An FPS for the Wii? Madness!

That’s what I imagine the initial reaction to a proposal for The Conduit was like. Let’s face it, blood and gore on any level doesn’t really do well on the Wii, and the only things core Nintendo gamers have are Mario and Zelda. The audience just isn’t there, or so say third-party developers, other than money-hungry developers who prey on tweens the people who make Hannah Montana games.

You can almost here the echo of the suits’ screams when it was proposed that the game only be released on the Wii. Suicide for any developer!

Honestly, I don’t know if The Conduit is selling well for Sega. For all I know, it could end up a forgotten blip on the FPS radar. But it shouldn’t be. That’s the point.

The Conduit isn’t some kind of ground-breaking, amazing game that will change the face of the first-person shooting genre. I wouldn’t call it run-of-the mill, but we have definitely seen this kind of thing before. Regardless, The Conduit is one of the best Wii games I’ve played in a long while.

You play as Agent Ford, a member of a secret group called the Trust and one of the last remaining hopes to save earth’s ass from an evil alien race. You fight both aliens and humans, since one of the weapons they use is a gas that controls dead human bodies. The aliens travel via a system called the conduit – which are basically spawn points that you have to destroy unless you want to fight a never-ending wave of assholes.

The Storyline

The storyline itself is a little cliche, but there are a few twists, even near the beginning when you contact goes all Glados on you. Yes, that really was a non-cake Portal reference. You don’t see those every day, kids. In general, the game isn’t so much about the story as it is about fucking shit up. There aren’t tons of cut-scenes, and you don’t fall in love with the characters. At least, I didn’t. This game is more about running around and killing aliens as fast as you can. That’s not to say that the story and characters aren’t ok. They’re fine – just a little boring.

In The Conduit, you do get to choose how much or little of the story you want to know. Of course, there are cut scenes and in-game conversations with other characters, but there are also radios and televisions scattered throughout. You can ignore them or flip ‘em on to learn more about the back story. They can get a little boring, but they aren’t just filler – it’s a sound storyline, even if it is cliche.

Also, the weapons tend to be pretty run of the mill, though there are some really cool alien guns. The bombs are great too – there’s no exploding lag time, so pretty much the second it hits the ground or an object, kaboom – makes it much easier to time throwing the them. One that that did piss me off was that the game stole my weapons at the end of each level. I’d have a shotgun and cool alien fireball thinger, and they’d set me at the beginning of the next level with the worthless little pistol and a sniper rifle. *insert middle finger here*

There’s also a slight puzzle element to the game. You have with you this little ball called an ASE, or All-Seeing Eye.This little gadget is a cross between a super computer and black light. When it beeps, there’s something invisible somewhere, like a combination lock to a secret room with weapons or a hidden bomb that you can blow up with ASE power before you accidentally lose a leg. It’s not particularly hard to use – it just adds that special something to the game.

Graphics

The graphics though? For a Wii game, I’m impressed. This is definitely one of the prettiest Wii games out there, though I guess there’s not a ton of competition. Of course, it doesn’t really compare to some of the beautiful PS3 games out there, but this just proves that the Wii is good for something other than cartoon-y games like Super Mario Galaxy or stylized games like MadWorld. Hear that, other devs out there? Yes, you can make a decent Wii game.

It always bothers me that I have a beautiful 42-inch HDTV and…a Wii. Just thought I’d throw that out there. FML.

But I digress. Personally, it seems that the developers drew inspiration from a number of other games, like Halo and Call of Duty 4, but that’s not a bad thing. Most developers are inspired by other games, and it would be interesting to hear from the developers what past games most inspired them. The key is to take components used in other games and make them better – and that’s definitely something they’ve done with The Conduit.

And that reminds me of something else that is, on one hand, cool, but on the other hand, can be a total pain in the ass. When you’re reloading, the whole screen goes out of focus, I mean, obviously you can shoot as you’re reloading, but I still like to be able to see what’s coming at me. It’s a neat concept, but I just don’t really like it, personally.

Controls

What really impressed me the most about The Conduit was the control system. It uses the motion senor to aim and throw bombs and such, but it isn’t like you’re ridiculously trying to waggle your way through a war zone like some kind of Go-Go dancer on crack. You can fully customize the buttons and the controller sensitivity, which is amazing – the game is really tight with the controls you set up. You do so as you’re actually playing the game too, so you aren’t constantly trying to re-work the controls to be perfect, stopping gameplay in between. Love it. Why aren’t all games like that?

AI

I’m a stickler for games with good AI. Maybe its because I die so often. I make no apologies for my rusty FPS skills. With The Conduit, I was a little “meh” about how little variation there seemed to be when playing through a level the second time. Yes, sometimes the alien ducks left instead of right, but in general, there are always going to be X number of enemies in these specific locations shooting these certain guns. If you die a third or fourth time, you’re an idiot, because you can basically memorize the level.

I love the health pack system, though. There are first aid kits throughout the game, and these do change location on ya unless they’re hanging on the wall at specific points. You can also get small health boosts if you kill an enemy and wait for him/her to disappear. A little green health stick may or may not appear in the body’s place, depending on your luck and need.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is also fun. I’m not huge on online play when it comes to shooters, and when I tested it out, it was after only playing campaign for a short time. So, I essentially got shot in the face a lot as I tried to figure out the maps. It’s really no different than any other online shooter…except that it’s on Wii, which is strange. And free. Woot. I’m not sure how I feel about the radar system they use, though. It makes online play almost a little too easy.

The Bottom Line

If you own a Wii and enjoy shooters in the least, you need to play this game. Wii games are cheaper than 360 and PS3 games, and usually for a good reason…but with The Conduit, you’re definitely getting a $60 game for $50 (or even cheaper if you take advantage of online sales). Really, good Wii games like this don’t come around often, but if we support them, they’ll make more. Unless The Conduit totally bombs sales-wise, I guarentee we’ll see a second, but other developers need to jump on board with this console as well. I don’t want crappy ports. I want exclusives or, at the very least, games developed with the Wii in mind. The Conduit could have easily been a 360 or PS3 game, and going the Wii route took some major balls, but it’s a risk that I think will pay off.

So, dust off that little white box (you do remember what your Wii looks like, right?) or kick out your younger cousin before she pops in Littlest Pet Shop yet again. The Conduit is totally worthy of a few dozen hours of your time, and it will at least make you feel better about not selling your Wii for a huge profit on eBay when you had the chance.

Popularity: unranked [?]