Multiplayer Features in The Conduit

So after braving San Francisco rush hour traffic to make SEGA's multiplayer event tonight, it was a bust: the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection servers weren't functioning properly so The Conduit couldn't link up even though the 12 systems were only two feet apart.

Still, we managed to squeeze out all of the details that High Voltage was going to reveal during this event. Things like the fact that the promised 16 player online had to be paired down to 12 in order to balance things better and, more importantly, to keep the game performance running well.

There will also be a ton of multiplayer game modes in many different categories. In "Free for All," players can take part in a quick match, with the match ending when a player reaches a set kill count. In "Marathon," players simply rack up as many kills as they can in a set time limit. "Three Strikes" challenges players to strive with only three lives to use. "Last Man Standing" is exactly what it sounds like, and "ASE Football" is a "tag" like game where the player who holds onto the All Seeing Eye the longest wins. Then there's "Bounty Hunter," the most complex sounding of the free for all matches: players aim for specific players, but get penalized if they take out the wrong targets.

There are two different Team Play categories. In "Team Reaper," you can play Quick Match and Marathon with sides, but you can also play "Shared Stock," where teammates pull additional lives from the same pool. In "Team Objective," you can take part in a capture the flag mode using the ASE -- each team has its own All Seeing Eye to grab. There's also a mode to grab a single ASE somewhere in the level; the team that captures the ASE the most in the set time limit wins.

The Conduit's multiplayer will support the Wii Speak voicechatting peripheral. To cut down on the overwhelming noise of 12 players gabbing away at the same time, players will only hear the players that are close to them -- according to High Voltage, players will hear, at most, the six players closest to them during battle.

We're promised a second shot at an early look at The Conduit's multiplayer soon, most likely in the coming weeks. We're already a fan of the game's single player mode, and the hands-on play we had tonight solidifies it: it's a top-notch first-person shooter, and easily in the running for the system's best in the genre.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/972/972967p1.html