Conduit 2 wears schlock on its sleeve. The generic setting, the stoically dismay characters, voice acting that unintentionally grates more than House of the Dead 2. Schlock is hardly offensive, for what are Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Halo if not high-concept generica. Schlock can even be appealing, a cheap thrill as you hazily delve into the budget DVDs during a post-pub drinks run at the petrol station. But Conduit 2 is not a B-movie and one cannot escape that curious feeling that Conduit 2 takes itself more seriously than you could possibly believe, and asks the same of you.
It’s not difficult to fault Conduit 2. While the Wii plays host to only a fledgling number of FPS titles, it is a highly competitive arena and if High Voltage Software want players to stare down a gun barrel for the duration of play, it stand up to the likes of Halo and Black, Killzone 2 and Crysis 2. You need convincing and challenging AI, exciting set pieces and fluid spontaneous gunplay, fascinating locals and visuals, firepower to leave you tingling and the controls to make you feel unstoppable. The briefest way of summarising Conduit 2 is this: it features none of the above.
None of the above. It has AI. It has set pieces and gunplay and locations and an array of weaponry. But adjectives absent, Conduit 2 is pedestrian to the point of criminal. A shared heritage with the best of the genre, in much the same way all competing horses have four legs and teeth, allows the masquerade of substance but it wears quickly thin. The challenge is limited; every feature plagued with that aching feeling of familiarity, osmosis from the stable thoroughbreds, and most offensively; gunfire is enfeebled, lacking that violent, visceral, petulant glee. There is no punch, no roar, no joy. It’s immensely dissatisfying.
Gimmicks include a Metroid-like visor for discovering hidden messages and the ilk that was more successful in the game it was plagiarised from and a comprehensive multiplayer mode that ticks all the right buttons but displays a complete lack of grace or excitement. The average playtime is six hours and it is beyond Gamestyle to decide whether this is a paltry period that demands penalising or celebrated for generously bringing the pain to a close.
Two good points, if slight and reasonably expected: the HUD is wholly customisable, as are the controls. This should be in every game in every genre released and it is pleasing to see the smallest of knowing touches. Unfortunately the Wii Remote does not convincingly facilitate the use of the every button for a different function with its awkward layout and while Conduit 2 does support the Classic Controller, MotionPlus and even a PDP Headbanger Headset, it does not support the GameCube pad. Every silver lining…
If this seems melodramatic, that’s because it is. It is not, however, unwarrantedly scathing – the aforementioned Black was released in 2006 on a console arguably half as powerful by a development team that specialised in racing games. Halo is oft proclaimed the pioneer of modern FPS games, introducing many of the now-standard features in the genre. Killzone 2 boasts some of the most stimulating and formidable AI yet witnessed in video gaming. The very kindest you could say about Conduit 2 is that it is a guilty pleasure. If you enjoy this, you have a lot to feel guilty about.
