
	Platform Wii Genre Shooter Publisher Sega Developer High Voltage Software ESRB T (Teen) Released June 23, 2009

- Customizable controls - Online multiplayer with chat! - Will not drown newcomers in hardcore first-person shooter conventions

- Story is confusing rather than mysterious (or maybe I'm just over-thinking it) - First-person shooter fans will blow right through this

Review: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) Review: Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Wii) Review: Medal of Honor: Vanguard (Wii)
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

The Conduit

Score: 7.5 / 10

After reading some reviews of The Conduit, there’s seems to be a consensus reached that The Conduit is actually a good game if you only own a Wii. How ‘bout we just ignore this because I think the hardware is actually irrelevant; I’m reviewing a game, not the Wii hardware.

The Conduit is a very solid single-player game, with a very strong multiplayer component.

There are a lot of confusing sci-fi story elements throughout and I’m not sure if anyone will really care: Washington, DC is under attack by dimensional beings, there’s some kind of conspiracy going on about cloned alien armies, and, as Mr. Ford, you’re right in the middle of it trying to figure out what’s happening but mostly

Advertisement

- Wii Game Reviews
- Shooter Game Reviews
- Games Published by Sega

shooting anything that moves. Not to spoil it, but the ending is a clear setup for a sequel (possibly subtitled “The Explanation”).

Doing something I wished far more games did, High Voltage Software allows players to adjust a myriad of control settings. I found absolutely no problems with the default controls, but thanks to some back and forth

Advertisement

with people online – the Wii Speak peripheral is supported – there are actually settings that can make the game a little easier to navigate. And shoot things.

I managed to blow through the single player campaign in short order. The Conduit’s interconnected hallways and easily explored areas function in such a way that there’s never any doubt as to where you need to go to achieve success. It’s not surprising then that when I handed the controls to a novice gamer, they actually figured out the game quickly – how to get around, shoot down aliens. I’m guessing this is because The Conduit shies away from the more “open” design of hardcore first-person shooters like Rainbow Six Vegas or Resistance or Killzone 2 or Call of Duty 4. And while there’s stuff happening on the periphery in The Conduit it’s not overpowering like those more “hardcore” shooters with people shouting, things blowing up, and bullets whizzing by your head.

The 12-player multiplayer modes offer some really great online play; not just because it runs well, but because it’s a very simple process of connecting with other (random) players online. (You still need to enter friend codes if you want to play with your buddies.) I’ve played a number of hours online and I don’t think I’ve played all the modes yet, but the ones that I’ve played the most are Bounty Hunter (killing a specific opponent), ASE Football (hold the All Seeing Eye the longest to win) and Team Objective (the perennial Capture-the-Flag mode). It’s very obvious that a lot of care and attention went into making connecting to games as easy as possible and structuring each area to keep players moving, as any good multiplayer map should.

High Voltage hopefully learned some lessons during The Conduit’s development, they obviously learned from the mistakes and strengths of the likes of Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 and Metroid Prime, because the basic groundwork has been laid for an even better sequel.

- D.D. Nunavut

(July 29, 2009)