We have a great 'End of Day' thoughts article for you today. I take absolutely no credit for this piece, it's all the work of Cort! He's done a fantastic job grabbing us some info from High Voltage's David Pellas. You guys had questions about The Conduit, and Cort got them answered! You guys enjoy that while I slip off to bed. I'll see you in a few, short hours!

P.S. - Huge thank you to David Pellas for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer these questions!

After I babble a bit first with my hands on... (click here for the Q&A)

A couple weeks ago, Sega held a little soiree out here in San Francisco to yank me out of my gaming shell of cheerleader sims and games ending in "Z" to try my hand at The Conduit. Of course the original intent was to showcase the game's mysterious multiplayer components, but due to some unforeseen competition from Nintendo's servers, we pressers had to "make do" with 2.5 hours of the single player mode.

First, let me just say that the High Voltage guys are passionate about this game. It's a real labour of love, and part of that stems from putting their ears to the ground to hear what real gamers and fans have to say and deliver what they want. I heard firsthand that the build we were presented that night was the result of a lot of hard work to show off what they considered "the best build we've ever made", and when things for MP fell sour, you could literally see the heartbreak and disappointment on their faces.

Overview & Controls

Needless to say, making lemonade of the situation by turning everyone loose on the single player mode was a great opportunity for me. I've said it countless times before, I was open and honest with them then, and will repeat it here again now, but I am an absolute FPS n00b. I don't typically enjoy or play the genre for a number of reasons, but strangely enough, the response from the event staffer who got me started was, "Great, well this is a game intended to interest players of many walks, so you'll be a good test subject." Indeed; I can count my FPS experiences in total with enough fingers left over to still play most Wii games.

I hoped the name "DontKill" would help improve my chances. Wrong.

Many of you diehard followers of The Conduit upon hearing anything to the effect of "wide appeal", "n00b friendly" or the like will probably start to lose either your tempers or your bladder control thinking the game is a lost cause or is irreparably ruined because it's less "core". What I was surprised to find was that yes, I was able to pick up and play with very little guidance, but that's because I was using the default control set, which is smartly geared to be a good balance of the many, many configurable options. In my head while playing, if I wondered about doing a melee attack... instinctively jutting forth my Wiimote and elbow did the trick as expected. Grenades? A tossing flick of the nunchuck wrist got those enemy spawning portals out of my way quickly.

But for you more seasoned players, you'll be happy to know that just about every freaking function of the controls is configurable... from the button layout to the sensitivity of every variable. If spending precious minutes tweaking things to your liking isn't cool, they provided some handy control presets labelled as different characters as a shortcut to get you playing as quickly as possible. Even the bits and pieces of the HUD are drag and drop around the screen. Plus, if you decide something doesn't feel right, you can make adjustments and test live, in-game, and go right back to playing. Thanks to Matt from High Voltage for walking me through some of these features. After showing me his "experienced player" settings, he kindly switched back to "beginner" default for me and handed back my rattle toy Wiimote.

Game play

As for the actual gameplay...It wasn't as daunting as I expected. Sure, it took me a few minutes to get used to the idea of snipers trying to pick me off in the airport, or armoured alien soldiers risking life and limb to snatch off my face, but asserting my dominance with the available arsenal was an easy mental adjustment. I played through 4-5 missions—not sure if they'd be called levels—without being handed defeat but once, and that was my own fault with an accidental grenade ricochet. Well, once... until the last level I played when difficulty started ramping up.

Graphics & Design

The level design seemed mostly intuitive. I'm sure there's a piece of the HUD or a status screen that could point me in the right direction if necessary (figured out how to use the ASE as a pulsing guide along the floor), but for the most part, moving through the levels wasn't a problem. The ASE puzzles weren't enough to stump me even for a moment; hopefully that changes elsewhere in the game.

Handheld warp drive? Engage.

Graphically, it looks pretty darn good overall. I don't really have any frame of reference for FPS on Wii, but my design sensibilities were pretty accepting of the environments. Textures look sharp, effects add pleasing visual character, and lighting was ample that I could see what was going on, even in the darker underground areas. Admittedly, the regular Washington D.C. locations look decent—perhaps pedestrian compared to the non-human related elements which are the most interesting and impressive—but most real-world city locations aren't that amazing to see anyway, so at least it's authentic to the spirit.

Finale

So by the end of the night, I had a good time with The Conduit. Sega and High Voltage are taking a mulligan and plan to reschedule the multiplayer event soon, and I'll be there (invitation pending). Several details, interviews, etc. have since answered a few of the MP questions out there, but as I happened to be leaving, I had the chance to chill in the hotel lounge/lobby with David Pellas from High Voltage for a good 20-30 minutes and chat about The Conduit, High Voltage, and gaming in general. Long story short, he loves GoNintendo, all of you, and graciously offered to take on some of the questions you have.

Before turning you loose on the Q&A, I'll share one quick tidbit in case it's been overlooked or unsaid elsewhere. The infamous "tip of the iceberg" in Wii graphics? Expect to see something soon, maybe in a month or so.

Pages: 1 2