Tom Clancy?s EndWar
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Tom Clancy’s EndWar
Ubisoft stated when they purchased the Tom Clancy license that they were going to create many new games set in the universe created by Mr. Clancy and his great imagination. EndWar is their latest Tom Clancy inspired creation and set in an entire new genre for the license, with the Ubisoft team innovating the genre in a new way. Pure voice control, a concept which has never fully worked in the Rainbow Six series of games, was a very risky endeavor in many gamer’s minds, but it worked out in an amazing way. The EndWar voice control system is so good I know I will have trouble playing other console based real time strategy games.
In Tom Clancy’s EndWar, the world is at the brink of World War III. Fuel is scarce and international tensions have been stretched to their limit as the Americans, European States and the Russian Federation are risking destroying the world instead of negotiating peace. During the game you will attack cities, armed bases and more across North America, Europe and the Western Soviet Block in incredible and massive battles across a global map of war which changes with each turn.
This is not your normal real time strategy game and that is saying a lot. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is entirely controlled by your voice, or you can use the odd button press if you wish instead of barking commands to your troops. When you first start the game there are 10 or so different commands you must speak to train the game to recognize you and after that as long as you speak clearly and not super fast, all of the units under your command will run off and do what they are told. It is extremely intuitive and fast to send your units into battle or to get them out of trouble in a moments notice. But like I said if you speak too fast the will sometimes mess up such as attack the wrong area or they will not even move.
EndWar does have one old school issue with its real time strategy gameplay and that is the old school tactic of tank rushes, or specific unit rushes. These unit rushes will easily work to overwhelm the artificial intelligence. But if you are playing against a skilled human opponent, I did find that if you try that you will end up very quickly dead and wasting your replacement units over sheer stupidity instead of thinking your way through a battle. Just like a good chess player, you need to think two or three steps ahead of your opponent and know their strength and weaknesses. The in game AI has several strengths and weaknesses such as some will overly rely on specific unit types such as helicopters and when that is the case, just roll out your transports and blasts them out of the sky.
Multiplayer is where the game is the most fun, especially the outstanding Theater of War mode which is almost worth the price of admission in it self. Theater of War is a multiplayer battle, where you you’re your side, European, American and Russian and then you travel online and battle it out with other players on Xbox Live. The lines of the battle are constantly changing depending on who wins or loses and as you play the game and earn money you can purchase upgrades for your units. Theater of War is amazing since just like a real war the game is constantly changing the only problem with it is; the entire world needs to be shown not just the limited area shown, even though the number of battle zones is immense.
I have complaints about as well as some high praises for the overall graphics in the game. My complaints are easy to clarify in EndWar’s graphic system, with the pre-mission and post-mission graphics are rather plain and generic. Overall the graphics in this case do look like a command and control screen, or what you would assume a futuristic one to look like. But with the graphics looking like a command and control screen, it is not very fun visually for a gamer.
What does work in the game graphically is the in mission graphics with everything from the terrain to the units and the various special effects for explosions, weapons of mass destruction hits, building damage and more. Each of the three sides, American, European and Russian have their own specific units and look to the units and their specific animations all look great, especially in large hectic battles. The skies actually are the one part of the game I remember the most graphically as they all look amazing, especially the dusk and night skies with the Northern Lights.
EndWar has fantastic audio and the way the audio is used in the game is subtle but immersive. During the explosive gameplay the sounds of far distant battles as well as the battles up close all sound very realistic and impressive. Each of the units has several distinct things to say regarding the battle and just general information and out side of the battles each of the mission briefings and debriefings are spoken in a realistic and convincing manner. What is disappointing about the audio overall is while there is the odd bit of voice which will come through to your head set, not enough comes through and that would be more immersive for the player. This is the same complaint I have for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 series. In those games your team should speak to you through your headset.
There are not many games that have an amazing multiplayer experience which constantly changes like Tom Clancy’s EndWar has. Theater of War has so much long term potential I hope it continues to see a ton of players battling their way through the constant World War until the sequel at least.
With a completely new way to play a Real Time Strategy game and some excellent multiplayer gaming this is one game that is a must buy for strategy fans of any type. If it was not for a few minor issues with the game such as nothing south of the equator and a lack of a cool looking single player campaign presentation wise (it is a great campaign to play though) this would be one of the top 10 played games on Xbox Live for many months.Pros
+ Voice control is outstanding
+ Theater of War mode is great
+ Campaign is a great mode
+ Graphics are good
+ Gameplay is very good
+ Audio is very good
Cons
- Southern part of the world is non-existent? DLC maybe?
- Can we ever play a normal RTS game again on a console or PC again?
- AI is easily defeated by simple tactics
- Not for everyone
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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