Written by Cooper
Published by CroTechEndWar Preview
Last time the Tom Clancy brand moved beyond tactical shooters, players ended up with one of the most popular series in recent years: Splinter Cell. Now Ubisoft is mixing up the war-game formula again with EndWar, by moving from tactical shooters to stealth games to real-time strategy…on consoles.
Yes, Ubisoft is creating a RTS (Ubisoft Shanghai to be exact). But don’t get me wrong, this isn’t another RTS ported from the PC to a console, with lack of controls. No, this RTS is made specifically for the Xbox 360, with the controls to boot. It is evident that Ubisoft is trying to re-invent the RTS on the console by adding the feature of voice. Voice, yes voice will be a huge feature in this RTS game. The team is working hard on it, and it may very well revolutionize the RTS. All your commands, movements, placements and orders will be done through voice. Don’t expect this voice to be like the voice in Rainbow Six Vegas, where when your mom asks you: “Do you want another soda?” And your AI reacts by throwing a grenade, while you pleasantly reply to your mom: “No, thanks” as the Game Over screen loads.
The map and multiplayer system is going to change.
Just imagine this: a field, more scorched earth than turf, with a wasteland here and bombed out buildings there… Instead of the Colts vs. the Bears in the Superbowl, it’s the US versus the Europeans in World War 3. Instead of Peyton Manning and other million-dollar paid players, you have millions in huge war machines, soldiers and guns. You are on the ground. You are in the midst of the battle, while the $*#* hits the fan. Much like a sports game, you “pass” control, from one unit to the next at the press of the button and your view changes to that person or vehicle. The camera is always attached to a person, object or vehicle and NEVER in an overhead view with tiny army men running around. Of course, this limits what you can see, which is the strategic element in EndWar. There will be times when instead of seeing things from a soldier’s point of view and seeing everything he does, you will have to see the big picture. When that arises, you press a button and *pop*, you go to a full view of the battlefield, almost like the Madden playbook, if you will. From this aspect you can control your groups and tell them: “Green team, take the hill; Red team, take out that turret.” Literally. That is all done with the implemented voice-over system.
EndWar is like a RTS on a diet, instead of having hundreds of different types of soldiers, they have 7. Riflemen (dudes with guns), Engineers (dudes with bigger guns), Tanks (well, you know), Transports (carry the dudes with guns), Helos (helicopter just doesn’t sound cool enough), Artillery (long-range vehicles), and Command Vehicles (your pimped out mobile war room, with an array of missiles and of course, fuzzy dice.) Each has their own weaknesses and strengths, making the game almost feel like a hardcore rock, paper, and scissors game.
Here’s another number: 12. That’s the maximum amount of soldiers you can have on the field at any time. Money is another thing, but instead of, “I have $300 and this costs $250…..” Everything costs the same; it’s virtually what YOU want to buy and what you need at the moment.
So there’s the overlook on the early impressions for Tom Clancy’s EndWar. This game stands to revolutionize the RTS on a console world, but, we will have to wait till the end of the year to find out.
