It’s a well-known fact among the gaming community that consoles and RTS games don’t mix very well. The effectiveness of the tried and true keyboard/mouse control scheme that PCs utilize has to yet to be successfully matched by a console controller. While games like the upcoming Halo Wars are trying to remedy the problem by designing for a console from the ground up, EndWar takes a different route. A more vocal route, one might say.

See what I did there?

Tom Clancy’s EndWar takes place in the future, where things have gone to shit, as one might guess from the title of the game. The US and Europe co-develop SLAMS, the Space-Land-Air-Missile Shield, putting an end to nuclear war. Russia wasn’t invited to the party, which comes back to bite everyone in the ass when the world’s oil supply begins to run out and Russia controls what little is left. This divides the world even more, forcing most Western European States to combine into the European Federation.

As if hell hadn’t already broken lose, America furthers the international tension by dominating space. The Freedom Star Military Space Station is capable of putting marines on the ground anywhere in the world within 90 minutes, which makes everyone a little uneasy, understandably. When terrorists attack the launch of the final space station module, inevitable war finally breaks out.

The story in EndWar is good for moving the action forward and little else. Being an American, my heart swells with pride at the thought of us building a Death Star, but the plot is weak and is simply there to set up the action.

If you decide to play the single player campaign, you’ll begin with the Prelude to War tutorial. The tutorial does what it’s supposed to do, but I felt that it does it rather slowly. Four or five missions into the game and I felt like I hadn’t employed any strategy whatsoever, as I was always outfitted with more than enough resources to completely decimate the enemy. I understand that the purpose of the tutorial is primarily to teach, but what better way to learn than through challenge? Enough with the hand holding; I want to scream “Unit 2 attack hostile 4!” like my virtual life depends on it.

My main concern going into EndWar was how well the voice commands would work. I can’t help but think of those terribly automated operators that companies employ to answer their phones. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones where, if you’re lucky, they’ll just ask you to repeat yourself rather than misunderstanding you and connecting you to someone that you don’t want to talk to at all.

As I feared, the voice commands are a mixed bag. While my dirt-cheap Bluetooth headset probably doesn’t help matters, it can’t be blamed for all of the problems I encountered with the computer not understanding me or hearing something different. You can tell a unit to abort an order if the wrong command gets issued, and while it’s pretty fantastic to scream “ABOOOORRT,” it became a problem after a while.

It’s been said that you can play EndWar entirely with voice commands, and while that may be true in theory, you’ll end up using a combination of both your voice and controller.

That isn’t to say the voice commands are a failed endeavor. When they do work, which is the majority of the time, they’re fantastic. However, when you’re in the heat of the battle and they stop working, it becomes a serious issue. Still, Ubisoft has found a very creative way to get around the console RTS control issues and they should be commended for that.

Another issue I had was with the camera system. Your view is limited to the unit you currently have selected. If you want to switch cameras, select another unit. You can rotate the camera 360 degrees and zoom in on whatever you’re looking at, but if you try to move you’re on a pretty short leash.

EndWar is set in the future – 2020 to be exact. We’re reminded of this constantly with all the talk of the European Federation and Military Space Stations; not to mention the futuristic-looking gunships. But despite all of this, your view of the battlefield is seriously limited. Having to select a unit and stay within its sight line is incredibly annoying and switching units in mid-battle and having to regain your bearings is anything but intuitive.

I know that Tom Clancy is a stickler for accuracy, and I love the man because of that, but couldn’t Ubisoft come up with some reason to give us full visual access to the area? The Americans have their Space Station – couldn’t they use some crazy satellite technology to get a real-time view of the battlefield?

Now that I’ve aired my major grievances, I can get down to the actual combat. Aside from being somewhat limited (this seems to be a recurring theme here), it’s really fun. When I say it’s limited, I’m talking about the fact that it only has six core units, with clearly laid out strengths and weaknesses. If the enemy is attacking with tanks, send some gunships to stop them. If you see a group of engineers, riflemen or artillery will make short work of them.

Despite the game’s limited offerings, there’s still plenty of room for strategy. You’ll gain Command Points by securing uplinks and simply surviving in battle and you must choose the best way to spend them. You’ll also have to decide where to deploy your various units to maximize their effectiveness. While the game could definitely benefit from being a larger experience overall, that’s what a sequel is for.

The online multiplayer, called Theatre of War, is easily the game’s best feature. Before you can do anything, you must choose which of the three factions – USA, EU, Russia – that you will align yourself with, as well as pick your battalion, each having their own specializations. After that, you’ll be thrown into an online persistent battle for worldwide domination. From here, you can see what territories your faction controls and you can choose from a wide variety of missions; each victory will bring you closer to world domination.

Theatre of War is a stroke of genius. EndWar could’ve easily had run-of-the-mill online multiplayer and it would’ve been a blast to play. Instead, they give you a persistent world and a goal, one which you share with thousands of people. As a gamer, I like something I can really get involved in, and this is exactly that.

I don’t feel comfortable saying that EndWar should be purchased. It’s absolutely a rental, as it’s unique and it’s quite good. At its core, it’s a lot of fun, which is the most important thing. Ultimately, however, a lack of battlefield control, brought on by a restricting camera system and voice commands that sometimes don’t work, prevent it from achieving greatness. I can only imagine hardcore RTS fans picking this one up.

Tags: EndWar, Tom-Clancy, Ubisoft, voice control

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1 Comment » Tomonoatmeal Cookigaki on November 25, 2008 6:34 am Cookigaki does not like any future wars that do not involve ninja and boobs, especially with voice commands so Cookigaki can sweet talk the boobs. Score seems deserved! RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.