The Conduit is a First Person Shooter developed by High Voltage Software made exclusively for the Wii, but does it live up to the hype?
Single Player
Story 7/10
You play a secret service agent named Michael Ford who is recruited by a Mr.Adams into a clandestine organization known as "The Trust" and are tasked with finding a terrorist known as "Prometheus". Prometheus also has the ability to turn people into his puppets, so when you walk into the airport for your first real mission your "allies" will be shooting at you. The story line starts off a bit slowly and predictably but then a few plot twists will throw you right into the game. Also, You later find that he has a connection with "The Drudge", who are insectlike aliens. Basically The Conduit's form of The Covenant (they even sound similar at times). While this is not the most original story line out there, it will still drawn you into the game. The ending though is a little too abrupt, but it leaves no doubt that their will be a sequel.
Gameplay 8.5/10
The game is basically a corridor shooter, but with amazing controls (more on that later) and good enemy AI it is very fun and enjoyable. The enemies will take cover, move forwards when you are reloading (if they are close enough they will run at you and try to bash your face in), flank you when you aren't looking, and retreat when you are slaughtering their friends. The gameplay gets a little repetitive but with the controls as good as they are it stays fun throughout the entire game. The boss battles though are very unfulfilling; they make a cinematic entrance, look really menacing, then walk around and take the occasional few shots at you. Luckily this is the only downside of the gameplay, and their aren't to many of these anyways. Mr.Ford also has a little piece of equipment called the All Seeing Eye (ASE in short) that can find hidden keys to open doors, disable "Ghost Mines", uncloak invisible enemies as well as various other things. It gives some minor puzzle elements to the game but doesn't take away from the fast paced action.
The level design is not the greatest. The environments are set up well for a firefight, but the environments themselves are pretty bland. The lack or destructible elements as well are disappointing, they are limited to breaking glass and exploding gas canisters. It's a good thing you will be too busy blasting away at enemies to scrutinize the environments.
Graphics 8/10
This is possibly the best looking Wii game there is. The advanced bloom effects, bump mapping, normal mapping and other features were previously thought to be impossible to run on the Wii because of its technical limitations. Well, High Voltage Software went ahead and did it with their advanced "Quantam 3" engine. Even with tons of explosions, bullets and lasers flying all over the place the game still runs at a steady 30 Frames Per Second. The character sprites are amazingly detailed and the textures look great as well. Coupled with things such as depth of field blur, this game is like nothing you've seen on the Wii. The problem is that the are style is a bit generic.
Music and Sound Effects 9/10
The moments I started up the game and heard the menu music I was drawn right into the game and couldn't wait to get playing. The soundtrack is gives a dark, mysterious feel and will immerse you into the game. The sound effects are also extremely well done. The bullets and lasers sound just like they should and the detailed reload animations have great sound effects. The Sound may not be the most important thing in a video game, but when done right it will immerse you in the game and make your playing experience much more enjoyable. Which this game does perfectly.
Controls 9.5/10
Why this gets such a high mark is because you can customize basically anything. You can change the button layout, deadzone size, turning speed, pointer sensitivity etc. The only problem I had with it was that you couldn't set "reload" to "shake remote". If you are used to Medal of Honor, like I am, it will take some time to get used to.
Online Multiplayer 9/10
This is where The Conduit truly shines. The Online Multiplayer for this game is fantastic. You have 12 player online with 13 different modes and 4 (plus 1 unlockable) multiplayer skins which you can customize the colours. You also have Wii Speak capabilities.
The game modes are basically variants on Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. But in each one you have a few different types of the game. In Team Objective (CTF) you have your standard 2 ASE mode (The ASE is the "Flag" for this game), then you have modes like Single ASE where both teams fight over a single ASE, and Marathon where its a 20 minute game where the most ASE captures win. For Deathmatch you have modes like ASE Football which is basically oddball from Halo, Marathon, Three Strikes (Three lives), Last Man Standing etc. Bounty hunter is a unique game mode where you are assigned a target and get points for killing it, the trick is that you don't know who your hunter is and if you kill him you can get a bit of a reprieve where nobody is going after you, you also lose points for killing innocents. Team Reaper (Team Deathmatch) gives you game modes like Quick Match, Marathon (again), Team Stock(Each team has a pool of lives) etc.
Unfortunately The Conduit uses Friend Codes because they are using Nintendo's servers (Oh No!), but they are set up to be a non-intrusive as nintendo would let them. If you have friends on your Wii console you can send them friend requests without getting their game Friend Code, and if you are in a private match you can add friends of friends with the touch of a button. You can also add friends the traditional way by manually adding in their in-game Friend Code. Wii Speak can be used with friends or friends of friends, Nintendo's rule for using their servers, but it works great. Though occasionally you will hear someone's TV is their Wii Speak mic isn't in a good place.
Overall
8.5
Summary
The Conduit isn't revolutionary, but it is a very solid Wii FPS. If you only own a Wii or enjoyed previous Wii FPS games (There aren't many) then this is a game you will enjoy for months to come. With solid single player and the best multiplayer on Wii (Better than Mario Kart!) this game is easily the best FPS one the Wii.
BTW, I consider Metroid Prime 3 to be a First Person Adventure game.
Single Player
Story 7/10
You play a secret service agent named Michael Ford who is recruited by a Mr.Adams into a clandestine organization known as "The Trust" and are tasked with finding a terrorist known as "Prometheus". Prometheus also has the ability to turn people into his puppets, so when you walk into the airport for your first real mission your "allies" will be shooting at you. The story line starts off a bit slowly and predictably but then a few plot twists will throw you right into the game. Also, You later find that he has a connection with "The Drudge", who are insectlike aliens. Basically The Conduit's form of The Covenant (they even sound similar at times). While this is not the most original story line out there, it will still drawn you into the game. The ending though is a little too abrupt, but it leaves no doubt that their will be a sequel.
Gameplay 8.5/10
The game is basically a corridor shooter, but with amazing controls (more on that later) and good enemy AI it is very fun and enjoyable. The enemies will take cover, move forwards when you are reloading (if they are close enough they will run at you and try to bash your face in), flank you when you aren't looking, and retreat when you are slaughtering their friends. The gameplay gets a little repetitive but with the controls as good as they are it stays fun throughout the entire game. The boss battles though are very unfulfilling; they make a cinematic entrance, look really menacing, then walk around and take the occasional few shots at you. Luckily this is the only downside of the gameplay, and their aren't to many of these anyways. Mr.Ford also has a little piece of equipment called the All Seeing Eye (ASE in short) that can find hidden keys to open doors, disable "Ghost Mines", uncloak invisible enemies as well as various other things. It gives some minor puzzle elements to the game but doesn't take away from the fast paced action.
The level design is not the greatest. The environments are set up well for a firefight, but the environments themselves are pretty bland. The lack or destructible elements as well are disappointing, they are limited to breaking glass and exploding gas canisters. It's a good thing you will be too busy blasting away at enemies to scrutinize the environments.
Graphics 8/10
This is possibly the best looking Wii game there is. The advanced bloom effects, bump mapping, normal mapping and other features were previously thought to be impossible to run on the Wii because of its technical limitations. Well, High Voltage Software went ahead and did it with their advanced "Quantam 3" engine. Even with tons of explosions, bullets and lasers flying all over the place the game still runs at a steady 30 Frames Per Second. The character sprites are amazingly detailed and the textures look great as well. Coupled with things such as depth of field blur, this game is like nothing you've seen on the Wii. The problem is that the are style is a bit generic.
Music and Sound Effects 9/10
The moments I started up the game and heard the menu music I was drawn right into the game and couldn't wait to get playing. The soundtrack is gives a dark, mysterious feel and will immerse you into the game. The sound effects are also extremely well done. The bullets and lasers sound just like they should and the detailed reload animations have great sound effects. The Sound may not be the most important thing in a video game, but when done right it will immerse you in the game and make your playing experience much more enjoyable. Which this game does perfectly.
Controls 9.5/10
Why this gets such a high mark is because you can customize basically anything. You can change the button layout, deadzone size, turning speed, pointer sensitivity etc. The only problem I had with it was that you couldn't set "reload" to "shake remote". If you are used to Medal of Honor, like I am, it will take some time to get used to.
Online Multiplayer 9/10
This is where The Conduit truly shines. The Online Multiplayer for this game is fantastic. You have 12 player online with 13 different modes and 4 (plus 1 unlockable) multiplayer skins which you can customize the colours. You also have Wii Speak capabilities.
The game modes are basically variants on Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. But in each one you have a few different types of the game. In Team Objective (CTF) you have your standard 2 ASE mode (The ASE is the "Flag" for this game), then you have modes like Single ASE where both teams fight over a single ASE, and Marathon where its a 20 minute game where the most ASE captures win. For Deathmatch you have modes like ASE Football which is basically oddball from Halo, Marathon, Three Strikes (Three lives), Last Man Standing etc. Bounty hunter is a unique game mode where you are assigned a target and get points for killing it, the trick is that you don't know who your hunter is and if you kill him you can get a bit of a reprieve where nobody is going after you, you also lose points for killing innocents. Team Reaper (Team Deathmatch) gives you game modes like Quick Match, Marathon (again), Team Stock(Each team has a pool of lives) etc.
Unfortunately The Conduit uses Friend Codes because they are using Nintendo's servers (Oh No!), but they are set up to be a non-intrusive as nintendo would let them. If you have friends on your Wii console you can send them friend requests without getting their game Friend Code, and if you are in a private match you can add friends of friends with the touch of a button. You can also add friends the traditional way by manually adding in their in-game Friend Code. Wii Speak can be used with friends or friends of friends, Nintendo's rule for using their servers, but it works great. Though occasionally you will hear someone's TV is their Wii Speak mic isn't in a good place.
Overall
8.5
Summary
The Conduit isn't revolutionary, but it is a very solid Wii FPS. If you only own a Wii or enjoyed previous Wii FPS games (There aren't many) then this is a game you will enjoy for months to come. With solid single player and the best multiplayer on Wii (Better than Mario Kart!) this game is easily the best FPS one the Wii.
BTW, I consider Metroid Prime 3 to be a First Person Adventure game.