Conduit 2 Review

Developer High Voltage Software and Sega give it another go at the first person shooter genre on the Wii with Conduit 2. In 2009, they released The Conduit, a game that many considered to be the best place for online multiplayer on Nintendo’s current home console. Despite criticisms of the single player mode, The Conduit was praised for its excellent multiplayer offerings and for High Voltage’s commitment to the platform. Has High Voltage improved upon their 2009 offering with Conduit 2?

The story of Conduit 2 is fairly simple. It picks up immediately where the last ended. Those new to the series will be left without a clue, though that will not prevent you from making sense of the campaign. The story is kind of a wacky affair overall. The first Conduit game’s story was about an alien invasion of Washington D.C. involving an alien disguised as John Adams, alien conspiracies throughout history, and portals known as conduits. In Conduit 2, you are tasked with trailing John Adams through a few locations around the world.

Conduit 2 is a mixed bag when it comes to graphics. The character models for Michael Ford and Andromeda are fairly detailed and even cool-looking. A few areas look almost like current gen graphics in standard definition, while other levels look like early last generation graphics. Overall, Conduit 2 is a very generic-looking game. The voice acting is a bit like a Saturday morning cartoon. Michael Ford is no stranger to cheesy one-liners. Everything else sounds alright though nothing really stands out. The limited edition of Conduit 2 comes with a 44-page art book but, sadly, the game does no justice to the quality of the artwork found within.

Conduit 2 supports two control schemes. The first is the standard Wii remote/nunchuk controls with Motion+ support and the second is the Wii Classic controller scheme. While you can play Conduit 2 without Motion+, I would not recommend it. The standard remote/nunchuk scheme without Motion+ is a jittery motion sickness-inducing mess. I found the classic controller scheme to be the most familiar way to play a FPS, with all the caveats, but alas the classic controller lacks the rumble feedback and feels far too lightweight. Playing with the Motion+ is probably the best way to play Conduit 2 as you get the more natural Wii controls with the precision and stability of the Motion+.

Conduit 2 is by no means a challenge. The AI is fairly predictable and sometimes downright oblivious to your presence. The single player campaign maxes out at 8 hours if you take it more seriously but it’s more of a 6 hour deal. Online multiplayer is really where all the meat in this game is. Conduit 2 features an online multiplayer component where you can dive right in a play a matched game or make your own. Playing a matched game is fairly easy and streamlined. Conduit 2 gets you online with practically no fuss.

In Matchmaking, you select from the following playlists: 8 player “Hardcore Team Games”, 8 player “Free for all Grab Bag”, 12 player “Big Team Grab Bag”, 6 player pure deathmatch “Hardcore Free for All”. You have three multiplayer modes, ten maps, five rule sets, and a variety of fine tuning options to mix and match to your heart’s content when creating your own game. The game servers seem to be fairly populated for the moment and can be an enjoyable experience for multiplayer fans. You can add your buddies to a Friends list using the not so handy friend code. Conduit 2’s multiplayer offers nothing new or original but at least it is a solid multiplayer offering.

I do not mean to be overly critical of High Voltage since the Wii seems to be reaching the status of abandoned hardware. They tried some neat things on the Wii and Conduit 2 is probably the best place for FPS online multiplayer this spring on the console. Alas, the game’s campaign is short and underwhelming and the graphics are generic. Multiplayer can be fun but it brings nothing new to the table. You might want to get in on it before everyone moves on to something else. If you’re interested in playing Conduit 2, I highly suggest that you rent before you buy.