel, or overly sluggish, like in Brothers In Arms; just like Goldilocks' third bowl of porridge, Conduit's aiming and motion controls feel about right. If, for whatever reason, you don't agree, there's an extensive array of sliders and customisation - you can even tinker with the HUD, dragging individual parts around like Tom Cruise and his see-through notice board in Minority Report.
Lobbing grenades is as simple as flicking the nunchuk, while melee attacks - which, at the moment, look terrifically clumsy - can be executed by shaking the remote. Holding Z lets you to lock onto enemies, allowing less competent marksmen a fair stab at combat.
There appears to be a wide variety of guns, including the usual assault rifles and shotguns, as well as superior government and alien weaponry. The best gun on show was the MK6 Detonator, which fires bouncing energy balls that explode like electric confetti upon contact, vaporising any hapless idiots in range. The game's weapons are definitely fun, just not the 'OMG YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!' kind of fun that something like Turok's Cerebral Bore brought to giddy N64 gamers all those centuries ago. There are two reasons for this: first off, The Conduit's corpse physics aren't really that impressive compared to most modern efforts, and second, the lack of any sort of gore makes the gunplay feel a tad sanitised and unsatisfying.
The Conduit
Official trailer
1:26March trailer
The Conduit
Official trailer
1:26March trailer
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Why, Voltage? The environments are more varied and a bit less bland than in the last preview version we saw, but this isn't exactly Metroid Prime. Stages are disappointingly boxy, empty and inert - devoid of life, or really anything to do other than shooting people and hitting the odd switch. We're tired of saying this - and we fear it's become a kind of in-joke with developers - but exploding canisters? In an airport lounge? Come on, High Voltage, you can do better than that.
The Conduit's full of 'gamey' elements like this that don't fit with the pseudo-realistic action and don't appear to be justified in the plot. Enemies drop yellow energy orbs upon death, and by touching them you restore your own health. It's not a world of difference away from the regenerating health mechanic most first-person shooters seem to have settled on, but to us it did feel a little strange, and would perhaps be more at home in a cartoon platformer.
Sega are really pushing the game's online multiplayer, which, features-wise, is comparable to pretty much any shooter on PS3 or 360. There are three modes we know about - Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag, for up to 16 players - and possibly a few more that have yet to be announced. Wii Speak is also included for anyone jealous of the immature banter often prevalent on Xbox Live, and wishing to add some of their own.
It's true the Wii doesn't have a great many shooters, but does that mean we should reward any old tat that comes along simply because the genre's better examples aren't available for the platform? We don't think so. The truth is that while The Conduit may be marvellous on a technical level, underneath it seems to be the same old corridor-traipsing gunfest you've seen many times before - and it's not really much fun. Still, maybe something will change before release day...
The environments look lifeless, perhaps that was because a national disaster has just taken place maybe?
Comparing it to Metroid is pointless. Metroid lives and dies on its environments, The Conduit looks set to have more variety in locations than any other FPS (something Metroid is not) in recent times.
Comparing it to Turok, come on now. Not every game needs gore (Metroid?), but blood is shown when fighting human enemies.
Calling it 'gamey' is also ridiculous when every FPS has elements of this (and this is a work of fiction remember), I don't see you bringing up Metroid here.
Call of Duty wasn't exactly historically accurate either, and I don't rememeber you being so rough on that.
Why people can't be happy that we have an boundary pushing FPS (for the Wii) which isn't stupidly niche or is beyond me.
Wedge, I wouldn't try and defend it too passionately till you've played it. The comments made are exactely the sort of fears I had for this title.
I hope High Voltage and SEGA respond to these sorts of observations and delay this title, rather than get it out the door to spin a bit of cash on the technical achievements. SEGA have just made a respectable amount of money off Madworld and HOTD:OK so hopefully they have the depth of pocket to pull this back and have the developer get it up to scratch.
I still think this game will be a hit, but if it's just for forcing occlusion and bump mapping out the Wii's hardware it won't be worth the effort invested. Glad to hear the multiplayer is sounding robust though.
Well, after reading this preview, I'm even more psyched for The Conduit.
Quite frankly, the linear, boxy levels with random explosive canisters, enemies that drop conspicuous items, and weapons that don't make you go 'OMG YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS' to your friends sounds a lot like Resident Evil 5 mashed with Metroid Prime and Halo.
I wouldn't say that's completely true, because it's already so far proven you can make really decent looking games on the Wii and set a standard, so hopefully we won't keep ending up with just half-decent stuff because the developers just want a quick cash in and think they can get away with it just because it's not aspowerful as the 360 and PS3.
This guy just criticized this game for things that popular FPS games get away with on the HD consoles. Every game has conveniently placed explosive canisters; whether it's accurate to have those in certain locations or not--it's a game--not something about real life--that's part of what make games fun.
I didn't see game journalist bashing Halo 3, Killzone 2, or Call of Duty, for having the same ol' FPS mechanics over and over again. Let's see what they say about the next overly hyped FPS on HD consoles. I'm sure that game will have conveniently placed explosive canisters.
For now, let us reserve judgement on the level design. We or N-Gamer have not seen every level in its entirety. Some of the levels we did see were only brief clips.
Also, its amazing how people are quick to accuse this game of being the same ol’ same ol’ but dont factor in the All Seeing Eye (ASE). The puzzles elements you can solve with that device IS NOT the usual fodder of most FPS games.
When people have an agenda that make it so easily noticeable.
Wooo. That's got a few people wound up hasn't it? I love the fact that most of the people who've commented on here are defending this game when they haven't even played it. This guy has, and just because he isn't as impressed as you expected him to be, that makes him an idiot?
Why is this so upsetting to some of you? Do you really need a good fps that badly that you're willing to defend any game that looks like it might fit the bill? Let's remember here that its only ever been High Voltage who gave us the impression that The Conduit was Triple A stuff. But then they would, wouldn't they!
High profile games falling short of hype and expectation isn't exlclusive to the Wii, so calm down! Take FEAR 2 as a recent example. That fell foul of predictability in many reviewers opinions, and got a far lower score than everyone had hoped. Resident Evil 5 is another good example, and although not an fps, my point stands that nice graphics with average gameplay won't always pull the wool over a reviewer's eyes.
In the end though, I personally enjoy a nice straight up fps, so as long as the gameplay isn't completely banal, the (apparently) decent control system should still make this an entertaining title. I guess he's just saying don't expect it to be the next COD4 or Bioshock.
Remember, even an "average" game (by a critic's estimation) can still be great fun, even if its not set to become an all-time classic. So I say relax, buy it, and decide for yourselves...
too much fanboy hype for this game. For some reason it has become the poster boy for FPSs on the wii. It really has nothing more that perfect dark on the N64 going for it. Sure it might look prettyish but the core gameplay looks stunted. But we all know the wii isn't the place for innovative shooters so let the defenders have their moment as it seems to be the only semi decent FPS on the wii for the foreseeable future
There hasn't been a truly innovative shooter in about ten years, unless you count making the graphics a little bit shinier than in the last generation.
It's why I stay away from the genre, and it's why I'll be giving this a miss.
It will sell well though, the 'ooh look at the shiny' and 'I get to blow stuff up' crowds will eat it up...
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