Page 1:High Voltage has really been making a name foritself lately. The Chicago based developer has actually been makingtitles for a long time, but with "The Conduit", they look to really putthemselves out in the public eye as the premiere independent NintendoWii developer. Most developers and publishers have written the systemoff as a shovelware dumping ground, or labeled it as "fool's gold" forprofit. It seems only fitting then that trailblazer SEGA would team upto help deliver the Wii's tour de force of graphics, control, andonline gameplay.
The first thing anyone sees in a game is thegraphics. The Nintendo Wii shocked gamers when it was revealed to be asmall upgrade of the Gamecube. This has lead to most game looking likePS2 era titles, sometimes even worse. High Voltage suspected what someof the gamers had been wondering, If Nintendo Gamecube was able pulloff some pretty slick graphics, shouldn't the Wii look even better withmore RAM and processing power? High Voltage developed its own in housecustom graphics engine. Dubbed, The Quantam 3, it powers not only "TheConduit" but also its lineup of upcoming Wii titles. Boasting lots ofbump mapping, shaders, and lighting effects, "The Conduit" is verylikely the most technically advanced game on the system to date. It isone of the very few times where playing the game, the last generationgraphics dont constantly remind you of the Wii and its limitedhorsepower. That is not to say its perfect, background details and someof the basic wall structures and textures can come off bland. Some ofthis is helped by bloom lighting to hide the lower polygon edges.Theres has been some debate of the artwork within the game as well.Truthfully, it is niether better nor worse then any other realisticfirst or third person shooter on the market. There is a limit tostylization when going for hyper realistic graphics, and any game thatgoes for that will show you. Still the Alien designs and Trust suit dolook pretty nifty, if a little genaric in the long line of sci-fishooters.
The music in the game is a bit of a mixed bag.There are plenty of moments where it captures the action of a summerthriller perfectly, and other times it simply fades into thebackground. The alien themes on the other hand are not so great. It isclear effort was made to make it sound other world like, but it comesoff as grating rather then just weird. The voice acting is well done,with a staple cast of established actors. The script is a bit dry andoverly serious. Much has been made about the plot of the game when inreality very little background info is ever given. It is really more ofa mishmash, or hodgepodge of popular urban myths and conspiracytheories.
The single player campaign is set in modern dayWashington D.C. and despite what some trailers may lead you tobelieve, there isn't much context given to you. Each level, includingthe starting mission, ends and starts abruptly. Theres is a briefingsequence with dialouge before each mission and thats about it. "TheConduit" is a very "pure" FPS. There are no cut scenes, there is nocivillians or innocents, there are no rescure missions. You tend not tonotice this as the game is very brisk and straightforward. It likelywont take you very long to get through the campaign either. As alreadydetailed in the previews, "The Conduit" has the most in depth conroloptions for a FPS on a console ever. Every major and minor detail canbe adjusted and tweeked to your liking. From button mapping, to IRsensitivity, to remote shaking sensitivity, HUD display, running speedetc. it can all be optimised to your needs. I strongly encourage everyplayer to take a moment to test out everything on the first or secondlevel as it will greatly improve the experience. Once you have foundyour niche, the first third of the game will leave you in a zen likestate of gaming. After all these years there is finally a console equalto the mouse and keyboard. Only this time, you are pointing andshooting rather then sliding and clicking. If there is anything thatthe campaign truly cries out for, its co-op. Since you would not haveto worry about a partner shooting a civillian or failing a quick timeevent, and the fact that the campaign is literally a marathon of enemywaves, its ommision becomes all the more glaring. While the competitivemultiplayer is fantastic, the kind of straight shooter campaign in "TheConduit" seems almost made for co-op.
There is no split screen multiplayer in "TheConduit" and its absence is hardly missed. This is due to the inclusionof a first rate online multiplayer. What many may not know, is that"The Conduit" does not actually require friend codes in the way youmight think. What it does is, it reads the friend codes that are in thesystem address book and uses those. When adding a friend to yourroster, the game even uploads your entire address book for you so youcan instantly add friends without entering any numbers. Your systemcode is also displayed predominatly on the multiplayer main menu justin case. This is a major breakthrough over the completely ass-backwardsonline infastructure Nintendo as made. Instead of requiring you tomanually enter a 12 digit code again for every friend that buys thegame, you can simply use the already established address book offriends. "The Conduit" also makes use of the Wii Speak peripheral foronline voice chat. This is limited to regeistered friends, however, itdoes turn out to be a blesssing in disguise. Any Live user can tellyou, online voice chat is a cesspool of swearing, racism, and juvinillehumor. The downside is the peripheral itself. It even tells you not touse surround sound speakers when using it, and voice sound like aspeaker phone. This is not High Voltages fault at all, but ratherNintendo and their ridiculous solution to online voice chat for theWii. "The Conduit" supports a nice amount of modes and weapons foronline matches. Stacked against other titles on the Wii, it towers overthem but to a multi console owner it wont be anything special. One ofthe popular modes seems to be "ASE football" which is basically a copyof "Carry the Skull" from "Halo". Personally I prefer "Bounty Hunter"as it leads to not only frantic shoot outs, but hilarious moments ofpeople scrambling to assissinate one other player.
High Voltage has blazed a trail on the Wii, andset the bar for console FPS controls. It is sad that it has taken thislong into the consoles lifecycle, but here it is. The amazing part is,for once its not Nintendo setting the example on their system. It is anindependent third party. The ground work has been layed on the systemfor graphics, controls, and online. If High Voltage can keep it up, andothers follow their lead then the divide of console and pc FPS just gota whole lot more narrow.
