GameCritics.com Podcast Episode 17: Fallout 3 Point Lookout, MtG: Duels of the Planeswalkers, The Conduit

One thing I would like to clarify is my comparison between Perfect Dark and The Conduit. I didn't mean to imply that the game looked like a N64 game. I forgot to elaborate further that the interior level design often reminded me of Perfect Dark (which is a good thing since when Rare was at the top of their game when they did GoldenEye and Perfect Dark). Perfect Dark also had a similar alien conspiracy plot involving the President which mirrors that of The Conduit.

Just a comment about the controls for the Conduit: (you knew I was going to write)

Every action is remappable. The only action you cannot assign to a motion is reload, which also carries a dual action of picking up a weapon off the ground.

Also, you can adjust how far you can look up and down. Not that it matters. How many times have you tried to see your feet in Quake 3? Well, rocket jumping I guess, right?

As for the looks, the environments are pretty bland. The characters themselves carry the brunt of the graphical effects. But the characters seem small on screen. There is an interesting blur effect when you reload, which is an option that you can turn off. Also, depth of field when you look down the sights of a weapon. Its not effective in any way, but its there.

You know, I used to be blown away by Chronicles of Riddick on the Xbox. I forgave the polygon clipping and odd shadows and what not. Having revisited the game recently, my memory was clearly rosed tinted. I'll tell you that the Conduit doesn't do anything in an innovative way, but it certainly lacks the technical hiccups alot of games do have. (no, I'm not saying the Conduit looks better than Riddick, I'm saying Riddick had flaws in order to do what it did, and the Conduit went the safe route for less flaws but failed to do anything extraordinary.)

Why all the hate for The Conduit? PS2-level graphics? Are you just trying to be harsh for sake of being harsh or are you critically looking at the graphics on that console and being fair?

In regards to wonky motions controls, I thought Metroid Prime 3 did a really good job of using the Wiimote as opposed to a traditional controller. Nothing was too convoluted to use and it felt better than if I was playing the game with a controller.

And also, Tim, you must tell me where you got the podcast intro music post haste.

Richard -- Good call, and I actually cut from the podcast a lengthy discussion about Metroid Prime 3. I brought it up as an example of good Wiimote FPS controls. Brad asked me to describe the controls, and according to Chi my description sounded exactly like what The Conduit is doing. Since I couldn't compare my whole point came off as kind of limp and I axed it from the show. Editor's prerogative.

As for the theme song -- it's from the NES shooter Silver Surfer. It was always meant to be a temp track but we never got around to replacing it.

We'll have a different theme song for Episode 19 (two shows from now) as that show will be, well, different. Details to come.

MP3 used motion for two things-aiming and the grappling hook, while everything else was a button/joystick action. I wouldn't say it was revolutionary, but the throw/pull motion felt more natural than just hitting a button, and having to aim the Wiimote was more of a challenge than just using the auto-aim all the time. In my experience with the Wii, the motion controls are like spices-a dash here and there is good (MP3) but use too much and it can take away from the original flavor (Twilight Princess).

However, I haven't played Conduit either, so I can't make the comparison.