The Conduit
The Conduit is a first-person shooter video game developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii console and Android. The Conduit was revealed on April 17, 2008, and on October 29, 2008, the developer announced that Sega had signed on to be the game's publisher. The game was released in North America on June 23, 2009, in Europe on July 10, 2009, and in Australia on July 16, 2009.
Development of The Conduit began in October 2007. The game makes use of the Quantum3 engine, a game engine designed by High Voltage Software specifically for the Wii. The engine allows effects such as bump mapping, reflection and refraction, and gloss and detail mapping to be implemented in the game. High Voltage Software's goal in creating the engine was to make The Conduit a competitive experience visually comparable to games on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The campaign storyline focuses on an alien invasion of Washington, D.C. in the near future. The alien race, known as the Drudge, uses the eponymous portal-like Conduits to deploy their forces throughout the city. A shadow government organization called the Trust sends newly inducted agent Michael Ford into the area initially to disrupt a terrorist threat, but he quickly becomes embroiled in the fight to stop the invasion and save the capital from destruction. The online multiplayer feature of the game can support up to 12 players and includes several game modes such as "Free for All" and "Team Reaper", and has voice chat capability through the Wii Speak peripheral.
A sequel, Conduit 2, was announced on March 29, 2010, and released in April 2011. A high definition port titled The Conduit HD for Android was released, initially for devices with Nvidia Tegra chipsets, on March 14, 2013. The port went on to receive critical acclaim.
Gameplay
The shooting controls of The Conduit were inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, first-person games which had well-received Wii control schemes. The Conduit offers user customizable control features, such as the ability to alter the size of the bounding box, the speed at which the player can move the camera, and cursor sensitivity. Furthermore, the player can adjust these options in real time, without having to leave the adjustment screen to try the changes. The developer also included the option for the player to change the control layout, so that any gameplay function can be mapped to any button or motion on the Wii Remote. Other customizable aspects include the player's maximum running speed and the layout of the game's HUD; the elements of the HUD can be moved to different locations around the screen or removed.The Conduit provides an experience typical of a first-person shooter, focusing on combat in a 3D environment and taking place from the first-person perspective of a playable character. A unique feature of the game is a device known as the "All-Seeing Eye", or ASE, which is recovered by the player early on and used to solve various puzzles. The ASE can detect hidden traps and enemies scattered throughout a level, and reveal secret features in the environment that can help the player to progress, such as uncovering invisible doors and platforms and other interactive objects.
Campaign
The single-player campaign mode of The Conduit consists of nine missions. The story is told primarily through cutscenes between missions, but television and radio broadcasts are also scattered across a mission area for the player to seek out. These broadcasts are not necessary to fully understand the story, but provide background information that supplements the overall plot. In addition, as the player explores the game more subtle clues in the environment, such as a precisely placed object in a certain historical location, can be discovered which are meant to provoke questions about elements of the story. The intention of this was to reward players who want to explore and understand more of the story, while not taking away from the experience for other players who only want to complete the game.The main enemies of The Conduit are an insect-like alien race called the Drudge. Their forces are divided into five main types: Mites, Drones, Skimmers, Scarabs, and Invaders. Mites are the smallest forms, some of which can fly and others explode when in close proximity to the player. Drones are adult-form Drudge that serve as common soldiers, and Skimmers are an alternate adult-form that can fly. Scarabs are much more powerful than Drones, equipped with heavily armored exoskeletons and powerful weaponry. The most dangerous enemies are Invaders, giant quadrupedal insectoids that serve as bosses. Other enemies in the campaign include Drudge-controlled United States military personnel and Trust agents.
The Drudge also incorporate various devices to defeat or hinder the player. Among these is the Drudge portal, or Conduit, which can be placed throughout a level to allow Drudge enemies to spawn from them until they are destroyed by the player. Other Drudge devices, such as Drudge-healing Regenerator Units and radiation-producing Pulse Boxes also appear in the game. The game's Quantum3 engine provides the Drudge with advanced artificial intelligence that allows them to adopt unusual strategies in combat. Such strategies include recognizing when the player is open to attack and then charging the player, or running away and seeking cover when outmatched. There are five difficulty levels to choose from, based on the five levels of the then-active color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System, and the difficulty can be adjusted at any time during a mission.
Multiplayer
Similar to the Wii version of Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, multiplayer in The Conduit is online-only, with 13 different gameplay variations, seven different maps and 15 weapons to choose from. Multiplayer modes include standard deathmatch and team-based modes. In "Free for All" category modes, each player is independent and can attack any other player to score. In the "Marathon" mode, players must score as many kills as possible within a time limit. Other "Free for All" modes include "Three Strikes", which limits players to only three lives per match; "ASE Football", where the player who captures and holds the All-Seeing Eye device the longest wins; and "Bounty Hunter", which involves each player hunting a specific opposing player and receiving penalties if the wrong player is targeted. Team-based modes, under the "Team Reaper" category, focus on cooperation between players to achieve a specified goal. "Marathon" can be played with teams in "Team Reaper", and a "shared-stock" option can be activated which forces the players in each team to draw from one limited pool of lives. "Team Objective" is a capture the flag-like mode where each team must find and capture an ASE more times than the opposing team to win.The online multiplayer supports up to 12 players simultaneously, although a player capacity of 16 was originally planned. When seeking an online match, the player can choose playlists with randomly selected players from locally or around the world, or with players who have exchanged friend codes. Maps for the multiplayer are taken from places seen in the campaign, but are redesigned to better suit the different multiplayer modes. Voice chat for the online multiplayer is included through implementation of the Wii Speak peripheral, and is available only between players who have exchanged friend codes and are on the same team. The Conduit was the first third-party Wii game to use the accessory. While in a Free for All match, players are only able to hear the six other players closest to them on a level. The developer stated that the decision was made in order to cut down on the substantial amount of noise created by 12 players speaking at once.
Synopsis
Setting
The Conduit takes place in the near future, as Washington, D.C. is shaken by several unusual and tragic incidents. A mysterious flu-like disease known as "the Bug" has swept across the region through local water sources, resulting in high-security locations being left understaffed as government workers are afflicted. Months after the initial outbreak, an alleged terrorist attack destroys part of the Washington Monument, and on September 11, a senator is assassinated by another terrorist cell reportedly disguised as members of her staff, greatly heightening local and national tensions. Most alarmingly, an assassination attempt on the President of the United States occurs only weeks after the previous attacks, carried out by the president's own Secret Service detail. In the midst of these events, Agent Michael Ford must overcome the onslaught of the alien Drudge and the humans under the Drudge's control, and defeat the masterminds behind the invasion.Characters
The Conduit's protagonist is Agent Michael Ford, a Secret Service agent who is inducted into the Trust after saving U.S. President Charles Thompson during an assassination attempt. John Adams is the enigmatic commander of the Trust who sends Agent Ford into Washington, D.C. to combat a rising terrorist threat and recover stolen Trust technology; he is later set up as the game's central antagonist. Prometheus is introduced as the terrorist leader, but becomes the sole supporting character and assists Ford's efforts against the Drudge.Plot
Agent Michael Ford regains consciousness in a collapsed Washington Metro tunnel, some time after the invasion of the alien Drudge. Fighting his way through utility corridors, Ford comes upon a massive Conduit embedded in the atrium of a Metro station. After defeating the aliens' defense, Ford enters the Conduit.The story then flashes back to five days earlier, before the invasion, as Ford is contacted by John Adams, leader of the mysterious Trust organization. He informs Ford of an upcoming operation to recover a Trust prototype stolen by the terrorist Prometheus. The Trust has set up an ambush at Reagan National Airport to capture Prometheus as he flees, and Ford is assigned to ensure that if the ambush fails, Prometheus will be apprehended at any cost. During the operation, the Trust agents turn against Ford and he is forced to battle his way through the airport to the Metro train that Prometheus is supposed to be using. As Ford reaches the forward train car with no sign of Prometheus, a wounded scientist tries to destroy the train. Ford survives the explosion and regains the prototype All-Seeing Eye. Alarmed at Prometheus' ability to turn his own agents against him, Adams orders Ford to infiltrate Prometheus' base at Bunker 13, a defunct Cold War-era facility, and hack into his lines of communication. After Ford destroys a cache of mind-altering chemicals, Adams betrays him, saying he will tell the President that Ford died fighting the first wave of the Drudge invasion. Ford is then contacted by Prometheus, who offers him a way out. Emerging from the bunker near the now combat-damaged Jefferson Memorial, Ford eliminates a Drudge force and is airlifted to safety by Prometheus' helicopter.
Ford is dropped at the Library of Congress and told to demolish the Drudge nests hidden in the sewers below before the city is overwhelmed. Prometheus reveals that he was a former member of the Trust who became disillusioned and defected with the All-Seeing Eye. He explains that Adams had been manipulating Ford, and had made him destroy the Trust-developed neuro-toxins in Bunker 13 to cover the organization's tracks. At this point, Ford assumes Adams and The Trust are cooperating with the Drudge in order to take control of the country. Desperate to upset Adams' plan, Ford storms the White House in an attempt to save President Thompson. During the rescue the President is led to believe that Ford is a Trust agent; thinking that the Trust can avert the crisis, Thompson signs over executive power to Adams before escaping on the Marine One.
Prometheus then prompts Ford to investigate and defend the Pentagon and secure its national defense codes. After he eliminates the Drudge forces there, Prometheus deduces that a much larger infestation is in downtown Washington D.C. The search for its source leads Ford down into the subways, where he finds and enters the large Conduit depicted at the start of the game. It transports him to the Trust's headquarters, where he learns that the existing Drudge are being created and deployed into the city by Trust-maintained Conduits. After fighting through the base, with Adams taunting Ford and jamming Prometheus' communications signal, Ford reaches a chamber holding a single captive alien being who reveals himself as Prometheus. Prometheus explains that he was used as the genetic blueprint to clone Adams' army of Drudge, who at this point are revealed to be creatures created on the Earth and are not aliens, and persuades Ford to kill him to prevent Adams' work from continuing. Ford, after hesitation, complies and proceeds to clear out the rest of the base, when Adams disables the base's Conduit networks and activates its self-destruct sequence to trap Ford. Prometheus then speaks to Ford from the ASE, where he uploaded his consciousness before his death, and instructs Ford on how to reactivate the Conduit network in the base. After fighting his way through the last of the Drudge, Ford enters a Conduit to escape the self-destructing Trust headquarters, determined to find and kill Adams. This leads immediately into the events of Conduit 2.
During the credits, Adams can be heard speaking to an unknown alien contact, where he reveals himself to be Enlil, an alien exile who has been on Earth for 240 years. Adams/Enlil reports that Prometheus is dead, and that the plan to take control of Earth is still in effect.