Nintendo media summit - The Conduit - impressions

I can’t decide what was my favorite part of seeing The Conduit on the media summit show floor. On one hand, I got to check out/play the game once again. On the other hand, I got to talk to Eric Nofsinger again, and he continues to prove that High Voltage really cares about the core Wii owners. Their passion is certainly infectious, and you can see their attention to detail come through in their work.

Seriously…I can’t believe how much The Conduit has improved since I first played it at E3. That first play session left me super impressed. The game looked fantastic, played just as well, and offered tons in the way of customization. Now, with my second play session under my belt, I can say that all of those areas have improved.

The first second I saw The Conduit at the media summit, I actually chuckled out-loud. I couldn’t believe that the game’s graphics looked better than what I saw last time. When High Voltage said they were polishing things up, they weren’t kidding. The game looks noticeably better, with lots of special effects in place. There’s one instance in the demo level where you see the camera zoom in on an unsuspecting guard. The amount of detail and shine on this guy is really impressive. Then, the cut-scene ends, the gameplay kicks back in, and the guard looks exactly the same. No cut-scene tricks here…this was all in-game. This is the level of detail you can expect to see in the full game…all at a super solid framerate.

Of course, you guys already know how well the controls work. While the graphics are a huge success, the control may come out being the star of the show. With so much customization, there is absolutely no way that you’ll be unable to find a scheme that works for you. You can change just about anything you want…making the game control exactly how you want it to. I didn’t even touch the control options, and I had a blast with the default settings. Once I sit down with the game at home, I’ll be sure to fine-tune a set of custom controls that will hopefully give me an edge when playing online!

Other than that, The Conduit is all about providing a real-deal FPS experience on the Wii. Metroid Prime 3 was all about being an FPA, but we really haven’t had a stand-out FPS game. The Conduit is going to fill that void, no problem. Will the gameplay end up being standard FPS fodder, or something more? I know that for me, I really like the idea of the settings. On top of that, the level designs reminded me of Goldeneye. I don’t know how or why that is, but I mean it as a compliment.

Yet again, I find myself even more hyped up for The Conduit. If only other third party devs had half the drive that High Voltage has.