Negative Gamer Review: The Conduit (Wii)
Despite discretionary incomes being gobbled up around the world with Katamari-like ferocity, Nintendo with the Wii continues to be this generation’s runaway success story as the leader in sales and market expansion. And yet, criticism has dogged what some are calling the Gamecube 1.5 for being more of a child’s toy than a true current-generation gaming console. Wii-Sports set the stage for families and friends around the world to gather in their living rooms and waggle like epileptic meth-addicts. Next came a legion of shovel-ware mini-game collections that never should have been green-lit by Nintendo in the first place because of poor quality and shallow game-play. And as console sales continued to grow, it really was just first-party Nintendo software and Guitar Hero that were selling at all well.
The Conduit is High Voltage’s attempt to break the third-party curse of the Wii, and to bring a deep first person shooter experience to the Nintendo faithful. Touted as a true online hardcore shooter for the Wii, The Conduit has all the bells and whistles one would expect from a current-gen FPS. Weak story-line? Check. Short single-player campaign? Check. Online multiplayer with the usual game-type variants like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag? Check.
Something doesn’t look right
While some reviewers avoid other site’s reviews of the same game I do not, and one thing really stands out. The sites that are talking about The Conduit having attractive graphics…are blind! I am using the component cables with my Wii, on my 42′ Samsung LCD and this game looks like complete ass. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Super Mario Galaxy have proven that the Wii’s resources, if utilized effectively, can produce respectable visuals. Would it support destructible environments? Obviously not; however, the comparisons that have been made between the The Conduit and Goldeneye(N64) are not just referring to gameplay. Online maps inevitably take a visual hit compared to their offline versions, in this case the online maps looks completely unacceptable in my opinion. Online matches really did feel like old style Goldeneye games on the N64 in terms of appearances. Luckily the MP is generally well done and that compensates somewhat for the graphical weaknesses.
Next I have to comment on the story. Most of us don’t expect brilliant narratives for our FPS titles; however, The Conduit just has so many of the typical FPS Sci-Fi clichés that it becomes distracting after a while. I really wouldn’t comment too much on the story in any FPS if it weren’t for all the pre-launch buzz about this game. Nintendo fans have been led to believe that The Conduit was going to reward our faith in the system and the story here just feels half-assed.
The irony of such a canned story to this game is the fact that the single player experience is so short. It’s not like they had to fill in a lot of narrative with such a short game. I took my time with it trying to explore the maps and missions a bit and hey, guess what? There’s no way to explore because the maps are so linear in design. This could have been an on-rails shooter for all of the ability one has to wander. There is one mission in particular that takes place on a subway that is uncomfortably reminiscent of a level in Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Basically this game can be completed in three or four sittings.
My final big gripe with this game has to with the control customization options. The High Voltage developers regularly evoked Metroid Prime 3 in their chatter about motivation for this title. In Metroid 3 we were able to choose between a couple of control options that took all of two minutes to decide on, and, either of which was perfectly serviceable. In The Conduit the control customization options are fucking insane in their level of choice. It’s almost as if they were afraid to go one way or another with the gameplay and decided to just fabricate a level of depth by opening up control choices that only an obsessive compulsive would enjoy. Unfortunately, the one controller option I was not given was to use the Gamecube or classic controller.
OK, why not get Xena instead?
Kevin Sorbo, Kevin Sorbo, Kevin fucking Sorbo!
Now, I know that Wardrox and Half Left are going to go into conniptions because what I just wrote above is not a complete sentence, but I just want there to be a universal agreement that Kevin Sorbo should NEVER be allowed to do voice acting again. It’s distracting and I think it gave me the runs as well. It probably isn’t all his fault, the writing is pretty sad in this game. However, his overacting in the game just adds to the overall half-ass-ed-ness of the narrative.
Finally, and I’m getting picky now, the character movement is just too damn slow. Even with the speed turned all the way up the game just moves too slowly and as such becomes quite boring at times. I know, intellectually, that the character movement is turned down to allow for the gamer to aim correctly using the Wii-mote but it really hampers one’s enjoyment.
A few other points worth mentioning:
- Regarding voice chat during multiplayer matches, I do not have the Wii Speak attachment and so did not comment on this. I have not read of any problems with this feature but I felt that it should be noted that this is an option for players.
- HighVoltage has ruled out any downloadable content for this title. This may seem obvious to Wii-haters but it still demands comment when one considers how this was supposed to be the game that brought the Wii up with the big boys in terms of features for an FPS.
To be completely fair, High Voltage’s goal to provide an online FPS experience for the Wii is largely achieved. If you take the poor graphics and annoying control customization out of the equation, this is a solid, albeit simplistic shooter with a decent online component. The multiplayer maps are efficient and provide multiple layers for gameplay.
You should play this game if’¦
… the Wii is your only console and you want an online shooter experience.
Final Score
While the core FPS features you expect are there and decent online components are present, this game could have been much better.
I agree completely. I have friends who praise this game endlessly, and after playing, i wouldn’t give it much more than a (-)6 myself.
Seriously, -5 is harsh, but this is a great review of the game. Although, I disagree with your opinion on the control adjustment abilities. Yes, its overwhelming with the granularity involved but I’d prefer that method over broad or no choices. I agree with everything else.
Cheers,
Gamer
Wiihotties.com
about the review: all you discuss is how the graphics suck (kudos for comparing it to other wii titles and not crysis, though), how the story sucks and that you are overwhelmed by the control settings. the actual gameplay is discussed in about 5 lines of nondescript text.
completely unrelated rant:
i really despise the way the gamers/journalists view/represent the wii.
just because it doesn’t support a gazillion polygons doesn’t make it less of a viable gaming platform. sure, there is lots of bad shovelware and sub par products for it, but compared to PC, the signal to noise ratio is way better. On xbox360 you get more good titles, but less titles in general. And last but not least, xbox360 provides me with lots of shooters and racers and little else, while the wii tries more different concepts. It seems to me that there are actually 2 groups of “mature gamers”: the ones of legal age whose only expectations for “serious gaming” (nice oxymoron btw.) is shadermodel 6 and the amount of blood spilled during gameplay and the other mature gamers who can enjoy games if the gameplay is just right. Quake 3 had the most absurd background story, has dated graphics and simple rules and STILL is an enjoyable game.
@NoZart:
I completely agree that a system does not need to push beaucoup de polygons to be viable. The Wii is an awesome system, has expanded our market considerably, and has some very clever games. :)
@NoZart: “And last but not least, xbox360 provides me with lots of shooters and racers and little else, while the wii tries more different concepts.”
But that’s the problem, the Wii doesn’t try any new concepts. It just slaps motion control on top of a bunch of other, established concepts. The Conduit, essentially, is a FPS that looks and plays like it was ripped out of 2001, but with motion control on top.
@ naughton: to say the wii doesn’t try because conduit is a rip-off is a little narrow.
the first rayman raving rabbits, orbit, star soldier, super mario galaxy, excitebots, madworld, no more heroes, lost winds… the diversity of gameplay mechanics is way higher than any given handful games on the 360 or PS3 (except some very cool games on XBLA like geometry wars or puzzlequest – which were only ports/sequels anyway)
@NoZart: I was just speaking for the Conduit. I’d agree that some of the games you listed are very good(I thought MadWorld was a repetitive piece of shite that was trying waaaaay too hard, however). But most of them are also games that have motion control shoehorned in, and I’d prefer most of them with a traditional control scheme. Especially SMG.