1UP preview: The Conduit

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The Conduit (Wii)

Release Date: 03/15/2009
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
Genre: Shooter
Publisher: TBA
Developer: High Voltage Software

By Kyle Stallock  07/18/2008

What's the game about? Did Red Steel leave a bad taste in your mouth? Are you not yet convinced Wii is capable of handling a next-gen first-person shooter on par with the content available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360? If you answered yes to both of those questions, The Conduit seeks to turn that frown upside down with a plot centering on an alien invasion in the near future. At this point, the game does not have a publisher, so we can't be certain we will ever see it in stores.

What's new for E3? We got to see a demonstration of the game provided by High Voltage developers. Since High Voltage didn't have a booth at E3, the only time we saw the game was during lunch in the cafeteria. While chatting with other exhibitors and journalists, Matt Curso and Eric Nofsinger, creative director and chief creative officer at High Voltage, set up the game in a corner of the room using a Wii dev kit, a wireless sensor bar, and a small 12" LCD TV. The situation was fittingly indie.

What's our take? Unfortunately, due to time constraints we didn't have a chance to get some hands-on time with the title, but what was shown to us was unexpectedly welcome.

 

SCREENS: Click the image above to check out all The Conduit screens.

 

The Conduit is known for its developer's insistence on the high quality of the game's graphics. Considering the game was being played on a very small TV, we couldn't gauge the level of detail as well as we wanted, but the game looked good while rarely dipping below 30 frames-per-second, even during heavy action scenes.

The Conduit also demonstrated a desire to distance itself from being labeled a traditional fire-and-forget Doom-style shooter through its use of an in-game piece of alien technology called the All-Seeing Eye (ASE). In one segment, the device was used to detect potentially dangerous land mines. In another, the ASE was used to solve an otherwise invisible puzzle on a nondescript wall to gain access to other areas of the game.

However, the game still features traditional FPS staples such as monster closets and a fairly uninspiring boss battle. The latter took place on a half-destroyed bridge against a large spider-like creature called a Drudge.