Trent Petronaitis sinks his teeth into the Conduit- been one of the big players this holiday season, is it really something to pick it up?
Lots of people for the past year have been following High Voltage’s FPS for the Nintendo Wii console- explaining it to be the god send for the system and what more will bring a flourish of good titles to the system.
This game was said to be the end all of the casual market on the system- and showing the world that yes the Wii can do high graphic first person shooters. It’s graphical engine which High Voltage developed from the ground up was said to be breathe taking and the best stuff the Wii can do- and even close to braking the Wii in terms of how awesome the graphic engine is.
So we saw the screenshots and looked at the footage- and thought “well this looks alright†some jumped off the idea, some jumped so far they could glide home. The fact is people responded to these remarks.
Fast forward to when the game is released, people pick it up to see how well High Voltage has done their mission. Has the game they set out to develop work?
I was originally going to pick up the collectors edition- but due to the cost and the fact the retailer I was getting the game from ran out of copies- I voted for the much much cheaper option of just the retail game. No big difference anyway- just a fancy art book in a cardboard box.
The first thing I did like all people was hop straight into the multiplayer. It was here where I spend most of my time with this game- and where I learned the most about the flaws and the pros of this title.
Multiplayer is online, and there is no local multiplayer. I can’t remember the developers reasons for this. I think in the end it was a time problem. But the fact of the matter is- that is a big bummer. Because multiplayer is the only thing this game has going for it.
Reading forums I heard that this single player mode was the dreaded beast of the west- something to avoid and for the most part very boring and liquefied in a bad B grade movie plot. I took the step to play this single player and found that the story line is indeed a B grade movie style plot. Which makes no scene and over all squishes the game down with it. It feels like Halo crossed with Half Life gameplay wise and in this day and age isn’t something to be proud of making it just another generic first person shooter experience. And for those who rallied up when the Australian version of Medal of Honour missed out on its online- unlike that title the single player experience isn’t worth two cents.
Lets go back to the Wi-Fi experience, playing with everyone is like all online titles- you get some people who are respectful and in team environments back up your advances on the other team. But you also have people who are Halo-tards. I was playing online in a team environment for the first time and this fucker was taunting his kill first thing I thought was “oh great team play is full of halo-tardsâ€.
Fear not because team play has another side, a side which is like CTF and the best part is its separated from the Halo-tard team play mode. You have some pretty funky CTF style missions as well. One of them involves just one “flag†(which is a ball) that plays pretty awesome- after I got the hang of it.
Friend play is pretty awesome- but to bad its not local or like Mario Kart- 2p local and Online at the same time. Now that was shit awesome. So sadly The Conduit doesn’t take prize there either- as been the best Wi-Fi game on the Wii.
Playing the title online feels very restricted by what Nintendo has put in place- at least the title does have Wii Speak support which sadly only works for friend matches. 
Every so often I play online and get loaded out of the level or I can’t find anyone in the search or the search finds someone, kicks them out then I’m playing against myself online? The hell. This experience alone makes it feel like your playing a beta product – or at least online isn’t debugged enough.
Weapon sets are another pretty dodgy problem in this game. You have “halo esk items†in a few of the sets which do crap all damage- but if you can master them and learn your timing they do epic damage. It seems to me that these are stupid weapons. In fact lots of the weapons are riddled with reloading issues, varying degrees of to much or to little power etc. I just hate loading up a Wi-Fi match to find some idiots picked one of the sets with these horrible weapons.
Now earlier I talked about how High Voltage prised this game as possibly the best graphics on the Wii- no it doesn’t even come close. While the engine they have developed is impressive, overall its pretty weak to a few other titles out there. If they say their close to reaching the Wii’s potential with this engine then they need to really reshape how their engine works because other titles a few from Nintendo and even Ubisofts Red Steal look equally as good or better. Overall graphics are pretty over-rated by both the developer and the fan base.
Music I do have to say the score for The Conduit is impressive. Though the game lacks variety in its music and thus then again is lacking.
Overall the game is one of High Voltages first original IP’s and while it stands- it doesn’t stand tall. For those without any other titles they could play (meaning those with out say an Xbox or a good pc) the game is a great first person shooter for the Nintendo Wii. But otherwise its holly title with a few good pointers which puts it with the rest of the crowd making it just another first person shooter.
Score: So-So
Its a type of game which you must like it to get into it- remove all its flaws and take it like it is. Over all it feels like your playing a beta game.
Trent Petronaitis
I love doing mini reviews instead of big cinematic reviews for games. This is just an in focus essentially with a few points I’ve noticed while playing.
Another Code Wii came out in UK on the 26th June. And since then like the original DS title has picked up a niche following. 8 working days later my copy imported from the UK arrived at my door.
So first impressions are its very cinematic compared to the Nintendo DS titles made by Cing. The animation and graphics are quite sharp for the Nintendo Wii and overall give an impressive feel to the game. Lost graphic wise is the chapter title screens. These are very plain and the font looks pretty cheesy.
A few chapters in the story so far is pretty complying and like the past games from Cing on Nintendo platforms quite interesting to see where it leads.
The title however isn’t as focused on puzzles, and the puzzles which are included can get repetitive and boring. But while that’s true for the most part- there are some interesting gems in there.
The soundtrack is mostly quite lobby music like Another Code DS and Hotel Dusk. But the tracks seem to be much more longer and more thought seems to be placed in them. They are of quality that a remix of them played on a Piano or a up-beat techno version would be impressive and loved.
Score: Thumbs Up
Overall is a purchase worthy sequel with some impressive quirks and pros which keep the player coming back for more. It shows that the style of game can be done on a console- but in some ways I wish it was a DS game, then I would have something to play while on long trips.
Trent Petronaitis
The Sims 3 is the next generation in The Sims series. The previous title The Sims 2, was considered by many just a brand new coat of paint, with a dangerously fatly design to the social system. The Sims 3 is 2009’s entry into the series, which changes once again the series to a different direction.
The Sims 3 is 2009’s entry into the series. Like the previous entries the goal remains the same. Build houses, then make Sims which live in the house and then grow your relationships and life from that.
The Sims 3 is built around a social system which incorporates fan sites, sims exchange, the sims shop and your own personal profile. Putting the Sims into the social media world.
The Sims 3 has Sim Points which- online can be used to buy various content packages. Hopefully this means that EA will work on original content, rather then ripping off the customer with numerous content packs. The only problem is that buying these items online is quite expensive. Though the site does have some items for free via promotions and downloading works like a charm.
Along with these social experiments EA has added to the Sims 3, it has continued the CD key and CD inside drive annoying set up that the previous editions contained. Thank god for cracks.
Inside the game holds various changes to how game play works. You now save a town as your main save. Inside said town you highlight one household which becomes the prime family. This household will start up each time etc. When you boot the town.
A few nasty changes for the worst though is that you can’t really develop the commercial area that much. With the area coming with prefabricated “object buildings†which users can insert. Though the normal house building has been improved and a much more enjoyable experience to use.
Score: Thumbs Up
It might have missed out some questionable content which should of been included. But unlike Maxi’s’ previous title Spore- it wasn’t a disappointment.
Trent Petronaitis
We take a few steps back and look at one of the games from last year which was rated highly and got Game of the Year for 2008 from Us.
Last year we looked at the Game of The Year at a more wide way. We introduced some consoles which we didn’t focus on from the years before and in the end it was still a Nintendo title which for me took home the gold.
The Nintendo DS line up brought home N+ as one of the greatest flash games turned to a game on the go, then Time Hollow- an interesting game with a great story, worth every second. But what beet the DS line up was The World Ends With You- but then crashing its dreams as our GoTY was a Wii title called Disaster: Day of Crisis.
Disaster: Day of Crisis was released in Europe, Japan and Australia- what about America? I dare say its still not out there. The title is one of the only titles which PAL regions can be proud to own, but with its shaky development history, lack of support from Nintendo which shifted its position as a top AAA game down to something in the bargain bins only a few months after release- a game which has had vary limited success which resulted in a pefetic distribution run. The game a quality AAA title- saw the light because of the trashy attitude of the publisher Nintendo.
What didn’t help Disaster was its shaky development history. It was one of the original games which was announced for the Nintendo Wii- back when it was the Revolution. Along with another title called Project H.A.M.M.E.R for years the result of these two titles was unknown by fans and people in the media. Speculation that both projects where canned to projects been worked on secret sprouted. Even after Project H.A.M.M.E.R was officially dead- it was still rumoured that it existed, along with the fact what happened to Disaster?
Well out of the two Disaster survived and its direction and attitude changed with that. A few months later, the images and information of the final project started flooding in. No one knew how the title would play in the end.
Reuben Langdon was one of the voices in Disaster: Day of Crisis, he explained on his blog recently the shaky development of the title- and how the script was changed slightly from the original. For example STORM to SURGE. In Japan one of the trailers featured SURGE so its hard to say if they got the final script. PAL regions got the script as well. There are a few other differences as well. Check out his blog post here- he has some interesting videos of the recording of the voices as well.
To this day i hold high regard for this title- I payed $100AUD for it at EB during launch- and while a few months later Kmart slashed the prices down to only half of that. Its not a title which I regret buying/wanting. The game doesn’t have the best polish on it- and yes it does have some small things which just doesn’t feel right. But over all its a great experience and great game.