Tom Clancy's EndWar

"Tom Clancy's EndWar: A War Ahead of its Time"

In the seventh generation of console gaming, I have had a very one-sided relationship with Ubisoft games. I've played a few of them that were getting good reviews and recommendations and I always felt dissatisfied with the product. I'm not sure why that was, but it seemed to be ringing true with all the Ubisoft games that I played which was I just couldn't like them.

Enter EndWar. The minute I heard about this game, I immediately wanted to get my hands on it. However, once the euphoria had run out and I took a second look at the Tom Clancy moniker that preceded the game's title, and knowing that Ubisoft now had the exclusive rights to that name, my sense of optimism turned into a sense of concern. Now that I have finally played the product, would this feeling of cautiousness be warranted or is Ubisoft finally getting into my good books?

The game is set in 2020, with the world still reeling from the after effects of a Nuclear War in the Middle East which decimated the planet's oil supply. In that effect, there was a heavy movement to finally rid the world of Nuclear War and in 2016, it was achieved. Because of this disaster, mainland Europe banded together to create the European Federation while Russia, becoming the biggest oil producer in the world, put all their brand new wealth into their military, becoming once again a military power. At this time, the United States of America are still one of the world's superpowers. A few events later and these three powers initiate World War III and the battles begin.

Outside of this introduction to the current scenario, the game lacks in the story department. It just sets up the situation without adding any other developments to the game's story. I suppose you could forgive the lack of storyline because it is a real-time strategy game, but when you look at games like Warcraft III and their epic storyline (which is probably an unfair comparison); it's hard to look past this game falling short in the story department. However, if you want a little more drama, I'd recommend that you read the novel, as it is quite good.

The game does not lack however, in the presentation department. Barring the small amount of cutscenes, the game delivers a nice and smooth graphical experience. What little story elements and pre-battle commentary are all delivered with still pictures. The story elements are delivered like a news report, and the commentary delivered by familiar looking characters (such as Russia's Izotov looking like Ed Harris). The battle map is passable as its nothing but a map of the Northern hemisphere with areas marking where the battles will take place.

However, the strong point of the game graphics occurs where you will be spending most of your time on (thankfully) is in the battles. The units and the maps are highly detailed. Looking at a war-torn Paris and the detail in every destroyed building is a great example of this. All the other maps look stellar as well. The textures look good and I have yet to encounter any noticeable texture loading or framerate issues. The only gripe I have over the battle graphics is the lack of more destructible terrain/buildings, but that's minor which shouldn't be a game-breaker.

As mentioned before the units are also very detailed, especially the infantry. While each infantry man looks similar to one another, it is their animations that separate them from the other units. Each infantryman have their own actions with each becomes evident in the heat of battle. As they attack or get attacked, you will see one soldier get on the floor and start aiming, another soldier hiding behind cover and taking shots, or one man running and gunning. Taking nothing away from the other units, each of the three factions have different looking units and skins which gives them their own set of identity.

Some other things that make this game graphically stand out are: a non-confusing HUD, an easy to use radar/battle map, and a SITREP map which gives you an overhead/tactical view of the action happening in the battle. The camera gives you a view in the perspective of any unit you choose which make for some pretty cool sequences (such as infantry moving in and out of transports or buildings). The lack of a fog of war is also a welcome addition as well as the ability to save and view replays.

The game is no slouch in the audio department. Gunfire, explosions, and battle sounds are all very well done. The music properly sets a mood, though it is not intrusive. It plays in the background, and will sometimes be overshadowed by the action on the screen. A good asset of the audio is the little quirky comments that some of the units say. While the standard order acceptance speeches are present, if you spend enough time with a certain unit, they will say something out of character. For example, a transport driver will question why he joined the transports. The voice acting is also well done as they sound very professional and realistic. None of their voices will make you want to tear your eardrums out, which is always nice.

In the gameplay department, it is also pretty substantial. There are three modes of play: the solo campaign, skirmishes, and the Theatre of War. The Solo Campaign is what one would expect it to be. You pick a side and try to get your force to obtain either three capitals or 28 territories. This is where the story takes place. The Skirmish is an unranked game where you could choose to play online or by yourself. It is somewhat like a quick-game, but you cannot really choose which side you want to play as or where you want to fight. The game gives you a list of possible destinations of where to wage war and you are automatically forced into a side.

The crown jewel of the gameplay modes is the Theatre of War. It is a purely online affair complete with leaderboards. It is a persistent online war where you would pick a force and wage war against others in the world. Think the solo campaign but against human opponents, with one glaring difference. The results of your force as a whole affects the battle map, so instead of being a one-man army you've got to hope that other members of your force do well in the war to further your side's cause. It is a very hectic experience and will test your skills against others, which is always a major draw in RTS games.

Game modes aside, there are 4 different kinds of battles: siege, raid, assault, and conquest. Sieges require you to secure the critical uplink (or defend) and hold it for a small period of time before the enemy gets reinforcements. Raids require you to attack and destroy (or defend) more than half of the critical structures in the map in a certain time limit. The assault modes require you to kill all the hostiles in the map. The last and arguably where you'll be spending the most time on is the conquest mode, where you have to hold at least more than half of the uplinks in the map and hold them for a 5 total minutes to succeed. There is a catch with this mode which is once a force captures more than half the uplinks; it will trigger DEFCON 1, where the losing side can deploy a WMD to help tilt the battle to their side. However, once they use the WMD, their opponents will be able to use their weapon of mass destruction as well.

The game utilizes a rock, paper, scissors system in which a certain unit will be extremely effective against another, but be weak against another. For example, tanks are best against transports, transports are best against gunships, and gunships are best against tanks. Mastering this system will make the game much easier. In addition, units can be upgraded to make them even more efficient and allows them special secondary attacks which dispose enemies more quickly. Also, you will feel a sort of attachment to your units as the more a specific squad participates in battle, the more upgrades that squad will be entitled to. Should all the members of that squad die however, you will lose that highly ranked squad along with its upgrades.

I've said a lot so far about how the game mechanics work, but I have yet to mention the most important thing about this game, which is the voice activated gameplay. While you can use the controller to point and “click” at everything, it is not as efficient and as quick as using the microphone to order your units around. However, if you do have a microphone that you can use (such as the official Playstation headset – which comes bundled with the game but at a higher price than the standalone game – or even a Rock Band microphone), I suggest you use that instead. The voice recognition is well done and if you properly calibrate it before you start playing (via the Voice Trainer), you should have very little problems commanding your troops. There will be the odd time, however, where you will order a unit to secure an uplink only to have him attack it or secure another. All things considered, the voice activated gameplay is the best way of playing this game.

While it seems like EndWar is just your average (but well polished) RTS game, the voice activated gameplay make this game standout without becoming too concerned with gimmicks. It is a solid RTS experience and it is hands down the best RTS for the consoles. The great presentation and unique gameplay make it a must have for any RTS fan, and it warrants at least a try from anyone who is interested in the game. In addition, there is no doubt in my mind that this new trail that EndWar blazes in terms of using a person's voice to command troops will be further used and improved in the future so its not a bad way to start trying it.

So did this game fix my relationship with Ubisoft? Yes, you could say that it did. I absolutely enjoy this game and I hope that they create another one. I'm still a tad cautious when it comes to an Ubisoft game, though now I will have an excuse to try it before I judge.

Praises:
- Unique voice activated gameplay
- Incredible animations and detail in units
- Great presentation
- Persistent online war

Criticisms:
- Lacking in story
- Needs more destructible elements
- Some commands might get mixed up in the heat of battle

Story: 6/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replayability: 9/10

Overall (Not an average): 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/08

Game Release: Tom Clancy's EndWar (US, 11/04/08)