Aliens decimate Washington D.C. in this attractive and fun first person shooter.
In a Wii library dominated by cute characters and puzzle games, High Voltage's The Conduit is exactly what gamers need, a futuristic first person shooter with aliens, cool weapons, slick looking graphics and 16-person online play.
That's right. For the first time on Wii, you'll be able to kill up to 15 others via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and talk trash using the upcoming WiiSpeak microphone. You'll probably need to exchange friend codes still, but slaughtering friends with pistols, machine guns and grenades will make the hassle go away.
As for the single player campaign, you play as Mr. Ford, an agent working for a group known as the Trust who must save Washington D.C. (and presumably the rest of the world) from an alien invasion. From busted streets to underground bunkers, the game appears to take you on a ride through plenty of hostile territory. There's also a neat puzzle element, thanks to your ASE, or All-Seeing Eye, an electronic orb that acts as both a flashlight and a means to reveal hidden images that'll enable you to access secret doors and gain access to locked computers.
Whereas most Wii first person shooters have awkward controls, The Conduit lets the user tweak the controls, whether that involves adjusting the run speed, turning or how fast you look up and down. On the cosmetic side of things, you can even customize the HUD by moving your life bars and other useful stuff to opposite ends of the screen. In addition, you can melee an enemy by jabbing the remote or throw a grenade by shaking the nunchuk. The only thing that bothered us was the inability to look down the sights of the pistol. Instead, you simply get an up-close view of the action, as if you whipped out binoculars. It's strange design decision, considering we could zoom with the automatic rifle.
At this point, the developers won't reveal the story. All we know is we were inside a bunker and in pursuit of a terrorist that was releasing spores to make "puppets," which appeared to be reanimated soldiers. How the aliens tie in to all this remains a mystery.
Although the game is fun, High Voltage has done a remarkable job bringing out the best graphics on the Wii, creating realistic looking textures and water effects. Characters animate well, the aliens look ugly and things run at a brisk pace. It still looks like a PlayStation 2 game, but considering some of the Wii's uglier shooters, this is a great achievement.
Some multiplayer matches would have been nice, but from what we played, The Conduit might become one of the Wii's premier shooters. Besides, we're always up for killing aliens, especially ones stomping Washington D.C.
Reader Comments (0)