The alien invasion has begun, and Washington is its epicentre. One guy, Secret Service agent Michael Ford, is apparently the only earthling who can save the planet. At the behest of a shadowy organisation called The Trust, Ford is given this directive: If it moves, shoot it.
No, The Conduit (Sega of America Inc, for the Wii, US$49.99) doesn't have the most original premise for a video game. Fans of the dozens of other alien shooters that have come out over the years, from Doom to Halo to Resistance: Fall of Man, may not see it as anything special.
But if you live in a Wii-only household, and you're sick of Xbox and PlayStation owners getting all the action, you've probably had your eye on The Conduit. First-person shooters have been all too rare on Nintendo's family friendly console - there's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and a number of high-end franchises (like Call of Duty and Far Cry) that were scaled back for the less powerful Wii.
Developer High Voltage Software built The Conduit with the Wii in mind, though, and it plays to the system's strengths and weaknesses. The graphics may not dazzle, but they're crisp and even, occasionally, beautiful.
More significantly, The Conduit lets you use the Wii remote the way you've always wanted to: as a gun. To shoot, you just aim the wand at your target and pull the trigger. Other buttons let you jump, crouch or switch weapons, while the Wii nunchuck is used to move around and throw grenades.
You also use the wand to control the All-Seeing Eye, a sort of spherical flashlight that helps you decipher puzzles and unlock secret rooms. All the actions feel so natural that it's puzzling that more companies haven't created Wii shooters.
And if the default controls aren't to your liking, they're fully adjustable. You can shrink or increase your weapon's firing zone, alter the remote's sensitivity or move around (or delete) the on-screen displays. I'd love to see such flexibility on higher-definition games.
top-notch presentation
High Voltage hasn't let the Wii's limitations deter it from creating a top-notch presentation. Most notable is the voice acting, particularly by Mark Sheppard (who played jaded lawyer Romo Lampkin on Battlestar Galactica) as agent Ford.
The story in The Conduit has some clever twists, but the game is completely linear, without any side missions to distract from the main plot. It lasts a solid eight hours or so, and there's a beefy selection of multiplayer modes that may finally give you a reason to hook up your Wii to the Internet.
Overall, The Conduit is a satisfying adventure for hardcore gamers who have felt neglected by Nintendo's offerings. The Wii could use more games like it. Three stars out of four.