The Conduit (Wii, 2009)

The conduit was going to be the hardcore gamer's dream. Nintendo has been lacking in that department for quite some time, and high voltage came to the rescue. They promised AMAZING and BREATHTAKING graphics, and totally customizable gameplay. Great wi-fi battling, where Wii Speak is compatible (only to talk to friends regretably). Now, the question is, did the Conduit measure up to all the boasts and brags it made?

The graphics on this game are truly amazing for the Wii. I've never seen anything so beautiful, and it is one of the greatest things about the game. Your reflection appears in water, detailed skin texture of aliens, and more. This game pushes the limits of the Wii's graphics.

The controls also belong in the pros. They're totally customizable, to vertical sensitivity, turn speed, running speed, and which buttons control your gun shooting, how your character crouches, and jumps. This really helps for those who hate normal configurations of wii controls, and make playing the game much more fun and enjoyable.

Within the levels there are data tracks, that unlock concept art and cheats. So the game does have its longetivity. It can be beaten in as little as 6 hours if you really just scrambled through the levels with no care for the hidden treasures. The all seeing eye is a gadget used to reveal hidden messages and open doors and locate bombs. This can be tedious and stressful at times, which made the game a little short of getting a 5/5 rating, but not the only con.

Some of the levels are also ridiculously hard. You may run into a room where hundreds (maybe I exaggerated) snipers that can kill you in an instant. There would be no way to avoid this unless you had already known of this evil little trap. The enemies are challenging, but not in a bad way, because they use the environment around them. Taking cover, and regrouping. The hidden bombs really became a nuisance when you were trying to fend off attackers and search for them at the same time.

The online player offers 12 player multiplay action, a good number of multifarious maps, and 20 weapons or so. There are many different modes you can play with, such as bounty hunter (eliminate a certain player or be penalized) capture the flag (I doubt if anyone hasn't heard of this), and team battles, ASE football (you try to hold onto a gadget the longest without being killed) and more. The connection varies, the greater number of people you have and internet speed affect whether your experience will be wonderful or filled with lag. Lag is nearly unavoidable though, and the good battles usually make up for it. The levels do seem somewhat restrictive as you're sometimes in tunnels and enclosed areas, making huge groups of people fighting at once impossible.

Overall the Conduit is a most reasonable effort to give the Wii something to talk about. It excels farther than other third parties for Wii, and offers smooth totally customizable gameplay. The story mode for one player is fun, and lasts a decent amount of time, and the online play will keep you going for months to come. High Voltage Software really gave us a great FPS, but not the perfect one. The voice work is great, and the music doesn't get annoying. I would recommend buying this game, if you love a great First Person Shooter. It's the best on the Wii (IGN says so too). Amazing graphics, great gameplay, great game.

(please vote on the helpfulness of this review, thank you)

-thefam2007