Is anyone interested in Conduit?

[Cybergoth]

http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=19541

[Jetboot Jack]

That's three week's sales, not June...

 

Anyway - whatever the numbers that is a shockingly POOR set of sales for Sega...

 

sTeVE

[Cybergoth]

Anyway - whatever the numbers that is a shockingly POOR set of sales for Sega...

 

Not particular poor, that's just the normal curve for mature Wii games. By the end of the year it'll reach 500K or more:

 

http://www.vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=...ii&weeks=30

[vdub_bobby]

Back to discussion of the game itself...

 

I'm a little confused by some of the reviews and other comments. I haven't played many recent FPSs, so I'm perhaps not up to speed on the state of the art in game design and whatever.

 

However - the recent FPSs I have played, and absolutely loved, are Halo and Halo 2. But Halo and Halo 2 are both fairly linear, run-n-gun shooters. There are no puzzles. There are no mazes. There is some vehicle driving, but its mostly a sideshow and, really, isn't that well done anyway. There aren't any spectacular boss fights. There isn't any platforming (thank goodness). Game play in the first two Halo games is mostly: run through a fairly linear level shooting bad guys along the way. Yet Halo and Halo 2 consistently got rave reviews, while with The Conduit the same flaws doom it to mediocre scores.

 

So what's the difference between Halo and The Conduit? I'm honestly asking here - is it the enemy AI? Is it level design?

[Jetboot Jack]

Play it, then you will see...

 

COmpared with the best of genre it suffers from uninspired level design, clone rooms and corridors, meh enemy visual design and pretty dumb AI, no really good wow moments - and an overall feeling of been there and seen it before...

 

Halo on the other hand is a riotous experience, full of interesting spaces and fun enemies - with plenty of spectacle.

 

However it's on the Wii and if you only have a Wii it's a different kettle of fish, it's a VERY solid title on a platform that has a dearth of these types of games.

 

If you have a PS3 or a 360 it won't blow you away, it's no Killzone 2 or the like. But if you're a Wii gamer, it's a good solid title

 

sTeVE

[vdub_bobby]

Play it, then you will see...

If I had $50 to throw around I would.

COmpared with the best of genre it suffers from uninspired level design, clone rooms and corridors, meh enemy visual design and pretty dumb AI, no really good wow moments - and an overall feeling of been there and seen it before...

 

Halo on the other hand is a riotous experience, full of interesting spaces and fun enemies - with plenty of spectacle.

 

However it's on the Wii and if you only have a Wii it's a different kettle of fish, it's a VERY solid title on a platform that has a dearth of these types of games.

 

If you have a PS3 or a 360 it won't blow you away, it's no Killzone 2 or the like. But if you're a Wii gamer, it's a good solid title

Thanks.

[JohnnyBlaze]

The only thing that worries me is that it might not sell well. After all the hard work High Voltage did, there's every likelihood The Conduit will bomb at retail. And that sucks. According to Kombo, even Punch-Out sold badly. What the heck is wrong with the Wii crowd these days? I'm one of them and I am buying games but with results like these, I am getting worried.

 

My, it's just numbers. Bionic Commando moved 27K copies on both HD consoles combined during the same time frame, so Punch-Out outsold it 5:1.

 

That's because Bionic Commando suffers from Sonic2006itis. The camera kills you more than the enemies do.

 

I still think that there is no other platform to play FPS's than the PC.

Edited July 21, 2009 by JohnnyBlaze

[vdub_bobby]

Anyway - whatever the numbers that is a shockingly POOR set of sales for Sega...

 

Not particular poor, that's just the normal curve for mature Wii games. By the end of the year it'll reach 500K or more:

 

http://www.vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=...ii&weeks=30

Notice that none of these games have had the benefit of a Christmas sales season. Based on a very quick and dirty analysis of the sales trajectories of games released in June/July 08, I think The Conduit will hit about 1M total sales after a year (i.e., next July); about 650K in the US.

 

Not terrific, but not bad by any means, especially for an independently-developed game released during a recession.

 

EDIT: I looked at Kung Fu Panda, LEGO Indiana Jones, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith; all released in June/July 2008. Of the first year's worth of sales:

-about 38% was sold in the first 10 weeks (approximately June through August)

-about 12% was sold in the next 10 weeks (September through November)

-about 34% was sold in the next 10 weeks (November through January)

-about 8% was sold in the next 10 weeks (February through April)

-about 7% was sold in the next 10 weeks (April through June)

Edited July 21, 2009 by vdub_bobby

[BydoEmpire]

I don't see 130k sales over the first 3 weeks as "shockingly" low - it was pretty well expected based on the reviews & previews, wasn't it? It wasn't like every site was saying "go buy The Conduit now, it's amazing." It's a good game, I'm enjoying it, but I would have been really shocked if it sold a million units the first month.

 

it suffers from uninspired level design, clone rooms and corridors, meh enemy visual design and pretty dumb AI, no really good wow moments - and an overall feeling of been there and seen it before...

Wait, aren't you talking about Halo? I kid, I kid... I enjoyed the first Halo game. I do agree with your point, though. Compared to, say, Bioshock or Half Life 2, The Conduit's 1p game isn't as big, exciting or polished an experience. It's still a solid and fun game, though. Edited July 22, 2009 by BydoEmpire

[Crazy Climber]

I am still going to buy it but I want to finish Star Wars force Unleashed, I am pretty sure Ghostbusters will be next, then Conduit

[snakeboy]

However it's on the Wii and if you only have a Wii it's a different kettle of fish, it's a VERY solid title on a platform that has a dearth of these types of games.

Even considering the fact that the Wii doesn't have a bunch of first person shooters, I still wouldn't call this a "VERY solid title." If you want an FPS on the Wii, you're better off pre-ordering the Metroid Prime collection or playing Medal of Honor Heroes 2 or even Red Steel. The Conduit has terrific controls but suffers from uneven difficulty and from the fact that it's just plain boring. I suppose if you're absolutely starved for FPS action, and the Wii is your only system, you may want to get it. But then again, if you're starved for FPS action, the Wii probably isn't your only system. And for those who only own a Wii, there are a bunch of games in other genres better than this. I've probably played over 30 Wii games I liked more than The Conduit.

 

Note: My opinions are based on the single player campaign. Multi-player could very well be better and might make it worth owning for FPS fans.

[vdub_bobby]

Got The Conduit on Saturday. Having a lot of fun going through the campaign; haven't tried the multiplayer yet.

 

First impressions:

-it is VERY EASY on the default difficulty. I blew through the first level in about 10 minutes on the default difficulty (Guarded) and through the 2nd level in about 20 minutes on the next difficulty (Elevated). Bumped the difficulty up another notch (to Hard) for the 3rd level and had much more fun; spent about 1.5 hours playing last night and died many times; didn't finish the 3rd level. Much better. The higher difficulty made the weapon differences stand out much more and I had to experiment a bit to figure out which weapons were best. On the easier difficulty levels it didn't really matter which weapon I had.

-the controls are pretty awesome; think Metroid Prime 3 only much better. The customization level is a little much, really, but the defaults are pretty good. I tightened up the dead zone a little, cranked the running and turning speeds, and almost completely reassigned the buttons. I'm not using the "lock on" at all, nor am I using Wiimote motion controls for anything. (I am using the nunchuk motion control for melee attacks, which is a pretty cool way IMO to punch someone. I throw a punch, and the game punches. )

-the graphics are good but not great, at least so far. I haven't been blown away by anything yet. I really like some of the graphic effects, though - especially the background blur when you reload and the color change and sound-muting when you get close to death . Very cool and very immersive.

-enemy AI seems decent. The take cover, throw grenades, whatever.

 

-the levels so far haven't been real exciting - the first level was kind of a short, learn-the-ropes level in an underground something or other. The 2nd level went through an airport and a subway train. Was more interesting, and I liked the train sequence, but still nothing special. The 3rd level has been better, you start out in an underground bunker and eventually end up in some kind of hospital or something - there is a pretty cool sequence where you work your way up 3 or 4 stories using an elevator and stairs, fighting all the while.

-the story presentation is pretty bare-bones; the between-level mission briefings are especially lame. The radios that you can hear as you walk by are kinda cool.

-the story itself, so far (I'm only a third of the way in), is ok, nothing special. It seems obvious that Mr. Adams is going to turn out to - gasp! - actually be a bad guy or there will be some kind of switcheroo at some point, but it isn't bad. I don't really care too much either way, I've never played a video game, ever, that had a truly compelling story, so I'm not to worked up one way or another. I'm in it for the action.

 

I'll post more impressions as I get further in...

Edited August 3, 2009 by vdub_bobby

[vdub_bobby]

Further thoughts (and some very minor spoilers)...

 

I'm about half-way through the final level; spent almost 10 hours playing so far.

 

Best levels have been the 6th and 7th. In the 6th, you go through, alternating, interior sections of the Pentagon that have been overgrown by enormous weird tentacles and these absolutely awesome war-torn exterior courtyards/streets.

 

In the 7th level you fight your way through an utterly destroyed section of the city, including crossing a bridge defended by a huge spider-alien and through a blasted house that has been knocked at about a 20 degree angle. It's very cool. You conclude by going through the subway and repeating the events of the first level (only much harder).

 

Also, the weapons are very cool. Some of them use motion controls, which is pretty nifty.

 

More generally, I've read about 40+ reviews of The Conduit from various online publications and magazines and the most common criticisms are:

-the story is cliche and not that interesting

-the presentation of the story (cut scenes, voice acting) is underwhelming

-the levels are mostly the repetitively uninteresting interiors of office buildings

-the levels are excessively linear

-the spawning conduits/eggsacks are kinda lame

-the single player campaign is too short

 

Those criticisms are all more or less true but, at least for me, don't really matter that much.

-The story isn't quite as cliched as I was led to expect, but it isn't as cool as it could have been.

-The presentation of the story is, by far, the weakest part of the whole game - the voice acting is mostly good, I thought, with one giant, glaring exception: the main character has some bad lines and he makes them worse, when possible, by doing an awful job of delivering them.

-The levels have been much more varied than I was led to expect. On the other hand, they are mostly interiors, so if you are looking for a lot of firefights in the jungle/forest/mountains, well, don't buy a game set in DC. But for all that, I thought the levels were pretty cool. Despite being inside, there are a lot of wide open areas where you have a lot of freedom to pick and choose different tactics, and the look is varied enough to keep things relatively fresh. The levels go: subway, airport+train, underground bunker, library of congress + sewer system, white house, pentagon, river district, mad scientist lab, mad scientist lab part 2. The underground bunker is by far the weakest of the bunch and, though it had its moments (see my previous post), it was pretty forgettable. They really should have thrown a more exciting/interesting level in at the beginning.

-The levels are pretty linear, but it isn't like whole game is one long hallway, as some reviews implied. :rolls: Personally, I like the linearity of the levels (I enjoyed it in Halo as well) - I get lost easily in FPSs and endlessly wandering around an empty level looking for the exit isn't my idea of a good time.

-the respawning conduits/eggsacks were not an issue. From a design perspective maybe they aren't that imaginative, but from a gameplay perspective...they weren't that big of a deal. They don't spawn enemies so fast that it's impossible, they keep you moving forward, and they give you a sense of urgency. What's the big deal?

-the single player campaign will probably clock in, for me, at just over 10 hours, and I haven't spent any time going out of my way to look for secrets - I'm just not into that stuff. I'm not the best FPSer in the world, but I've played my fair share of them and I think that time is reasonable. Seems long enough to me; some of the levels were fun enough that I'll probably go back and replay a few of them after finishing.

[BydoEmpire]

Personally, I like the linearity of the levels (I enjoyed it in Halo as well) - I get lost easily in FPSs and endlessly wandering around an empty level looking for the exit isn't my idea of a good time.

I totally agree. But there's a way to make the game feel bigger and more open that it actually is. Bioshock, for example, is a linear game, but it's presented in a way that makes you feel like you've got the whole city open to you. You can generally go back to old areas, and everything's connected - it's not "load level 1, finish, load level 2, etc" even though you still have a linear series of tasks to finish and areas to complete.

 

I'm still pretty early in The Conduit (about to rescue the President - 4th level?), but I'm having fun with it. The more linear nature of the game is kind of an advantage. Since I don't have lots of time for games these days it's kind of nice to be able to pick it up and not have to remember too much about where I was and what I was doing when I last played.

 

I like the story and presentation of the story, but like 99% of video games the plot is in serious need of fleshing out. It's like they took a sci-fi novel, conensed each chapter down to a 3x5 card and that's what you get. Again, not by any means unique in games or FPSs.

[vdub_bobby]

Personally, I like the linearity of the levels (I enjoyed it in Halo as well) - I get lost easily in FPSs and endlessly wandering around an empty level looking for the exit isn't my idea of a good time.

I totally agree. But there's a way to make the game feel bigger and more open that it actually is.

I agree with this, and The Conduit could have done a better job with this.

I'm still pretty early in The Conduit (about to rescue the President - 4th level?), but I'm having fun with it. The more linear nature of the game is kind of an advantage. Since I don't have lots of time for games these days it's kind of nice to be able to pick it up and not have to remember too much about where I was and what I was doing when I last played.

 

I like the story and presentation of the story, but like 99% of video games the plot is in serious need of fleshing out. It's like they took a sci-fi novel, conensed each chapter down to a 3x5 card and that's what you get. Again, not by any means unique in games or FPSs.

Agreed. And I think they really missed an opportunity by not having you play the immediate backstory - if you began the game by saving the President from his own Secret Service - that would have been very cool and a much more exciting way to begin the game.

[vdub_bobby]

Final thoughts on The Conduit:

 

-Finished the single player campaign in 11 hours, almost exactly. I adjusted the difficulty up and down at various points but mostly played on the "Elevated" difficulty. I can't stress enough that it is way too easy on the default difficulty, at least for the first half of the game. It does get much, much harder at the end. After the first run-through, beat it again; this time in about 8-9 hours.

-I really enjoyed it. It would have been nice if the levels were more open but, on the other hand, I hate getting lost in FPSes, so I suppose it evens out.

-The weapons are awesome. They look cool, they have cool effects, and there are a ton of them. The only thing I don't like is that there is no true "sniper" weapon. The charged up Strike rifle is as close as you get.

-The grenades are cool also; I was unimpressed at first but as I learned how to use the different kinds they grew on me.

-The ASE...is kind of pointless. The only worthwhile use of it is, IMO, unmasking the invisible enemies. That is a frantic, nerve-racking process, especially when there are more than one of them. But otherwise, the ASE doesn't add much.

-The multiplayer is very cool; I've put in about 4 hours so far. It is surprisingly buggy, though - fairly often I get what is apparently called the "spawning glitch," where you enter a match in progress and the game just locks up. You have to power cycle the Wii to get out, or you can wait until the match ends. Haven't seen any other bugs, though.

 

Final verdict:

 

:thumbsup:

[Cybergoth]

I assume I'm the only one who ever clicks the "credits" buttons in video games?

 

Because I just did for the Conduit. The main programmer listed is Ed Federmeyer - the guy who wrote Edtris for the 2600!

[vdub_bobby]

Wow, that's wild.

 

Looks like he's been with HVS at least since 2005.

 

And I take it you have The Conduit now?

Edited October 22, 2009 by vdub_bobby

[Cybergoth]

And I take it you have The Conduit now?

 

Yup, it dropped to 30.- on amazon.de two days ago

 

I looks promising, but I'm not sure if I can fully enjoy it; I only played the first two missions tonight in about ~45 minutes, but I already started feeling motion-sick. I hope I can at least do one mission per night. (I often wonder what triggers it. I had zero problems with MP3 for example.)

[vdub_bobby]

And I take it you have The Conduit now?

 

Yup, it dropped to 30.- on amazon.de two days ago

 

I looks promising, but I'm not sure if I can fully enjoy it; I only played the first two missions tonight in about ~45 minutes, but I already started feeling motion-sick. I hope I can at least do one mission per night. (I often wonder what triggers it. I had zero problems with MP3 for example.)

Maybe speed of movement? The Conduit moves faster than the more puzzle-oriented MP3.

[BydoEmpire]

Forgot to mention, a few weeks ago I went back and finished the laast few levels of the single player campaign. The ending was a little bit anti-climactic, but there was one nice final twist. I enjoyed the game - not super deep, but it's a good "pick up and play" action-oriented FPS you don't have to think too much about. It's certainly no Bioshock or MP3 Corruption in terms of depth or polish, but it's still fun and playable and I don't at all regret my $50 purchase. I agree with pretty much everything vdub_bobby said, although I played on "normal" difficulty and found it pretty well balanced - a few places gave me trouble, but nothing I couldn't figure out with a little perseverance. I've only played MP a handful of times, but never ran into any glitches or bugs. I'd give it 3/5 stars: solid and worth playing, but nothing spectacular.

[vdub_bobby]

Forgot to mention, a few weeks ago I went back and finished the laast few levels of the single player campaign. The ending was a little bit anti-climactic, but there was one nice final twist. I enjoyed the game - not super deep, but it's a good "pick up and play" action-oriented FPS you don't have to think too much about. It's certainly no Bioshock or MP3 Corruption in terms of depth or polish, but it's still fun and playable and I don't at all regret my $50 purchase. I agree with pretty much everything vdub_bobby said, although I played on "normal" difficulty and found it pretty well balanced - a few places gave me trouble, but nothing I couldn't figure out with a little perseverance. I've only played MP a handful of times, but never ran into any glitches or bugs. I'd give it 3/5 stars: solid and worth playing, but nothing spectacular.

I've put in something like 50 hours (!) of multiplayer since I posted my "final" comments above - and it is buggy as hell. The actual multiplayer gameplay is awesome (obviously I like it) but I run into a bug or a glitch every night. I'm still having fun, but holy crap they did a sh!tty job programming the online parts of the game.

[Cybergoth]

I looks promising, but I'm not sure if I can fully enjoy it; I only played the first two missions tonight in about ~45 minutes, but I already started feeling motion-sick. I hope I can at least do one mission per night. (I often wonder what triggers it. I had zero problems with MP3 for example.)

Maybe speed of movement? The Conduit moves faster than the more puzzle-oriented MP3.

 

I had to quit again after ~45 minutes today, so I spent some time researching the issue and found this topic on the official Conduit forum dealing with motion sickness:

 

http://forums.sega.com/showthread.php?t=284779

 

There's several people identifying the "reload blur" as main source for their problems, so I'll try deactivating it tomorrow. Maybe reducing the turn speed some also helps.

[xg4bx]

hvs' next games-

 

gladiator a.d

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkJhPbXjLh4&feature=related

 

the grinder