The Conduit 2 is a sequel to The Conduit developed by High Voltage who also brought us Family Guy The Video Game, America's Army True Soldier among other titles across all platforms. The Conduit was a game best known for having some of the Wii's best graphics and trying to appeal to the hard core audience on the Wii. High Voltage software continues to perfect The Conduit with the release of The Conduit 2 and promises to take users for a ride that only few Wii titles have delivered. If any.
Sega has released Conduit 2 as a limited edition item which includes the following extras: Unlockable Gold Destroyer Armor, Unlockable Eye of RA ASE and an exclusive 44 page art book which shows the art of Conduit 2. These are nice extras but sometimes I wonder if Sega will release a regular version without the extras of if this is just some stunt to convince buyers to purchase the game. I will say that the case looks premium as it has holographic effects on both the front and back and the art book looks very solid and very well done. These are some nice extras but lets dive in to Conduit 2 and see if it's worth the paper it's printed on.
The Conduit 2 takes off where the first one left off which and those years of waiting for a sequel turns those years into minutes. Hardy any sequels out there take off within minutes of the first which is great for some, not so great for those who haven't played the first title. For the sequel you step back into the shoes of Michael Ford who is in a wild goose chase to catch John Adams (No relation to John Adams the second president of the US......maybe) the antagonist of the previous game. John Adams wants to exploit the alien race because he craves more power. Michael Ford's job is to stop him at all cost.
Re-joining Ford is his ball of steel Promethius which acts like a Cortana to Master Chief. Promethis gives Ford information on the alien race as well as hints on what to do next and where to go throughout the game. Because levels are so long you are not told where to go constantly and what to do and in some cases it can be tricky to figure it out. Getting lost is pretty easy and when that happens you will probably want to trade Promethius for a Tom Tom.
The games plot takes you to many places around the world as you learn more and more about the alien race. Some of the places you will be exploring will be an oil rig located in the Bermuda Triangle, Washing DC, China, Siberia, etc. You will also face some enemies from the first game as well as new ones from Aliens to Humans to what robots who are constantly picking at your feet.
One of the games big improvements from the first is the enemy interaction when you haven't been spotted yet. This is also one of the game's biggest flaws because you can be standing in the middle of the room and the enemy will not notice you at all until you take a shotgun through one of the enemy's head. There are many events where the game does not make any sense at all. The biggest one is during the first Boss fight in the oil rig where a big Leviathan is destroying the rig and the riggers are trying to take you out instead of taking out the Leviathan. Seriously there is this giant snake that is killing and eating the riggers and all they can focus on is taking you out. The enemy also doesn't do a good job in hiding and will stand in the open most of the time. At this point it just becomes target practice for you.
The most annoying enemies though are the little ones which are hard to shoot and respawn constantly. These little bastards can be taken out by using a melee attack but doing so can leave you disoriented and swinging the Wii controller left and right will turn your player left and right without knowing if you hit the enemy. Another annoyance is how you throw grenades by shacking the nun-chuck attachment. First of all you cannot aim and you cannot tell where your grenades will land as shacking the nun-chuck will just throw the grenade with maximum force.
Conduit 2 supports the classic controller as well as the Wii-motion plus but if you can't shell out $15 for a used Wii-Motion plus add on don't worry you don't need one. Conduit 2 is a game that plays very well without any add ons. Unless you have shacky hands then you should have no problem controlling Conduit 2. I do wish though that the controller layout would be a bit different. For one I wish they would assign a button to throw grenades instead of just waving your hands around like an idiot and 2 I wish they would have a dedicated Crouch button instead of mixing it with the Run button. At times I found myself running instead of Crouching which is an instant kill for the enemy. If you don't fancy point and shoot controls you can always use the Classic Controller and use it as a regular FPS. The downside though is that it doesn't support the GameCube controller and I have 1 just sitting there doing nothing.
Graphics is where Conduit 2 shines and it doesn't disappoint (unless you have a PS3 and have played Killzone 3 then you will be disappointed) For what the Wii can handle it is great game in which the developers put a lot of detail into the characters and the environments. My favorite Boss of the game has to be the Leviathan because of how high tech it seems for a creature that lives on the sea. The character animation also moves smoothly and it hardly drops any frames. However as nice at it may seem, there are a few graphical problems here and there such as dead enemies disappearing and reappearing and other graphical corruptions. These don't really interrupt gameplay but it can catch you by surprise if this is your first time playing Conduit 2.
Most of the weapons from the previous game also make an appearance as well as some new ones. All weapons have different stats but there is a weapon for everyone to enjoy. My favorite weapons were the SCAR Assault Rifle and the Hive Cannon which is similar to a machine gun only alive and moving. There are also Sniper Rifles, Shoguns, Pistols, Rocket Launchers and Grenades. All weapons handle very differently but because of the amount of enemies showing up as well as the smaller ones you will need something that will not run out of bullets quickly but you will also need a gun which can help you take out Snipers and that's where the Hive Cannon and Scar Assault Riffle come in handy.
Conduit 2 may have great action and graphics but it's all brought down by the voice work which makes it sound like a B movie instead of a BlockBuster movie. You will hear cheesy one liners as well as bad dialogue between cutscenes. The music also doesn't help either because it makes it sound like more of a thriller instead of an action game. It won't ruin your game experience but it will definitely leave a dent.
Single Player can be completed in 5 hours however Conduit 2 features all sorts of human interactions when you are no longer playing single player. You can go online and challenge up to 12 people per game or you can have a few buddies over for some Split Screen Co-Op or challenge each other to a deathmatch. Split Screen does work best with the classic controller however as you will not be knocking teeth out of each others mouths or breaking the hosts furniture.
Verdict: Buy
Conduit 2 is a B-type movie within the pool of BlockBuster movies but it does a nice job of being one of the best B Movies you will ever see or play. If more work could have gone into the voice acting then it could be a lot better and stand it's own against other FPS games. If you're into Halo, Crysis and other Sci-fi shooters then Conduit 2 is up your alley. It's probably one of the few Wii shooting games that appeal to what little hard core audience the Wii has left but it does such a fine job appealing to that crowd and I hope High Voltage continues this saga on the next Nintendo console and possibly bring it over to the PS3 and Xbox 360 heck I'll even take PC.
GamePlay: A Tom Tom is required every now and then but getting there shooting all types of enemies is fun and the boss battles are done in an epic proportion. 8.5/10
Graphics: Few graphical corruptions here and there but this is one of the nicest Wii games out there with great art style and attention to detail. 9/10
Sound: The sound is that of a B type movie which can sound lame at times. Sound effects are sometimes too low to hear even if you crank up the volume. Not much attention was paid in the sound department. 4/10
Story: A wild goose chase that takes you to the ends of the earth while learning more about the characters and the conspiracy behind the alien race. Not the best story but makes sense of everything. 7/10
LifeSpan: Online Multiplayer, Split Screen Co-Op, a 6 hour story mode and plenty of items to be unlocked High Voltage made sure you will be playing this game for a long time. 10/10
Total Score: 77/100
