The Conduit 2 revealed

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 March, 2010

Includes four-player co-op mode.

High Voltage is hard at work on The Conduit 2 for Wii, according to the latest issue of official US magazine Nintendo Power, and SEGA will once again be publishing.

The preview, detailed on NeoGAF, reveals that the first-person shooter sequel takes place in Atlantis and promises new weapons and huge boss fights for its campaign.

Online players will also be able to upgrade their suit - the current plan is for one primary upgrade slot and two secondaries - with things like robotic legs for speedier movement. There will also be different character classes to choose from.

Speaking of online, the mag said that the original game's Bounty Hunter mode would return, alongside a new four-player co-operative outing called Invasion, which works in both split-screen and online and pitches teams against specific challenges.

The original Conduit was a technical marvel on the Wii with an impressive engine and a large number of configurable control options, which endeared it to hardcore Wii gamers often forced to make do with dodgy FPS ports and awkward control schemes.

Unfortunately the content itself was a bit mediocre, leading to the game scoring 5/10 in its Eurogamer review.

SEGA told Eurogamer it had no comment to make on the Nintendo Power piece.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ryboy #1 2 years ago

    Danger! Danger! High voltage!

    EG, you disappoint me...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #2 2 years ago

    Sounds good. I didn't buy the first one but I think they have a very, very solid technical foundation to make a really good game. I'm not sure how much time and manpower was sacrificed during the development of the first one resulting in a rather weak gaming experience but now that the engine and the controls are done maybe they can really focus on the level design etc.

    It's good to head that they don't just give up giving the usual "it doesn't sell on the Wii" excuse - even though in their case it might be true (no idea how much the first one sold).

  • frunk #3 2 years ago

    Give it up guys and recode for the PS Move... Wii does not appear to have an audience and they are cramming features in that stretch the hardware limitations a little too far and are targeted at the "core gamer".
    Edited by 1 at 30/03/10 @ 09:04

  • Acrid #4 2 years ago

    This may inspire me to shell out the £6 for the first one now....

  • swissorc #5 2 years ago

    Now the first one is so cheap I can see myself picking it up in the summer.

  • Old_Books #6 2 years ago

    The first one was a victim of it's own hype. It's not a classic shooter by any means but I had great fun playing through it, probably because it was more like run 'n' gun FPS's from years ago a la Doom. From what I have heard, though, online was broken pretty soon after release which can't have helped...

  • CallousB #7 2 years ago

    Meh..

    I'd much prefer they'd get back to working on Animales de la Muerte or the original FPS version of The Grinder. The Conduit was about as generic as you can get.

  • malexous #8 2 years ago

    High Voltage Software has major commitment issues.

    I hope this turns out great but I'm not holding my breath.

  • konniehuqfan #9 2 years ago

    Dunno why people are neg-repping frunk, he's right. Have a look at Red Steel 2, didn't even make the UK Top 30...

  • Kami #10 2 years ago

    I think it's largely because people do hope Nintendo will get the message sooner or later, and really commit and support games like this. Right now, there's still the off-chance that the Move will end up doing the same for the PS3 as the Wii, end up being dramatically underused, forced and badly implemented - and the fact it costs so much would at that point make it a complete waste of time, money and manpower. Move done right probably will see more of this ilk done on PS3 - Move done wrong will just point out the industry may indeed have caught wind of the motion controller but clearly has no clue what to do with it.

    But this is still all in the air. The real reason this won't see a port is simply how bloody different the Wii is compared to its rivals (which are also both completely different to develop for!). The Wii is cost-effective for some of these "smaller" teams and easier to handle technically.

    Still doesn't change that The Conduit was a bit of a let-down, let's hope the sequel patches that up...

  • Joco84 #11 2 years ago

    colour me intrigued :)

  • Dexter2015 #12 2 years ago

    Other crap game :(

  • TonyHarrison #13 2 years ago

    If The Conduit had been released on PS3/360 it would not have sold better. It would have sold worse.

    There aren't exactly a lot of FPS games on the Wii, yet there are dozens, if not hundreds on the other two consoles. A mediocre, generic corridor shooter will be forgiven for its flaws somewhat more on the Wii than it would on the other two consoles...

  • xandaca #14 2 years ago

    The original Conduit was the most comprehensively average game ever made, but was elevated slightly by good controls and the lack of interesting Wii FPS' at the time. Now there's COD: Modern Warfare (good multiplayer at least), Metroid Prime Trilogy and Red Steel 2, all of which have brilliant controls. In other words, High Voltage are going to have to put some effort into gameplay and design this time around and I'm not convinced they've got it in them to produce anything worthwhile.

  • frunk #15 2 years ago

    @konniehuqfan

    Thanks for the support, peeps just see "PS Move" reference or perceive something negative - assume you are a fanboy and neg-rep.

    I genuinely think every good attempt at a core game on the Wii that actually tries to utilse the controller in a "non-waggly way" has failed... See Red Steel 1/2, Dead Space, Madworld, Okami, Conduit, etc

    Hence 3rd partries have shied away from serious development on the Wii and instead give us more glorious mini-game shovelware by the bucketload.

    Sigh... At least PS Move has the chance of addressing a new audience which may be interested in this type of game.

    From the tech side - the original Conduit was "interesting enough" but suffered from some poor, repetitive, dull design. Often an indication of lack of memory for more character models or textures. However in this case it may have been "lazy development".

  • FenderMaster #16 2 years ago

    aside from the textures and lighting, i actually thouht the original conduit was pretty unremarkable, the level geometry looked decidedly.... cubist...

  • xandaca #17 2 years ago

    Having read some of the features in the article, it actually sounds as though HVS have some good ideas for a change. Of course, that doesn't mean they'll be able to implement them with any degree of proficiency, but it at least sounds like they've taken on the criticism of the first game and are being more ambitious in their gameplay. A quick summary of some of those features:

    SINGLE PLAYER
    - Wider variety of environments, more sci-fi oriented, processions of corridors replaced by bigger, multi-layered open areas
    - More focus on art direction, much larger variety of enemies
    - Multiple paths (nothing indicating whether this is non-linearity in gameplay terms or just an extension of the level geometry)
    - Some freedom in terms of mission selection
    - Game starts on an oil tanker being attacked by a sea serpent (first boss), follows on directly from end of first game
    - More 'wow' moments
    - NPCs to interact with
    - Another mission set in Washington, the Smithsonian this time
    - Alien factions fighting amongst themselves, fights can be AI vs AI vs player
    - Atlantis hub features giant 'Guardians'
    - Other locations include Siberia (feat. robot wolves)
    - All original weapons with new secondary functions, plus seven new ones including FarSight-esque 'Phase Rifle' and Laptop Gun-esque 'deployable turret'.
    - Many more uses for ASE hacking and puzzles. Metroid-esque scanning function.
    - Better AI, varies dependant upon weapon being carried (Snipers hang back, for example)
    - Interactive environments (pull objects down for cover) that enemies use too

    MULTIPLAYER
    - Four player splitscreen mode confirmed
    - 12 player online

    No mention of Wii Motion Plus compatibility, or whether it's a Wii exclusive like the first game. Presumably Wii Speak is still in. No mention of whether the inconsistent frame-rate has been improved or where they're aiming to lock it.