For a few lucky individuals, the Tom Clancy’s EndWar VIP demo went live recently. Gameplanet was lucky enough to score access to it, so we can now give you a run down on what you can expect from Tom Clancy's new real-time strategy game.
The story is that in 2014 the US and the EU signed the SLAMS (Space-Land-Air-Missile Shield) Treaty, effectively bringing nuclear warfare to an end as missiles could be destroyed before reaching their targets. The Russians were left out of these negotiations and effectively accelerated their own research & development. However when an energy crisis hit in 2015, as oil companies had been overstating the size of their reserves, a push for oil began as countries attempted to secure energy.
The EU morphed into the European Federation, then having the population of the US and far more resources. The US began a push to take control of space, and in 2020 (when almost set to launch a ground breaking space station) there was a terrorist attack. Due to the tension between the US, the EF and Russia they each began blaming each other, and as momentum increased they headed toward a full-scale global war.
The scenarios which the developers have envisioned in the story are very real in the present global climate, making it all the more effective.
So, basically what you have in EndWar is a console RTS... with a twist. The twist being that all your units are commanded by voice.
Normally we would be skeptical as to how well this would work, particularly taking into account different accents. In the demo we had access to the skirmish mode, online multiplayer, and a single mission from the campaign - a terrorist attack on the Kennedy Space Centre. On beginning the campaign mission you are given an introduction explaining how to issue voice commands, and a test is done to determine how effectively you can do this. For us it worked well about 99% of the time. The one or two times it heard something wrong or failed to pick something up, we just weren’t speaking loudly enough and simply had to repeat it to select the right unit.
A command will sound something like this: "Unit 1 Attack Target 1". The commands are best given in normal flowing speech; you don’t need to pause after each part of the command. This really speeds up the flow of the battle and increases your reaction speeds. For example, to move the camera onto a different unit all you need to do is say “Unit 1 Camera” and you're there. Huge kudos to the developers for creating a voice recognition system that works!
For those of you who are worried about forgetting the commands, there is a solution for this as well. Voice commands are activated by pulling the right trigger; a menu will pop up with a list of the commands you can issue. From here, you can either select them with your stick or say them aloud - which is much faster in the heat of a battle. It won’t take long until you remember most of the important commands and are issuing them at a phenomenal speed.
The campaign mission involved simply destroying the enemy. The skirmish mode however, involved capturing points on the map and securing the majority of the points, or wiping out the enemy force. To assist you in your missions you have a vast range of units at your command, from normal troops (engineers and riflemen) to tanks, choppers, troop transports, artillery and a command vehicle which can send a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, or spy drone) to any point on the map.
It will also mean that you can observe the battle from a tactical map, instead of the camera attached to the unit. Each unit has strengths and weaknesses and these need to be maximised to avoid having them annihilated. Tanks for example are strong against troop transports, but weak against dug-in engineers, artillery shells and gunships. Riflemen can capture command points faster, and engineers can upgrade command points faster.
An upgraded command point will give you access to special attacks such as airstrikes and EMP attacks. Using these costs you command points, which are gained by killing units and by capturing points, as well as at a rate of 1 per 30 seconds. These command points are also used for calling more units onto the battlefield, which you will continually be doing, as you start a level with only three. As battles progress you can upgrade units and they will gain ranks. This means they become more effective - and you will become somewhat attached to them. Each unit also has a range of different voices and chatter which will keep you updated on how they are doing in a battle, bringing the environment to life.
Units react realistically. Soldiers can take cover in buildings, craters and forests, and behind walls and vehicles. This behaviour increases their cover and reduces the damage that will be done to them. Also, garrisoning units in a building will increase their accuracy and rate of fire.
You have a large-ish number of units (up to 12) at your command in a battle, each unit being made up of several vehicles or a platoon of soldiers. This may not sound like much, but it keeps the game streamlined and functional without being cluttered and confusing.
The graphics in EndWar are not mind-blowing, but the game looks good. It is a functional 3D environment. The units look great and one of the best aspects are the foot soldier animations as they engage with the environment. The way they realistically get in and out of vehicles, and the way they take cover and lay mines. Everything looks as it should and conveys a sense of realism. As this is the demo version it may well be that a significant amount of spit and polish is still to be added.
Overall, our impression of the demo is that Tom Clancy's EndWar is a very solid RTS. We're waiting in anticipating of the final campaign to see what some of the units not available to us in the demo will add to the battle.
It will be difficult to go back to more traditional RTS games after having experienced the ease of control that voice commands provide. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is currently slated for an early 2009 release - it can't come soon enough!
