GOONL!NE

Developer: High Voltage Software
Publisher: SEGA
Also on: N/A (Nintendo Wii Exclusive)
Console Played on: Nintendo Wii
Release Date: Friday July 10th 2009
Age Rating: PEGI 16

The Conduit has had a lot of hype going for it since it was announced back in April 2008. Hyped as the Wii’s version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with aliens  in some parts. And one preview had it down as the “natural successor” to Rare’s Goldeneye on the N64.

But can High Voltage provide the goods?

It’s story is not the worst part of the game, but it is however one of the down points of the game. If you want the story in a gist, this is it.

You’re Michael Ford, a Secret Service agent who is indicted into a rogue shadow group of the government known as “The Trust” after saving the life of the President. It comes as “The Bug”, a flu like disease, sweeps through Washington DC from their water supply.

Soon after the outbreak, terrorists attack the Washington Monument. Soon after, other events, including the planned assassination, which comes from his own Secret Service personnel, takes place. It’s here where the events of the game start to take place, but the game kicks off near the end of the game.

You rewind back 5 days to find out what the rest of the threat is, before realising that an alien force, known as the Drudge, has landed on Earth using what is known as Conduit’s. How they are getting in, and why, is up to you. But near the end of the second mission, your fellow Trust co-workers turn on you. In comes Prometheus, who was originally thought to be the antagonist of the game, but turns out to be the protagonist of the game.

Its from there where you must find out what the Trust’s end game is, and stop it for good.

It’s not the story itself which is the downfall of the game, if any at all, as the game’s story is decent at best and sets up The Conduit 2 nice and perfectly. But it’s the length of the story which does it in, it doesn’t last that long. At best, your probably looking at 5 – 7 hours worth at the game if you want to fly through it right away.

The Conduit does handle nicely, High Voltage has seriously refined the controls specifically for the Wii, all the way down to a T, fast and very exact in pointing the controller. It especially does well when handing a weapon with a scope, like the SCAR. Press Up on the D-Pad, and it lets you be more precise with your weapons (either that or you binoculars when not using scoped weapons)

But even then, the D-Pad for The Conduit does seem flimsy at best somewhat, no matter how fine-tuned the controls are. Even if you do configure them yourself, it’s still the same result. And yet, you get a very repetitive shooter in some aspects with boring weapons, which offer nothing wow worthy, nor does the repetitive gameplay style of the game of shooting aliens/Trust forces, throwing grenades to destroy Conduits and using the ASE to solve puzzles for you, unlock doors and help find mines to destroy.

However, multiplayer is one point for the game where it does well. No friend codes necessary, just go in and have a game of your usual multiplayer modes like Team Deathmatch (and standard Deathmatch) as well as Team Reaper, ASE Football, where whoever can hold onto the ASE wins, Team Objective, basically  and more, all with 12 players and Wii Speak compatible.It’s nicely done and can get awfuly frantic at times in some modes, especially in a full house of 12 players.

Graphically, it is a great showcase for what the Wii can do. Using the Quantim3 engine, built specifically from the ground up for the Wii by HVG, The Conduit looks fantastic using Quantim3. Enemies can also be intellegent too, thanks to the engine, using specific AI, knowing when your open to attack or if your running away when your trying to seek cover.

Final Thoughts: It’s fairly obvious that The Conduit is no Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with aliens nor is it a successor to Goldeneye. In fact, it does struggle to stand on it’s own two feet by itself. The story is too short and the gameplay, despite decent controls, is repetitive.

But its multiplayer is good, and does have potential, while it’s also a decent showcase for graphics on the Wii (this year anyways).

Lets honestly hope The Conduit 2 will be a improved game.

Story – 5: Too short for it to have any real depth to it, truth be told. And the story can get a bit over yoru head sometimes.

Gameplay – 7: Decent, but flawed, controls for the game as well as repeative gameplay. Would have been an 8 if there was a bit more originallty in it. Great multiplayer though.

Graphics – 8: A fine showcase for the Wii, simply one of the better looking Wii titles of this year so far.

Sound – 6: Voice acting was sub par at best, while there was little left in the imagination of the soundtrack for the game.

Overall – 6: The Conduit is a decent attempt for a first person shooter for the Wii, even with the Metroid trillogy on the way. But there are some serious flaws in the game that need to be fixed before The Conduit 2 sees a release.

Lets hope that happens, this deserves a decent chance.