The Conduit review
Written by Michael   
Friday, 03 July 2009 03:53
                    
 
 
                                  
 
 
     The wii was released November 19, 2006, and now its June 2009. Three years has gone by and not even Nintendo themselves has done their own system a justice. Now sure super Mario galaxy won game of the year previously and was truly amazing but there were still things with the wii that still needed to be done, things that need to been seen. All things we were told would and could happened hadn't happened for sometime. Three years gone by and there hadn't been a game that truly defined the wii for all it was capable of yet. When the wii was first announced I always dreamt that there would be the one game I have always hoped for on a Nintendo console. I had always wanted a game that actually showed what the hardware  is capable of by having a developer behind it who's purpose and passion was to push the hardware. I have always wanted that one game that had amazing multiplayer and showed that good multiplayer could be done on wii if utilizing all of it's features. A game so amazing that the controls for it would Set a standard for the genre. While my wait was extremely tedious which I felt would be inevitable things started to look up.

    All the answers to my prayers were answered in the Conduit, maybe not to the high degree I imagined  but I was flabbergasted to find the high level of quality this game achieved. The conduit was announced a year ago on ign were I and thousands of other hardcore Nintendo fans had been following it. After submitting countless feed back about the game to High voltage software and some play time at comic con, now that the final product is here we can all rejoice.

Story

    In the Conduit you play the role of a secret service agent named Michael ford. Michael has now been recruited by a man who goes by the name of John Adams. Apparently there has been an alien invasion taking place in Washington DC and Michael ford is the only one who can stop it. The story evolves around government conspiracies, shadowy organizations, and trust. The story is mainly  told through mission brief conversations between levels and short cut scenes that rarely exceed over 20 seconds including radio waves. For the most part they get the job done in telling you your next objective and I think it's done perfectly in giving the game high production values. Yes, the story does have twist and turn's with lots of story segment's to find within the environment. The best thing that makes the story hold up in which you don't see in allot of other first person games is an actually relation between you the main character and the people that the main character interacts with in the game. Having Michael Ford ("Mark Shepperd") go back and forth with dialogue between Prometheus ("Kevin Sorbo") and  Mr. Adams ("Morgan Shepperd") was delivered perfectly. You actually feel for and can understand the premise of these characters from the beginning to the end of the game. Sure this method of story telling isn't original for games like bioshock followed the same style, but it was a perfect fit to tell this style of story and keeps the player on the edge while not throwing to much at them to keep them into the action.

 
 
 
                                                        
 
 
                             
 
Presentation

      Presentation wise this is were the game really excels. For 3 years straight this as been overlooked on just about 90% of all wii games. The best thing this game has to offer is not just the amazing graphics but the incredible sound design and soundtrack. From the moment you turn this game on you will notice the amazing music from the menu to the in game ambiance. The sound effects are great, far more than one would expect from Dolby pro logic II. My biggest concern with the sound was how good could the sound in this game get considering the wii doesn't support digital 5.l audio. I was really amazed at the genius the composer and sound designer "Diego Stocco" of the game able to come up with. The ambiance throughout the game combined with the amazing soundtrack is simply stunning. I was even really more impressed to see sound in Dolby pro logic II with channel separation. The guy's at High voltage has done a great job at keeping the voice overs mainly to the center speaker while using the other 4 channels for sound effects and the sound design. Hearing the enemies and grenade and gun fire going off all around me really immersed me into the game which made me feel as if I was in an action movie. This is also made better in multiplayer with the errie ambiance of the maps that really give them life. Helping the quality of the game to make it feel more movie like was the amazing tech behind the visuals.

     There is no doubt about it that this is he most technically advanced game on the wii boosting HDR lighting and bloom simultaneously with reflection and refraction,transparencies,normal and bump-mapping on nearly everything in the game including a first time appearance of high-res textures on wii. Everything technical about this game just shines and really shows how that the wii can be competitive in other area's also considering it ran ever effect you would find in a 360,ps3 or high end PC game, I think I even saw some advance motion blur at some parts! Now one downfall to the graphics that really keep them back somewhat was the extremely simple art style. Many have cried foul to it but I think this intentional look best suits that game and give that genuine Hollywood look and feel.
 
 
 
Gameplay

     Gameplay wise the conduit doesn't really do anything that shine's with greatness. The conduit is a very straight forward shooter that at time feels very fast pace like a big blockbuster movie. You run from room to room with many repeating area's shooting what ever comes our way, whether it's a trust agent or a drudge. There are technically nine levels in the game although one of them is just a tutorial. It was a huge disappointment that the single player could be beaten in under 6 hours with no real reason to got back to it other than it being so fun. The real standout point to the game though is without a doubt the controls and customization features. This is the most customizable first person shooter I have ever played, you can customize your bounding box,run speed, turning sensitivity and even your HUD placement with the ability to turn it of completely. This amazing feature allows this game to have the perfect control scheme for everyone. This perfect control scheme really comes in handy when playing in this games really good multiplayer aspect. The conduits multiplayer may not have tons of mode and maps, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality. The two best modes the conduit offers are a.s.e. football and bounty hunter mode both which are very engaging and really gives the multiplayer legs with an original twist. There are two problems I do have with mutiplayer though one being the fact that the game has tons of glitches one of them being the screen randomly pausing for 3 seconds in the middle of a firefight. Another thing is that if you're playing with 10 players or more there is a continuous lag and the frame rate drops well below 20 frame's sometimes. A good thing to note though is that this game does support wii speak with friends, and friends of friends. This is made less tedious from other games for it allows the ability to import all of your friends from your wii roster directly to your friend list alleviating the excessive friend code issues.
 
 
 
                                                      
 
 
 
 

Final verdict

     While not earth shattering with originality this game still stands bright with proper execution. Playing this game really give a feeling of nostalgia back from the n64 days from games like golden eye and perfect dark. This game is very fun and a great addition to any wii library especially if you like really hard games. Showing that the wii is more than petz and ps2 tech he conduit deserves all the attention it can get and I high recommend picking this game up as soon as possible. Come on people you can do it, buy this game and show other 3rd parties that you can support a well put hardcore effort on wii.
 
 
Story: 80 - while not as epic or original as it wants to be it still gives you motive to move along and is told extremely well.

Graphics: 90 - while not on something like killzone 2's level it still impress with realistic HDR lighting, smart textures and normal mapping everywhere making this the best looking game on wii by far but an average looking one on an HD system.

Sound: 100 - the most surprisingly impressive thing about this game. Who knew Dolby pro logic II could still hold up so well!

Gameplay: 75 - Lots of run and gun corridor shooting with perfect controls and high production values to even it out to a nostalgic but high octane experience.

Lasting appeal: 85 - The single players about 6 hours short with meaning less achievements but the multiplayer will keep this in your wii for months to come.

Fun factor: 90 - Downright non-stop action packed fun, there are no dull moments.


                                                                             
 
                                                                                                                   Overall: 86 
 
Check here for the video review:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PYC9g9877k&feature=channel_page 

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Last Updated on Monday, 06 July 2009 05:00
 

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