The team at High Voltage is looking to make the best FPS on the Wii with the sequel to their 2009 title The Conduit. Differentiating themselves as a T-rated shooter with heavy sci-fi elements, their primary objective with the pending sequel is to make everything bigger and better, starting with the environments themselves.
This time The Conduit unfolds in locations outside of the greater DC area. You are tasked with combating the alien invasion that has now erupted all over the world. The single-player campaign will be complemented with co-op and multiplayer content.
As far as numbers are concerned, the team expects somewhere near 15 multiplayer maps, seven of which are new. The remaining have been ported from the original title after being retooled for compatibility with new gameplay mechanics. Your arsenal will include 21 unique weapons. The number includes seven new firearms – with the remainder having debuted in the first game.
Competitive multiplayer will support 12-players online. Up to four players can utilize a split screen in both competitive and cooperative modes, and four-player co-op is also available online. The sequel will also take advantage of Wii Motion Plus, although the peripheral isn’t required in order to play the game.
I had a brief hands-on session with the game, using both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck to play. Aiming felt relatively tight with the Wii Motion Plus attachment, and locking on/shooting was fairly intuitive. The decision not to integrate a cover system left me feeling slightly venerable at times, but the varying terrain provided some safe harbor.
Controls can be entirely remapped, allowing you to tailor them to your gameplay style. I felt that swinging the Nunchuck to lob a grenade was very organic, but didn’t like jabbing the Wii Remote for melee attacks, which had a tendency to send the camera flying. This, in particular, is one control I would swap out for a button.
The Conduit had its shortcomings, the bulk of which High Voltage is aware of and intends to address. We would need more time with the game before judging if the effort will be a success, but as of now The Conduit 2 appears to be heading in the right direction.