In writing this impression I wanted to hit most of the highlights without going into too much detail or give away too much. I also decided to compare it to Mertriod Prime 3, for the fact that Metroid was praised for its first person shooting.

As I said in one of my earlier impressions, The Conduit is a game that will not disappoint.  Not to give too much away, the Conduit is about Special Forces group assigned to protect the world from an Alien invasion. One of the developers told me that a friend of his is in a special section of the armed forces. This is where they got a lot of their inspiration for the game.

Controls:

The Controls are fantastic, Metroid Prime 3 like or even better. You shoot with the B button, jump with the A, crouch with the C, throwing grenades with a swing of the Nun-chuck, and melee attack buy swinging the Wii-mote.

Grenade throwing is pretty unique.  Unlike other first person shooters, throwing a grenade is not just throwing it and hoping you get close. With the Conduit where the curser is pointing is where the grenade will go. We were told this was done to make it more accurate and help with some of the first time gamers playing this game. On the other side, it will help keep the fast pace up on the game for those hardcore gamers. I also tried the 360 turning radius with the Wii controls, I remember this was a big thing on Metroid Prime 3, and they are on par with it.

Visuals:

Do you remember the tech demo that High Voltage release about a year ago? The Conduit looks just as good as that demo. The blur effect when zoomed in is fantastic. When looking at a wall, the texture of each brick stands out. The particle effect from the gun reminds me a lot of Metroid Prime 3 affects.  The frame rate stays constant, and didn’t seem to drop, in the demo I was playing, as the action heated up.

GamePlay:

One thing the game developer wanted to make sure we knew about was the All Seeing Eye (A.S.E.) puzzles throughout the game. For those who have not seen the videos, there are puzzles to solve using the ASE throughout the game, which could be deciphering a message on a wall or aligning rings around a pyramid. The developer told us that when you play an intense game (used the example of Wii Boxing) that you’re always in a defense or offensive stance–with your arms up and ready. The Seeing Eye puzzles give you time to relax and put your arms down to the side. If you like to be under constant stress, then multiplayer is the mode for you.

I’m not one to tell you a game is a must buy, but The Conduit is a must buy. If you love first person shooters and own a Wii, you must get this game when it comes out later this year.