Why does The Conduit lack art style? HVS answers

Many gamers and critics alike have been on High Voltage's case for The Conduit's lack of art, saying it looks generic, bland, and uncreative. HVS's chief creative officer Eric Nofsinger has an answer to why The Conduit lacks the visual flair some say it needs.

[Product]

Honestly I don't see how more art style could hurt anything personally.

[SinnedNogara]

How come this never hurt Call of Duty or Killzone?? Weird right??

[phosphor112]

Are you serious? The Helghan are the most bad ass enemies I've ever seen. Not to mention the mad crazy architecture.

[TheBand1t]

Killzone had art style. Helghan is a inhospitable, industrial, grimy desert of a planet, and I think Guerilla did an excellent job conveying that.

[Bnet343]

I'm sick and tired of hearing about this game.

[SinnedNogara]

OK, just Call of Duty then.

[ChickeyCantor]

" I'm sick and tired of hearing about this game. "
Was that before you clicked on the articles about The conduit or after?
If you are sick of it, why bother click on the article?

LOGIC, DO YOU COMPUTE It?

[Bnet343]

Look at the past Conduit articles. I haven't commented on any of them. So after I finally got fed up seeing this trash game being talked about for the 100th time, I decided to come in and share my opinion on it. It's not like I'm trolling a Nintendo message board saying how trash of a game it is.

[RedPawn]

Bubbles+

[gaffyh]

Ok, this is is just stupid. The Conduit was meant to be THE game that was next-gen quality on the Wii, but it barely looks better than Metroid. In fact Resident Evil 4 Wii looks much much better, and that is a port from last-gen.

Very very disappointed, graphically the Conduit is nowhere near next-gen, and gameplay is ridiculously repetitive.

[Syronicus]

Killzone as already mentioned had it's art style and it worked well for the game. COD4 however is a game that is supposed to resemble real life places and situations and so the art style is in the realism. The locations the game takes place in are the art style. A game that reflects the battle field you would see in todays wars.

Now with the conduit, it is far more fictional and could use a different direction in terms of art style, much more like Killzone. If perhaps they would have been more fluid and more even across the board, the critics might not have been so hard on the lack of art. It just seems that they did not know where to go with the art direction and though it might be the best looking FPS on the Wii, it is one of the most boring to look at in terms of art direction.

[ChickeyCantor]

" It just seems that they did not know where to go with the art direction"

This game was build during a period when the Engine was still in progress. So perhaps they had to keep in mind how far they could go with the design of their art. But their 2 new games already look much better than this game. So all they have to do now is wait for all the criticism and work that out in their sequel.

[N4g_null]

LOL you guys are hilarious. This is a FPS and actually every thing else is fluff. Welcome to real FPS where you don't have time to look at texture sizes and play with fake physics. This is gun in your face fun. In away conduit gets back to why we all like FPS. We get to shoot each other LOL.

The art in UT3 was actually better than killzone 2 and the industrial things was very static which made it generic.

I think HVS made a good call on this one. It is very easy to get crazy looking architecture with even the Wii's specs. We have been doing it every since quake 3 really.

HVS also did the right thing because the alien looking stuff in metroid was a turn off to many, it was too alien. Another thing is people are buying this game because of what it does not because of what it looks like... get that through your head.

Also the art team at HVS are pretty good too. They are very level headed and I'm curious to see what they do next.

Sorry for all the people who think this is trash! Maybe FPS just are not your thing. Their is a whole world of serious FPS that play with no textures turned on *gasp* can you believe that! From what I've seen Wii player are pretty damn competitive.

[N4g_null]

Ha you too a look at the concept art also. I truly think that this art was locked in because of the release date because if you look at every thing else they are making it is just getting better and better. The art is pretty impressive coming from HVS and they are not really bluffing about the ice berg either.... they have not optimized this engine yet even though it still runs great. Their are plenty of things they can do so that they have more effects to use and even crazier level design with even more movable things.

[ChickeyCantor]

" Look at the past Conduit articles. I haven't commented on any of them"

Who said anything about commenting them, you basically CLICKED on the article to read it, did you not?
If you were getting tired of them you could have just...i dont know...ignored them?

[ChickeyCantor]

" This is gun in your face fun. In away conduit gets back to why we all like FPS. We get to shoot each other LOL.
"
Yeah thats why this game reminds me of perfect dark.
The action is just much faster than most FPS games out now.

[dustgavin]

Sounds more like the wii couldn't handle it.

[ChickeyCantor]

Artstyle?
Thats like saying Donkey Kong country can't actually run on the SNES due the artstyle...

Metroid prime looks great, even though lots of objects have a really low poly count. Its the artstyle making it look great.

[swiftshot93]

but Metroid Prime is gorgeous. Theres a lot of geometry going on everywhere and the art style leaks of quality. Its what helps the game be immersive. Simply jaw dropping at times. Especially at the end of three. That was a holy crap moment.

[SinnedNogara]

MadWorld had a black and white art style...............and was on the Wii..........and got positive reviews. That isn't art style??

[xlx-russ_92]

because the game is super generic.

[condorstrike]

sounds like they didn't want to go back halfway throught development and start new, that's was just the response anyone would give, because he knows that it's the hard-core crowd who's buying the game, not little johny's mom nor his grandpa.

besides they were tweaking the aging quantum engine as they created the game, so re-writes were not an option.

me myself i'm not complaining cause i love the gameplay.

[KidMakeshift]

I really don't understand where the "first Wii game that looks next-gen" came from.

The game has always looked "meh." The gameplay is standard FPS, and the environments are akin to a PS1 game in design.

If people want a great looking game with visual flair for the Wii then play freakin MadWorld

[Rute]

The Conduit is far from being the best looking game on the Wii. Sure the engine is good, but some of the creatures are like generic plastic figures, and as you said, the real letdown are the amateurish and archaic looking environments.

The Conduit really reminds me of this game: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[ChickeyCantor]

While i think the levels are bit simple formed, i think the video is a bit over the top? The action of this game looks good though.
Same thing with RedSteel, the game was just pure WTF, but at times the gun action was actually fun.

[bjornbear]

They focused more on the whole technical part of the game (engine, graphics, motion gameplay) than on the story or art style...its comprehensible

Now they've got the base established, they will focus on it more the next time around =)

The art was just too Halo-y (which imo not a good thing =/) so it probably feels uninspired, especially considering how all over the place halo is

[ChickeyCantor]

Exactly, now they have their game out they can focus on making the sequel much better. listen to complaints and what not.

Sure some games look better from the art-point of view, but no one can denie this engine is doing more than basically all engines that are used for current games on the Wii.

If only Retro could work with that engine >_>....pure awesomeness.

[N4g_null]

I think this was a matter of we have a publisher now and this needs to make some money also. Another thing is the grinder is going to rock! Also if you look at G A.D. you will see a huge boost in surrounding detail.

The conduit barely has bsp culling in it right now. That is the one thing that fixed the UT3 engine so we could up the detail. Yet this game is a cross of a few games but it is almost design to get us ready for motion FPS all over again. I must say the levels do work very well. You are never far from the action.

If does have some sweet design work in it though. It may not make your jaw drop but you can tell they where going for a realistic idea... and I have to say the public loves that. I mean look at counter strike it out sold many many other FPS and hell I think people still play it.

The conduit is a happy medium... and a good start for Wii online FPS... COD level design was actually pretty bad when I look back.

[Product]

They have the ground work paved just wait and see what they have lined up next.

[EvilTwin]

KidMakeshift -- Standard FPS gameplay? It's the most customizable control scheme of any console shooter, ever.

swiftshot93 -- I agree with you. I think Metroid Prime walks over the Conduit's graphics, especially Corruption. HVS has nothing on Retro, and the excuse of "we made it plain on purpose" seems pretty lame.