This generic flap is getting ridiculous. Many of the best games ever, and best movies, are 'generic'. Look at the Bourne movie series. Nothing new, just VERY well done. Look at the Halo game series. Half-life and other PC FPSers pioneered their ideas years ahead of time, but because it was one of the first really good online FPSers for a console it was heaped with an absurd amount of praise.

Generic isn't bad really, but they're selectively using it against ONLY the Conduit. ugh.

Remember, it's the first horse out of the gate that wins, it's the one that finishes first. History is full of numerous examples of someone pioneering an idea, and then another person or company perfecting it and winning the race. (See the Japanese and almost every major electronics innovation)

Generic costs less than name brand. Buy your drugs generic!

I think the visuals seemed bland at times because not enough detail was put into the environments, and too much stuff was repeated.

So wait....generic is a good thing now?

Haze is AAA confirmed

That's unpolished. Generic can still be polished and good at what it does.

High Voltage Software's track record of games is not something remarkable compared to other companies. Their focus was on licensed games with a limited budget and get it done in a time line. This has been their biggest point. They have made little to now original IPs on any platform until now

When they started the development in The Conduit their focus went to two main objectives:

1. Show the graphical capabilities of the console: They read many blogs and forums and saw many gamers complaining about how many games were just lame PS2/GC ports that use no advantage of the wii platform. Add this to the current engines on the market that are supposed to use the system to its full potential. This became a huge opportunity for them. They make their own engines so they have experience on how to exploit a hardware.
2. Get the best controls for PFS games: Again, in many websites, blogs and forums that attacked this based on the current games on the platform, even Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The was no game that trully showed the potential of FPS controls on Wii. This was their second focus, the best controls possible.

The thirt point, competent online play, was added later in development thanks to teh request of the fans that wanted an online shooter experience on the wii that is comparable to what you get on other platforms.

With these points of focus, it would become clear that other aspects of the game will not get the same effort: story, level design, enemy variety, "innovative" gameplay, etc. The developers chose to get elements that make a good FPS and put them on the game very well. They knew they could not bite more than they could chew and the development was oriented this way. Their background experience told them that If thay worked on the other elements, the game would be delayed much more and they could not allow that.

If the sales allow it, HVS will start from what works really good and then improve the other elements

hahaha, okey always makes me laugh :)

I'm glad you said that. The next time a high profile FPS comes out, it better not get chewed out for "not bringing anything new to the table"

I thought that was dumb for any game of any genre. I can understand sequels that come across as rehashed, but acting as though bringing something new is mandatory is just BS. Plus if a game does bring something new, that's still not good enough for such reviewers if it's not the kind of new thing they wanted.

i agree.