15.7.2011

Let me get one thing straight before I dive into this review: one of the greatest tragedies of my life is that, through health problems, I will never be in the military. I've wanted to be in it since I was about four years old, but as life goes on you learn more about yourself and realise that fate is pushing you in another direction, no matter how much you want to fight it. So, along comes Tom Clancy's End War a fair few years ago, and for around £8 (and being into Tom Clancy games anyway) I thought I would give it a go.What intrigued me the most was the voice command using the headset - I wasn't sure whether to be unsure or excited about it to be honest.I imagined it not understanding a word I had said and me getting very frustrated with it, but my God alive was I wrong! It is near perfect in understanding what you have said, even if you slur your words slightly or say something like 'Land Zone', instead of the more exact 'Landing Zone'. The only problem that I have had (and this must be my fault) is that it mixes up 'Alpha' and 'Bravo' with me. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but when I say something like 'Unit 1 secure Alpha', they'll go and secure Bravo instead. Let me be clear, this isn't a bug, it is my voice (the game is practically seamless when it comes to bugs), but it is quite frustrating that in the heat of battle, I am not going to notice my rifleman trying to take a completely different uplink - and probably get killed in the process - when I have got a million and one other things to attend to. However, this is only a minor error, and like I said it is probably my own fault, so don't let something like that put you off. This is a GREAT game, and is heaps of fun.Its longevity is amazing. I have played the campaign two or three times as the American JSF (Joint Strike Force), once as the European Enforcer Corps and am currently finishing off a campaign with the Russian Spetsnaz Guard Brigade. There are three difficulty settings: Normal, Expert (the one I usually play at) and Hardcore (which I haven't even tried yet seeing as I find Expert challenging enough). The campaign consists of two distinct 'levels' or 'sections', the first being 'Prelude to War', which is the run-up events to all-out conflict between the three superpowers. The missions here tend to start off easy, teaching you the basics of playing the game, before finally moving on to the more complex missions that require you to formulate some strategy of your own. At this point you are alternating between all three nations, whereas when you move on to the 'WW3' part, you will be able to select which one you wish to play throughout the game. Not only that, but you can also choose which Battalion you want to play as, the commander of each one offering special benefits to certain units within. There are five different types of Battalions, or 'Battlegroups', to play as, and they are Assault, Airborne, Armoured, Mechanised and Tactical. Which one you chose is up to your playing style. Do you prefer to strike from a distance with artillery? Choose Tactical. Or do you prefer to be fast and hard-hitting behind enemy lines? Choose Airborne. The tactical elements of the game, whilst relying heavily on a 'rock-paper-scissors' system of combat, are fairly varied and offer some room for the commander to make his/her mark. I in particular can be quite ruthless or unorthodox when it comes to commanding my troops, and it is this that gives me the edge I need over the AI opponent. (I haven't tried the Theatre of War Xbox-Live part of the game, so I don't know what it is like to play against someone else!) Basically, I found that I could imprint my own commanding style into the game.Most of the campaign is directed through the global map, where you can choose what battle you want to fight next, reviewing your opponent and whether you can handle squaring off against them. (Thus, whether they are a rank higher than you and have better units.) This to me is the most disappointing part of the game, where there are not enough variety in the maps you can fight on - each nation having at least one or two that are the same as another's, just with different scenery - and that there are not enough territories to try and capture as well. The campaign because of this feels a bit shorter than it should be, especially if you get pretty good at the game. This however is made up for, as you can play the game again and again and see something different. There is also practically no story, so don't expect anything you would get in a Splinter Cell or Ghost Recon game. It is just presented in a more 'real life' fashion, with news reports popping up on the Global map every so often and a cut-scene at the beginning and the end. Nothing entirely satisfying, but amazingly it didn't really bother me. I was enjoying the battles too much.Another fun part of the game is the barracks, where you can spend those hard-earned credits to upgrade your troops, sometimes visually with a new weapon attached to a tank, and sometimes not visually, where you upgrade said tank troop with better shields. On most units there is something called a 'secondary attack', that means by pressing the Y button and targeting an enemy you can use it for a tactical advantage. For example, if you have upgraded your Rifleman unit with a Marksman, you can take down part of the enemy unit's health regardless of its shield strength. This I feel adds further variety to the game with more tactical possibilities, and also more of a challenge if your enemy has these upgrades too! Despair as your transports take massive damage from a gunship's newly added rocket pods!As for the more technical side of the game, the graphics in my opinion are very good (I'm sure there are some graphics geeks who would disagree), but being able to zoom in very close to your units and see the detail is excellent indeed. For intuitiveness, this game is 10/10. Like it says on the game box, 'Your voice is the ultimate weapon', and that is true, but even then you don't have to use it if you don't want to. It might be harder, but simply use the controller if you don't like the headset or (God forbid) it breaks in your panic to rein in your troops.Overall, this game is the ultimate dream come true for me, and the closest that I will ever get to to commanding troops in a battlefield situation. If I was playing it on Hardcore, winning, and was audacious enough to say so, I would scream at the top of my voice, "I WAS BORN TO COMMAND!" But I won't go there...

11.5.2010

First off, this game is severely short on the default difficulty level. There's an achievement for completing WWIII in less than 15 turns, and I got it without even trying. Well, I suppose I was actively avoiding missions that seemed unduly difficult. Regardless, the bulk of the game's enjoyment lies in the multiplayer mode, be it skirmishes vs the AI, or against another person. There are a few game modes, from capture all uplinks (read: bases), seige (where you have to defend one uplink), one where you only have to capture the majority of the uplinks to win, and one where you have to destroy every enemy unit on the battlefield. All of these types feature in the campaign mode,and it's given some added depth by allowing you to customise and upgrade your units between battles using credits earned in said battles (once you get into WWIII anyway).Unfortunately since it's so short, you won't be able to buy every upgrade available so you'll have to pick and choose which unit types get which upgrade... Or maybe you WILL be able to get all the upgrades, if you go out of your way to complete every single battle. I should probably mention that I didn't really pay attention to the story (which is passably interesting), as the essential gameplay usually boiled down to the same thing. This is not to say it's repetitive (as each encounter can be and usually is different) just that you already know what to expect and what to do with all the unit types you're handed within the first 15-20mins. You'll spend the first 5-10mins getting used to the control system which i'll get to in a bit.Being a strategy game designed for consoles, the unit types are fairly rigidly structured in a rock-paper-scissors format: Riflemen beat Air, Air beats Tanks, Tanks beat Riflemen. Engineers are only dangerous when in cover, and Transports are only really dangerous against Air. Command Vehicles give you things like a UAV and a Sitrep (overhead map from which you can also play the game) and Artillery just bombs everybody to pieces. Come to think of it, I'd say Riflemen and Air were fairly evenly matched depending on things like upgrades, if the men are in cover, who shoots first, etc.This works well for the most part but can be annoyingly unfair on occassion: One Gunship Squad will almost (if not entirely) annihilate TWO Tank Squads (that's 4 helicopters versus 8 tanks, in case you were wondering) in open combat. If they are evenly matched, the "weaker" unit in the match up will always lose. This basically means that you need to escort your units (or roll around with overwhelming force), unless you're just doing housekeeping like moving from one owned structure to another. It may not seem like a big deal, but you have limited resources so you really cannot afford a huge amount of losses.When one side is about to win, the other gets a gamebreaker of sorts. Since I always play on normal or easy difficulty, I rarely get to use these; instead the AI can, will, and does use them with annoying regularity. It's completely predictable in that regard. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet (because I have a silver membership), but I suspect that people will either spam this, or otherwise abuse it. Speaking of multiplayer, I'm not sure there's one box co-op but I think it supports co-op over xbox live.Again being a strategy game designed for consoles, the control system is near perfect. Since the gameplay itself is relatively simple (you guys, go there, do something), the control system is perfect for it. If you don't know by now, it's almost entirely voice activated. It's not the first game to have it, but I dare say it's the first game to really sell the concept of talking to your men. It's smooth and 99% error free, even without calibrating it in the voice trainer. I'm not sure if it's reading the tone of my voice or the actual words (maybe a bit of both?), but it detects natural language pretty well so I don't have to speak in a stilted manner such as "Unit. 2. Move. To. Bravo.", I just say unit 2, move to bravo. The 1% error comes from when you speak too fast and the game can't tell what you said, or when you mumble. The speech does need to be clear. The... Mission Lady (as i like to call her :p) will also tell you when your units are in trouble, so you can order a hasty retreat without ever knowing what the problem was. Just say "Unit 4 retreat", and you've done all you can. And right after that, you can say "Unit 5 move to Unit 4", to give them some support. You really need to see it in action to appreciate how fluid all of this is. You can play the game completely with your voiceThe game's graphics are okay to pretty good... I think it's the animations that really sell it. When your units are moving you can go to a camera view so you can see what they're seeing, and this is pretty good for infantry as it takes you right into their faces. When they're taking an uplink too you see them stacking up on the door, breaching and then a little video pops up showing them hacking in. It's a nice touch.All in all it's a fun -if fairly simplistic- game. I got it for a fiver used I think, and it was worth every penny. Replayability is middling to high, as I can play the campaign again and see what other battles there are to do, etc. There are a fair few maps to play with in skirmish as well, and along with the gametypes, it provides a robust enough multiplayer mode. As i said, the bulk of the game's fun will be found by playing against other people, but the AI will do in a pinch.

26.4.2009

This game is worth a lot more than the average star rating it has at the moment.It seems to have got a lot of negative reviews from people who didn't realise that it is was a strategy game before they bought it.Let's be clear this is not a first person shooter. You won't get to run or drive anywhere. You won't get to aim and shoot at anything.Instead, of playing the role a single unit you play the role of the commander. You tell multiple units where to go and what to shoot at.I enjoy strategy games. Being in control of my own army, and chosing the best strategy and tactics to defeat the army of my enemy.Having read the other mixed reviews here I was wary of getting this game but I shouldn't have been.I love it. It adds whole new dimenstion to strategy game play. Instead of looking down from some imaginary point high up in the sky, you see the battlefiled from the perspective of the units in your army. Switching between units to see different areas of the city, airport or oil refinary you happen to be invading or defending at the time. As a result you see the battlefield in so much more detail. Features of the landscape, such as groups of trees or buildings stop being things you just drive over or around, and become strategic points of cover for your units. If you have a battalion of rifleman out in the open they'll be picked off easily by your enemy. Get them inside a building (where they will fire out of the windows) or in a group of trees and they suddenly become extremely hard for your enemy to beat. But you've got to get them to cover first and they're not very quick. You have to devise a strategy. They could go from building to building or you could cover them with some tanks or you could just ask them to make a run for it. But decide quickly. This is the essence of the game. Devising ways to get the upper hand in battle before your opponent does.The enemy is advancing all the time. Seeing the battle through the perspective of your units as they move into position or exchange fire with an enemy gives the game a real sense of urgency and excitement.Switching between the view points of different units creates a real feeling of battlefield chaos. You've got to keep track of where your units are or the enemy will suddenly take advantage of your weaknesses by taking key territory or catching your units exposed.I keep talking about units. A unit is a group 4 fighting vehicles (such as tanks or artilary) or 20 soldiers. Each unit will perform your orders as a group.Previous strategy games like Command & Conquer include loads of different types of units for the sake of variety. You don't get that in EndWar. Instead you get 12 standard unit types, although you can upgrade them in different ways as you go through the game. The variety comes from how you use them in the battle environment. No unit is supreme. For example helicopters can inflict a lot of damage on tanks but are really vulnerable to attack from transports, but transports are really vulnerable to tanks. Giving an order to a unit without thinking it through could be a fatal mistake.If what you want is to run around aiming and shooting (which I often enjoy as well) don't get this game.As I said it's all about the strategy. Strategy games involve more quick thinking than quick button pushing. I like strategy. I love this game.... after 3 weeks of really enjoying this game I feel I need to update my review. I stand by all the above. This game is a great advance in strategy gameplay and I still love it for that. However, it isn't perfect. Think of the following issues as either reasons not to buy the game if you're not quite convinced or requests for improvements for EndWar 2 - which I would definately buy.First, the plot is pretty shabby. It starts off well enough for the first 5 or 6 levels but is pretty non-existent after that.Second, the mission briefings before each level are really repetative and vague. Although, to be fair battlefields and missions themselves have a good level of variety.Third, the end-sequence/reward for completing the game lasts about 3 seconds. Capturing the capital of a military super-power really should be more rewarding.

7.6.2009

Well, what can I say to sum up this game? Simply, it's a great start to finally getting somewhere with console strategy. I've been a strategy gamer all my life and up until now, strategy on a console uniformally sucked! If you wanted a strategy game, then you went for the PC version. Now when it comes to strategy, I've always had high standards ever since Chris Taylor created Total Annihilation which raised the bar and nobody could seem to reach that again for many years. If you're one of those people who thinks Command and Conquor 3 was better, and more worth getting than Supreme Commander.... then discontinue reading this. For those of you with a good understanding of what makes strategy good or bad,then read on!Endwar takes us to a totally different style of strategy from what you're used to. You don't need to bother yourself building bases or anything like that, however the old favourite of territory control drops into this game in the form of fighting over "uplinks". So if you're used to building up big bases with ridiculous defenses... then you're probably not going to enjoy this. You get your units dropped into the map at the designated drop zone. You can change this drop zone if you have the appropriate upgrade. Along with that, there is an upgrade for riflemen being deployed anywhere on the battlefield. So it's not exactly limiting your strategy in any way, so long as you get those upgrades.Speed is definately of the essence in this game, when they described it as "Strategy at the speed of thought" they really meant it. Even as a seasoned strategy gamer, I can't quite keep up with everything that is going on from time to time. You can either say that's a failing on my part or a failing on the part of the designers, but it's a definate flaw. And even though they say the voice command system makes things faster... not always true. It takes me a few seconds to say "Unit 4 attack hostile 3".... and when that is in a high stakes situation, you can believe it's slow and frustrating as you see your units dying and it's impossible to react fast enough. So the voice command system wasn't thought out entirely. It's not as fast as they think it is, but I must admit it's very satisfying when things are going your way. It also has the added bonus of making you feel a little closer to the action.So, the big question now... is it good strategy. I believe that Chris Taylor said it best when he discussed strategy gaming being taken up a notch "It's about giving people total freedom to do almost anything with their units." This to a certain extent is true of Endwar. You can come up with some fairly ingenious strategies, though I hate having to always have gunships on the map just so I can see things ok. The whole command vehicle thing was a really bad idea and someone should have pointed that out early on and told them to fix the controls so it's easier to survey the battlefield.My biggest gripe however, is with the standard units idea. Even though the game and their designers say differet.... I can't tell the factions apart. The units are too simplistic too, with bog standard "riflemen" or "gunships" or "tanks" and that's it. I want more choice in a game. Plus the whole idea that gunships shouldn't be able to level buildings makes me just question the sanity of these guys.So, what we've got overall is a fantastic start. Console strategy which is finally able to be controlled relatively easily. It's got it's bugs here and there, but there's only so much you can get right. It's generally good fun because all the basics are well taken care of. I just hope they too see this as a START, because it's nowhere near the end of it. There is much to be done to make this into a truly epic strategy series.

22.2.2010

This game is great, it is an RTS so if you want a FPS go play something else, this type of game requires some thought as well as ability. The controls are easy and fluid with the voice recognition system, which recognizes the commands first time around almonst instantly, admittingly there were instances in which the command was unrecognized, but that was me shouting in hurry to attack so the voice was changed. I forgive that little ploy as before commencing each campaign there is voice sync, so if you go ahead and put on an accent during the config, you will have to give the commands using that accent - as my friend found out from his personal experience.It has some replayability value as you play it you will be able to choose which cities to conquer/defend,

11.8.2009

I managed to pick this game up fairly cheap even after i thought the demo wasnt very good and im glad i did. The graphics are amazing for an RTS and the customization for units is wide such as different camo styles and more attack/defence ect.The mission objectives are more similar to some FPS games like Battlefield where you have to hold more than half of the command points or defend/destroy them in a time limit. Along with the 3 factions with almost 10 battalions in each you can join, each with a different type of bonus and unit number the non-linier campaign will never be the same. In the campaign you have to try and take the majority of the map or the three capitals.

25.8.2009

Having seen this game all over the TV etc. I asked for it for Christmas, and luckily Santa sent it along :PSet in 2020, you obviously have access to some more advanced, but not ridiculous weapons, which I really enjoyed, but obviously what makes this a revolutionary and fun game is the voice battle commands, making you a real general!You can take control of several different types of units, in three factions, and like in most games, they each have their own fortes etc. that you will learn and adapt to as you evolve as you progress through the game.I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the voice commands, they were all very accurately received, and I don't believe they ever got it wrong,

12.1.2009

My girlfriend got me EndWar for PS3 and a headset to go with it and I love it!You play as one of 3 factions (the USA, Russia or the European Federation - a sort of, US of Europe) and each one has 7 types of units:Riflemen (Soldiers)Engineers (Anit-Air / Tank soldiers)Transports (Anti-Air / Troops and for quickly moving troops)Tanks (Anit-Transport)Artillery (Long range, massive damage)Gunships (Anti-Tank / Riflemen)Command Vehicle (Handles Air Strikes etc)All of these untis you can upgrade with various attacks, special abilities or extra HP etc.The voice commands are simple and use a "Who, What Where" principle (Unit 2, Attack, Hostile 5) and picks up on 9/10 things you say with 100% accuracy.The campaign is a good premise (WWIII)

21.3.2009

Right lets just get one thing straight, I have only given this 4 stars because its not perfect, none the less, its still a great game to add to anyones PS3 collection. The voice command system is such a great addition, its close to perfect, so I don't know why so many moan, it sometimes mixes up what number you are calling, but you just re-say it, not difficult and dosn't get annoying. The gameplay is just like the command and conquer series (however you do not build anything), if you like that series, End War does it justice. Sound is good, however the graphics arnt perfect but again, nothing to much to complain about, its not up to standard to the likes of COD but still good enough.Final comment would be on the online mode,

25.1.2010

I find the game to be really really good.I like strategy games, but am not very good at them, as they can sometimes be too deep, and I cannot react quick enough.Also I dont play games all that often, but when I do, I like to have fun, and see what I can do.The game has enough fun and strategy for all in my opinion, as not many strategy games are too deep on consoles anyway, as they seem to be geared better towards PC's.I think this is cool, as it is not that deep, but still lets you feel like your decisions are affecting the course of the battle.I thnk the game has been designed as an arcade game, in my opinion, with a strategy feel,

22.6.2011

Overall Endwar is a great game. The voice command system gives this game an edge over others because it feels like you are actually giving your troops commands however this is where the problem comes up. The voice command system overall is good. I have heard other people saying that it does not work when you have an accent that isn't American and I can see the problem in this as there is no way of setting it to recognise your own accent. I, however have an English accent and I haven't found any problems accept for one. It doesn't recognise the number 2. This is weird because my friend has the same accent as me and for him it doesn't recognise the number 8. This is a problem that needs to be fixed.

17.11.2008

I really like this game after getting used to it. The voice command is a good thing to have but doesnt always work sometimes get mixed up with 7 and 11 but it is good to give off a quick order. Iv only played the first few levels of the story mode so far. I have however spent many hours battling for terrotries on the online ww3.Firstly you choose a faction which is ethier american joint strike force, europe or russia. I am europe although russia are dominating. America and europe are neck and neck 17/11/2008. At the start of everyday there is a seize fire and the stats of all the games played decide if your faction can advance or not and the areas of battle change depending on this.When you

18.3.2009

Right lets just get one thing straight, I have only given this 4 stars because its not perfect, none the less, its still a great game to add to anyones PS3 collection. The voice command system is such a great addition, its close to perfect, so I don't know why so many moan, it sometimes mixes up what number you are calling, but you just re-say it, not difficult and dosn't get annoying. The gameplay is just like the command and conquer series (however you do not build anything), if you like that series, End War does it justice. Sound is good, however the graphics arnt perfect but again, nothing to much to complain about, its not up to standard to the likes of COD but still good enough.Final comment would be on the online mode,

29.11.2008

After an near interminable wait, I was pleasantly surprised when End War eventually turned up. After initially trying to play the game with only the handset I was beginning wish I hadn't bothered. However when I was reminded that there was a headset still unused in my X-Box...box things became much easier and fun! I'm just not very good at it!The control system is really good once you get the hand of it; voice recognition is pretty good and as a previous reviewer said once you get the hang of some of the maps, gameplay flows.Although I'm sure there are better strategy games out there End War is a ood addition for the uninitiated.

18.5.2009

First off, I'll let you into a little secret : this game isn't about Voice commands. Everyone focuses on it, but it plays a minor role in an amazing game. If you like strategy, this game is for you. Forget base building, forget races to build as many units as possible, forget resources - this is the chess of the RTS world and it is truly brilliant.It has it's faults, the single player game is weak for example but in spite of everything I still give it 5 stars. It brings so much innovation to the genre, it's the RTS I've been looking for since I started gaming!Real strategy, persistent war, persistent battalions where your units rank up and gain abilities / stat boosts - give it a try,

Tom Clancy's EndWar - Reviews

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