Review

Tom Clancy’s EndWar

In 2016, nuclear war destroyed the Middle East, leaving Russia as the world’s main producer of energy. In 2017, the US and the newly formed European Federation, comprised of the former European nations aside from the United Kingdom, launched the space-based antimissile net to prevent nuclear war ever again.

The year is now 2020. The US in nearing the completion of the Freedom Star, an orbital military station that will shift the balance of world power. With the combined economic and military force of the European Federation overshadowing them, and the economic boom Russia is seeing as the price of oil skyrockets, America has no other choice to reassert its dominance as the premiere superpower. A radical group of terrorists calling themselves the “Forgotten Army” are making strikes on American, European, and Russian outposts across the world using military hardware. Evidence is found linking the European defense minister to these terrorists. In the middle of this powerdkeg, the European defense net strikes an American space shuttle headed for the Freedom Star, killing the entire crew of technicians inside. The US declares war on the European Federation within the hour. Russia follows suit. World War III has begun.

EndWar takes a risky gamble. Strategy games on consoles, especially real-time strategy, have never worked particularly well. The extensive micromanagement required has never been as intuitive on a controller as on a mouse and keyboard, where hot keys can make tasks manageable. To adapt strategy for a console, developers must either try to map all of these shortcuts to button combinations, leading to a cluttered interface, or simplify the game. Ubisoft Shanghai has chosen the latter without giving up too much, and while EndWar leaves a little to be desired, on the whole it is an extremely sound and unique strategy game.

The main selling point of EndWar is its interface. Troops are grouped into units by type; tanks are gathered together separate from helicopters, and so forth. The primary method of controlling these units is through voice commands. There are a series of commands that follow a particular structure that the game recognizes; for example, “Unit One attack Hostile Three”. The recognition is very precise, only running into problems when a word does not sound even remotely similar to a word from its dictionary (saying “um” or “uh” will confuse it, so having a full command ready before speaking is important).

All commands must follow a specific format: subject, action, target. Pick a unit (or group of units), pick an action (move, attack, defend), then pick a target (an enemy group, a location). There are commands missing that would be extremely useful, such as having a unit patrol between two locations, but for the most part, the existing commands effectively cover anything an armchair general could need.

These commands can also be issued solely with the controller, but it is more complicated and inefficient. The commands follow the same structure, but they are picked from the list, which takes several times longer. This can be fatal in a heated battle, making the controller alone a bad choice.

Missions fall under four categories. In Assault, the goal is to eliminate all enemy units. In Conquest, both players compete to hold at least half of the map’s Uplinks, radio towers which provide the ability to call support such as air strikes, for a period of time. Raid and Siege separate the players into an offense and a defense. In Raid, the attacker must destroy over half of the key buildings in the time limit, while the defender must protect them. In Siege, the defender must hold the map’s one Uplink until time runs out.

The backbone of any strategy game is its unit selection, and this where EndWar missteps. There are only seven different units, and they fit into a rock-paper-scissors scheme. Tanks beat transports, which beat gunships (the EndWar helicopters), which beat tanks. Engineers can produce assault drones to destroy all three, but they are helpless without cover to hide behind. Riflemen can tear apart Engineers, and both can capture Uplinks. Artillery units are strong against all of them at range but dead if anything gets close. Command vehicles have no appreciable weaponry but can give the player an overview minimap to see enemy troop locations.

This may seem like quite a bit, but after the third tutorial mission, all units have been shown. Fully understanding their uses only takes a few minutes, and with only a few unites in such a balance, there aren’t as many viable strategies as there could be. A well-balanced force tends to kill specialized armies; one or two transports can decimate a full airforce. The difference between the three factions is small; Europe’s vehicles are faster, Russia’s guns do more damage, the American troops deploy faster; but none of these are really noticeable.

The other disappointment is the Theatre of War mode, the multiplayer campaign. It’s a large world map separated into the three factions’ controlled regions. These regions are split into key battlefields, the maps that the matches take place on, and as the battles are won, faction territory expands and contracts. Unfortunately, the map is only updated once a day, and the game decides where battles are fought and what match types they will be. While it does feel as though the players are in a large war, they feel less like generals and more like middle-management.

On the whole, EndWar is solid, if a little simplistic. The voice command system is phenomenal, and with some additions, it could be the best way to control a strategy game. To long-time tactical enthusiasts, it’s a little too light to be more than an occasional play, but to those who prefer consoles, it’s proof that the concept can work.