Review: "The Conduit" (16+)

I’m sure most people have seen that advert on TV, the “I am Agent Ford” one. Well, those people seemed pretty happy with “The Conduit”, and I am too. Let’s move in for a closer look:

As you can see, I managed to get myself a special edition copy for my birthday. This edition comes with an extra booklet, which tells you about how they thought up “The Conduit” and shows you some other artwork as well, which is, quite frankly, awesome. I also have the outer-case, which goes over the normal plastic one. This case shows some artwork from the game (the door lock). On the back the case has glossy pictures of Agent Ford, and some of the enemies.

As you move on to the normal plastic case, you can see that the artwork for Agent Ford is very detailed, including his guns and the ASE. If you look towards the bottom you can also see that “The Conduit” is also compatible with “Wii Speak”. This means that you can talk to teammates over the internet, which puts this game up there with some of the other amazing FPS.

The booklet itself is unsurprisingly short, mainly because the production team want to get more money for pretty much nothing, but it is still full of information. Hints, tips and tricks for online and single player, and artwork. You also get three codes at the end of the booklet, which allow you to unlock a unique ASE (All Seeing Eye), a drone skin for the single player campaign and also a special secret agent skin for use when you get online. There is also and exclusive foreword by Eric Nofsinger, the Chief Creative Officer, and Matt Corso, the Creative Director.

Now, on to game play. This is probably one of the best FPS I have ever played. The controls work well, and the Drudge enemies are well animated. The controls, using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, are probably the most used controls out of all the Wii’s library. But, “The Conduit” team have added their own twist to these controls, making them seem original and fresh. Using the Nunchuk to lob a grenade into the midst of 10 enemies and seeing them all burn is very satisfying. The game could do with some more weapons, but what does that matter when the game is as fun as it is?
Online is good, but it takes forever for things like worldwide to load. The best thing to do is to either lay continental, or to just get your mates friend codes for some fun.
The graphics are good, everything looks real. They aren’t quite as good as the Xbox 360 or PS3, but still, they are extremely good for the Wii. You can pick out individual fingers, which shows good graphics because of detail.
The game fits in with others of its category, e.g. “Halo 3”. It has gripping story which is found in all, and extra difficulties for better gamers.

The setting is in the near future, in Washington D.C. The Drudge have invaded Earth and are keeping themselves quiet. An illness spreads throughout Washington D.C and it is causing people to stay at home. People believe it is being spread through the water supply.
I won’t tell you too much about the story, because I don’t want to spoil the fun. The setting is very believable, and the storyline also. This means that it makes you feel for the game, as though all of these things are actually happening.

Overall:

Game play: 9/10 ~ could use some more fine tweaks with the controls, e.g. throwing grenades mucks up your aim.
Setting: 6/10 ~ one of the only problems is that they all look the same, there is no differences between inside places much.
Appearance: 8/10 ~ for the Wii, this is really good.
Online: 7/10 ~ could be faster.
Character design: 9/10 ~ very well designed.
Case: 10/10 ~ makes me want to buy it again.
Overall: 8/10 ~ one of the best games on the Wii falls short because of silly mistakes. Come on Sega, you can do better!

So, what do you think?