The Consensus: The Conduit Review

Jun 26, 2009

GameSpy's Take

The Wii certainly has the market cornered on minigame collections, and games where you take care of virtual pets... but one genre doesn't get a whole lot of play on Nintendo's machine: the first-person shooter. Now, animal husbandry is great and all, but sometimes you just want to make with the bang-bang. Sega and developer High Voltage Software give us that opportunity with The Conduit.

The game's X-Files-esque plot mixes the old "aliens attacking Washington D.C." bit with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory. Secret organizations and mysterious diseases brandish spooky sounding names like "the Trust" and "the Bug," respectively, and you end up forming an alliance with a terrorist (or is he really the good guy?!) named Prometheus. The story tends to take itself a bit too serious for a game that involves killing aliens while running around in the White House, and the fact that it's only advanced through voice-only radio chatter doesn't make it any more interesting.

Still, who plays an FPS for the plot? The main draw is the action. If you're one of those people that checks out the options menu before diving into a game, you'll see that High Voltage went to considerable lengths to ensure that The Conduit takes full advantage of the Wii's unique controller capabilities. The default controls work great, with the nunchuk being used to move and the Wii-mote to aim. Even the motion controls work well (shake the nunchuk for a grenade; shake the Wii-mote for a melee attack). If the standard controls don't suit you, they're freely adjustable. Not only that, but darn near everything else about the game can be rearranged -- from the placement of HUD elements to how far from the center of the screen you have to aim your cursor before the camera starts to pan.

Given the complexity of the control settings, I was a bit surprised to see just how basic the actual gameplay is -- the bulk of the stages are fairly dull. Linear maps frequently drop the game into a "enter a room, shoot all the bad guys, walk to the next room, repeat" rut. Not to say that a simplistic FPS can't be fun, but the action tends to get a bit repetitive, even considering the game's relatively short campaign mode.

For a bit of added variety, you're given control of the All-Seeing Eye (ASE), an orb-shaped technological doodad (read: glorified flashlight) that allows you to see hidden doors, objects, and puzzles. Unfortunately, its implementation makes it feel less like a valuable tool and more like a forced gimmick.

I can forgive these flaws, though, thanks to The Conduit's fantastic online multiplayer mode -- which supports up to 12 players per match. The maps are well-designed for fragging, and the ASE is only used to play this game's version of "kill the guy with the ball." The Wii's dreaded friend codes are present, but they're only used if you want to specifically play with your buddies. If you don't mind shooting strangers, you can immediately dive into a game with random players from your local region or around the world. The Conduit offers a good variety of different multiplayer modes, and all of the matches that I played were refreshingly lag-free. The game even supports the Wii Speak accessory, which is great for all those fans of both FPS games and Animal Crossing (yeah, I suppose you could just buy the mic separately, if you'd like).

Wii owners have been waiting a while for a top-notch FPS to call their own, and although the single-player mode has its faults, The Conduit's multiplayer experience helps to lessen the pain. Hopefully, other companies follow Sega and High Voltage's lead. Who knows? Maybe one day the Wii will have as many quality first-person shooters as it does Petz games.

The Critics Agree

It seems like most critics were a bit disappointed with The Conduit's single-player mode... but, like me, they dug the multiplayer.

"If you're okay with a few presentational cliches -- a story involving aliens that seems played out -- and a shooting experience that rarely strays from straightforward running and gunning, you're probably going to love the end product." -- Matt Casamassina, IGN.com

"...be warned that no amount of fiddling with the settings can salvage the single-player campaign from its mediocre design." -- Garnett Lee, 1UP.com

"To be fair, just about any multiplayer that actually works is going to look pretty damned good on a system consistently starved for it, but Conduit's still a cut above. The matches we played a few weeks back were both lag free and quick to load - basically nowhere near as horrid just about any other online Wii game ever made." -- Chris Antista, GamesRadar.com

The Critics Disagree

The Conduit's control scheme seems to be an issue for some. Although many liked the Wii-mote implementation and the customization options, others remained unimpressed.

"Largely thanks to its customizability, The Conduit controls very well. Aiming, hurling grenades, and whacking enemies with your melee attack are all done via motion controls. It all feels right, and for the most part, works well." -- GameTrailers.com

"The Conduit's greatest strength is how natural the controls feel, and you'll be surprised at the level of accuracy you'll have while aiming the Wii Remote at targets..." -- Scott Alan Marriott, G4TV.com

"What I couldn't stand, however, was the use of motion controls; for whatever reason, High Voltage mapped two critical functions -- grenade throwing and melee-to motion controls but even my grandmother knows that that was a dumb move." -- Tae K. Kim, GamePro.com

The Word on Twitter

"The Conduit is the first FPS I've played since Portal that actually feels new and different" -- bascule

"getting used to The Conduit's controls. Tweaked them alot. Still not loving it yet, but this could change." -- czar_roland

"Conduit is Halo Fully customized!" -- legendofmatt