Tom Clancy's EndWar

by Ashley Coomer - 2008/02/23 1:53pm

It’s becoming something of a trend for war games to be set in strange times these days. At launch we fought in Resistance: Fall Of Man, set in an alternative WWII, and soon we’ll be trying not to die in the near-future world of Frontlines: Fuel Of War. Where Ubisoft Shanghai is concerned WWIII is the way forward, and it’s not as far off as you may think.

The Third World War as we will come to know it takes place in 2020 where the US and Europe are fighting against Russia. The Americans have been researching anti-missile technology and as you might well expect, Russia isn’t happy about this, having kept the peace for so long because of the inexistence of nuclear weapons. It’s when terrorists attack the American Freedom Star space station at its launch pad that things go a step too far and war begins… again. We know what you’re thinking, and we’ve heard this all before, too. Not that it matters, because EndWar has a massive ace up its proverbial sleeve!

The ace in question is nothing new, but EndWar is certainly going to take it in new and unparalleled directions. Voice command via a headset is what we’re talking about, and while we don’t know specifics yet – because Ubisoft Shanghai is failing to release any form of info – we’ve got a few details to whet your appetite… if voice commands are your thing. Before you get your hopes up, it won’t be extremely complex. We’ve seen what voice command can do for videogames with SOCOM and it worked well, but EndWar will be pretty much the same, basic. It won’t be completely identical though, with the word ‘better’ springing to mind! We say this because you won’t be able to bark orders like “Kill! Fetch! Eat the floor” because other than soldiers not understanding how to eat the floor, this is a game after all. No, what we mean is you’ll have limited usage of the voice command feature. Your little mans will understand simple orders such as “Blue Team, attack hostiles” and “Create group”, but not complex demands. As Creative Director Michael de Plater put it “We have one rule in our game, which is ‘No magic!’. We aim at making EndWar the most realistic experience of full-scale war ever in a videogame”.



For what they lack (intelligence) this is where you step up to be counted. When you begin the game you’ll get to choose which side to fight for out of the US and Europe, and from there you’ll be shown the Earth. Here you select what battles to go to and fight in… to help you understand what we are talking about, we’ll use one of the screenshots as an example. Information is displayed of where the battle is taking place, what type it is, the attacker and the defender. In this case it’s a siege taking place in Paris, with the attacker USA and the defender Russia. Along the bottom of the screen is a news ticker-like feature displayed, telling you important information which can help you decide where you need to put your focus. Again, using the screenshot as an example we know the Russian troops took control of Paris, and American troops took control of the South of France. You can then jump into battle at the press of a button to help your side, with the overall winning side calculated by the successes of battles that took place in the location.

When you are in control of the units on screen with the controller while your voice rests, it is your duty to seize certain points of the map before you can advance and capture the next area. Once you’ve taken control of a strategic point you can use it to your advantage. Think of it as upping the ante a bit – before, you were nobodies. Now, you can call in extra units by air, or order air strikes to wipe the path to victory clear. The game features seven classes of units, yet with the powers you gain from capturing key points of the map, you can create over 100 types of unit each with their own unique skills thanks to a selection of upgrades. As you might have guessed, it’s up to you what ones to pick.



The real-time simulator genre is famous for not working on consoles, but EndWar looks different. “I don’t think it’s about mapping buttons from a keyboard and mouse. It’s about navigating in a real, immersive, full scale 3D world” said de Plater. From what we’ve seen so far, the game is shaping up to be everything the developer set out to do, and we’ve no doubt it will be everything we’ve been expecting as well.