eat.sleep.geek.

I’m never totally sure how to judge a wii game.  Do you compare it to other wii games, or do you compare it to the entire generation of consoles available?  It’s a particularly important question when dealing with High Voltage Software’s first person shooter The Conduit, as this is the game many of us were hoping would begin to blur the line that separates the wii experience from game play on the other consoles.  Since I’m not exactly sure what the fair is when dealing with a title that’s exclusive to Nintendo’s underpowered white gaming box I will try and give you my take on how the game ranks based on both sets of criteria.

When I popped in The Conduit, and began wheeling around the game I was blown away. Simply put there isn’t a wii game that looks this good. When you heard that this game would establish a new standard by which games would be judged you heard right. The lighting and explosion effects, the textures, good looking environments and enemies, and a steady frame rate make High Voltage Software’s effort the best looking wii game yet. The graphics are very reminiscent of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, but with an awfully impressive face lift. Just the fact that the graphics bring back memories of those games helps boost it’s rankings in my books. Now having said that, it’s not going to make you forget Killzone 2 either. So in a generation plagued by average FPS’s The Conduit is only going to stand out next to other wii games which isn’t entirely a bad thing; it won’t stand out as being particularly bad either. The Conduit isn’t going to win any graphics awards, but it’s also going to give you impressive enough visuals that you won’t spend the 6-10 hours it will take you to finish the game wishing you were playing your 360 or PS3. The graphics are good enough that you’ll forget you’re looking at wii graphics and given the huge horsepower difference I think that’s about the best you could hope for.

The controls though are what make this game stand out. Now keep in mind that I’m a mouse and keyboard snob when it comes to FPS’s. I enjoy console versions of the games, but whenever I have a choice I’ll always take the PC version of an FPS (or an RTS for that matter). With The Conduit though I think that it’s safe to say I was able to customize the controls enough that I was able to find a scheme that worked for me, and worked as well as any console shooter I’ve played. I wasn’t crazy about some of the motion controls but luckily HVS has given us the leeway and flexibility to make a scheme that is almost as fun as playing with a mouse and keyboard. Another great thing about the controls is that they actually work. I’ve found that wii games are hit and miss with the responsiveness of the controls, but this go around I don’t have any real complaints.

I won’t delve too far into the details of The Conduit’s story, it’s pretty much your basic aliens invade, conspiracy theory, save the world plot. You’ve seen it before and you’ll see it again. Funny thing is though, no matter how many times I save the world from itself and the aliens who come here I never get tired of it. The story works well enough for me. The voice acting of Kevin Sorbo and Mark Sheppard are a little better than what you get in an average game and help make the narration and cut scenes interesting. I’m notorious for skipping cut scenes and the voice acting and story were at least compelling enough to keep me tuned in.

I can’t speak to the game’s multiplayer experience, here at eatsleepgeek, we review our games the old fashioned way we go out and buy them, and then we play them, and then we write about them. So without a chance to get our hands on The Conduit prior to launch in order to get a review onto your computers as quickly as possible I thought it would be prudent to skip the multiplayer component for now. I will say this though, the similarities to Goldeneye and Perfect Dark have me salivating at the prospect of playing online with my friends. If you have any thoughts please chime in with your comments.

In summary The Conduit is a solid FPS by any standard, and a good FPS is something that with the possible exception of Metroid Prime 3, we haven’t had on the wii yet. It’s not a game that is going to revolutionize the genre, but if you do your gaming on a wii you’ll appreciate and enjoy this game. It stands out a little less if you do some of your gaming on the other consoles out there, but I think that the tight controls and solid graphics will be enough to keep you playing until the end. Overall I give The Conduit 8/10 and have no problem recommending this game to fans of the FPS genre. It’s not going to change how we see first person shooters, but delivers a solid and enjoyable experience on a platform that hasn’t given us much in the way of solid and enjoyable experiences. A solid control scheme that actually leverages the wii’s strengths make The Conduit well worth your hard earned shekels.