The Conduit: Console FPS with the most customisable controls

Some developers spend hours making the controls for their games perfect, but in the FPS genre it's just best to leave the minutia to the consumer.

I mean, don't you hate it when you can't even reassign some of the buttons to your preferred configuration? Well, High Voltage have listened to the hardcore and created the most customisable FPS experience ever.

At least on consoles. The funny thing is, this hardcore FPS shooter is exclusive to the Wii. It took me a little time to get to grips with the controls, but from the first shot it was obvious that this was an exclusive Wii shooter.

Apart from the amazing visuals (for a Wii title) The Conduit, developed by High Voltage, features the most customisable control experience I've ever laid my fingers on. Not only can you change control sensitivity, but you can reassign any action to any button on the Wii-mote/Nunchuck.

This customisation includes motion-sensing capabilities. The SEGA representative demonstrating the game used a nunchuck whip move to melee enemies, but after just playing the on-the-rails shooter House of the Dead: Overkill, I wanted the whip move to reload my weapon. Done, easy as taking candy from a mutant baby.

The customisation goes further. How rigid do you want your character to be? You can either give him a rigid view of his direct surroundings, or make him twitchy with a possible 360 degrees view. The control's dead zone can also be changed: since you use the Wii-pointer to turn as well as aim, you can choose how much of the screen needs to be covered for you to begin turning.

Furthermore, not only can you change the transparency of the HUD, or alter what HUD-parts are on screen, you can also choose where you want each HUD item. And no, this isn't limited to predefined layouts; you can drag-and drop any item onto any part of the screen. So if you want your tips to appear right in the middle, you can make it so. Want that health bar out of the way? Put it in the bottom-right corner.

I've never seen such a customisable FPS experience.

I was only able to play the game for a limited amount of time, since this wasn't the game's final build, so the only unique gameplay feature was its solid and innovative Wii controls and uncharacteristic visuals (powered by High Voltage's own Quantum3 engine.)

The Conduit is set to be released exclusively on the Nintendo Wii this June.

Patrick Steen