The Conduit, as we all know, is going to come out next year and a lot of improvements are being done for the game (as we can notice in the screenshots). There has been a myth floating around here that ''The Conduit's character models and weapons look great, but that the textures look dull.'' Now, a lot of people haven't seen the game in action in an actual TV in front of them (only bad quality IGN videos), me neither, but let me tell you that this is nothing new! Since when are screenshots a good excuse to say if a game looks good or not? I still have to use that technique to explain my ideas, but please bare with this. ;)

Let me try to break this myth by posting similar kinds of pictures from various Wii games that are obviously not optimizing the view of the game (but still good for comparison). First up: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption:

As we can see in both screenshots, one looks more blurry compared to the other. How can you even try to compare a human-like environment to a Space Pirate environment that way? Obviously, the alien environment will include more weird designs with weird textures to go with it, but tell me, what else can we add in a museum like place? Should the columns be green with lots of black lines surrounding it, or should the floor be filled with many dents that require you to jump so it adds a depth effect, etc? What I'm saying here is that MP3:C only tried to bring out the world of Space Pirates by adding more stuff inside each rings of the corridor Samus is on. It's simple to make it look sophisticated, but take a look at the textures: they're basically a bunch of black lines that make it look like air vents (see, I can't even tell myself). This said, how can a museum corridor look that much ''different?'' The gun is going to be for another screenshot.

------------------------------

Let's talk about the textures on the enemies and weapons. As we can see, the Metroids in the above screenshot seem to have a sort of transparent look to them, but for some reason, it isn't really ''apparent.'' It seems to me that they simply recolored a certain area of their ''helmet'' (sorry for that), but didn't make the transparent ''woggly'' effect (again, sorry for that). A Metroid should be glass-looking, in a way (Super Metroid way), but look at the left extremity of the Metroid on the left, I can't even see behind it. In The Conduit, we have little alien bugs flying around, but I can actually tell you that the shining effect they were looking for is actually well made. Yeah, it's nitpicking, but I think the textures and effects on character and enemy models are definitely better made in The Conduit than MP3:C.

Here are more comparison shots with that same idea in mind:

And I can compare the guns in these screenshots with Samus' arm cannon. The only thing I can say is this: a gun should be shiny depending on the kind of gun it is, and Samus' arm cannon used to be shiny in Metroid Prime. Why did Retro Studios change it to a ''texture'' based weapon (other than the tip of the cannon) since Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (same for Samus' armor)? No idea. o_O

------------------------------

Once again, a complicated alien design vs. a formal American museum design. What more can be added, seriously? Different attached parts in the alien world are apparent, but in The Conduit, there is no need to create that effect. Like I've said before, it is easy to make it look complicated and add pipes everywhere (especially on the second MP3:C screen), but when it's not necessary, it's not overdone. If it's a white wall, it's a white wall with maybe a little ''old effect'' added! Even in this screenshot, what else can be added? The textures are fine as it is as long as it represents what it is, no need to overdo it. I can't wait to see more outdoors screenshots for The Conduit, maybe my point will be more clear that way.

------------------------------

There is maybe one thing that The Conduit needs, and it's some kind of lightning effect to make it that everything on-screen looks less clear or something because the anti-aliasing is definitely more apparent that way. Some kind of blur effect like in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption? But then again, they are screenshots, so what can I say more about it? :/

Alright, if you're not convinced enough, I've heard people saying that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess' textures are better even for a port of a Gamecube game ''optimized'' with Wii controls and widescreen support. So, let's take a look at some screenshots shall we?

Take a look at the grass textures in Twilight Princess, especially in the screen above, and compare it to The Conduit's floor tiles. Is it normal that even in close-up, the floor tiles are more apparent than the grass in TP? Even look at the rock facade in close-up (in TP screen)! My point here is that it seems like the textures in Twilight Princess are good looking from a long distance, but they get worse as soon as Link sees them close-up. I think it's called ''stretching,'' unlike made for a said resolution that the game was built on. I'm assuming The Conduit's textures are being optimized for its resolution, so better textures are sure to come up in the long run.

Here are more comparison shots with that same idea in mind:

------------------------------

Well, that's it! Even if I ''raped'' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, let's not forget that in-motion, all of these little details are barely noticeable. I hope you guys will think the same about The Conduit in-motion, because to me, it seems to be a worthy Wii game (not N64 like some people said) with decent stuff to show and all. Last thing, don't judge a book by its cover! ;)

Again I've said this before they work pretty hard on this game and they have 6 months to make things look even better. Nice comparison and it'll come together really well.

Why can't we just wait until the game comes out to judge? Besides you are comparing 2 first gen Wii games to a game which the creators deliberately made to show that the Wii has more graphical capabilities than previously thought. Now when you put those into perspective how does the conduit stack up?

Actually, those graphics really do look terrible. Metroid looks far better.

Twilight princess looks better!

I've noticed many Wii games look a lot better in motion than in screenshots. Unless there's video I try not to judge beforehand.

I think the big thing is the artistic side of it. Comparing Metroid and Zelda to the Conduit shows how boring the graphics are for it. Not technically worse, but with less oomph.

I think the character models look pretty good for a wii game.backgrounds...not so much.

Suddenly all Wii owners care about grafix how ironic. All the textures seem pretty subpar to me but The ones in the Conduit look a bit better

Wow those graphics on all those screens seem terrible, like an XBOX game.

Wow