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I picked it up today after work. I started to play it and was amazed on how it was set up. The controls were easy to get used to for me. I like the setup for the headset. I just got the official headset with socom and it worked great with Endwar. I was stunned how you can use your voice. It was awesome. Its easy to say things but you have to get used to it. I actually played a multi-player with my friend. It was pretty cool. You can play with up to 4 people. 2v2 or 1v1. But if you don't know the basics, your going to get killed online. The storyline was pretty basic, WW 3 with 3 factions, Russia, America, Europe. I prefer America but there all equally good in there special areas. There were some graphical issues but they weren't big. I totally recommend this to everyone. This game is an amazing step towards console RTS's.
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Endwar was one of the games I eagerly anticipated when I got my PS3. I am a very big fan of military strategy games and absolutely loved Sid Meyer's Civilization Revolutions. Additionally, the voice command option seemed innovative. Now owning it and having played it for a few months, the game overall has been somewhat disappointing. Granted, I had some good times with it, but the concept and innovativeness quickly begins to get old.
The basic concept is that you are a commander in any one of three armies (Russia, US, or EU). You are given a set of battlefields in which to wage war on against an opponent (Computer or Person, if using online function). Once the battle commences, you request certain units (tanks, artillary, helicopters, engineers) and take these units into battle, either individually or in groups. Each unit has a simple, strategic benefit. For example, helicopters easily destroy tanks, but are no match for transports. Similarly, transports are no match for tanks, but can shoot down helicopters. Consider it a "Circle of Life" concept, which requires a commander to allocate resources effectively against whatever the enemy throws at them. Using a bluetooth headset (either the one provided by the game or your own for a cell phone), the user can give orders to send units to designated locations without any complex button movements.
While the strategic element is a lot of fun in this game, there is no real campaign mode with a storyline, which, in my opinion, takes away some of the fun. All you do is wage one battle after another until either you've captured all the capitals, captured a vast majority of battlefields, or the other side does the same. There's no background story, no "intimidating enemy" to fight. Some may not mind this while others may. For myself personally, I got a little bored.
The voice command system is far from perfect. In this case, I opted to use my own bluetooth headset vs. purchasing a PS3 one, so perhaps the problem lies with this decision. The system for me only works 80% of the time. In cases where it does not, the system gets confused with what I said, most of the time saying "Please repeat, sir". However, in some instances, it will actually give the wrong command. For example, if I tell all my critical units to "Create Group", the system hears "Evacuate" and suddenly all my units are heading off the battlefield. In another case, the system cannot understand when I say "Unit 12", often referring me to "Unit 5". So, if Unit 12 is a critical unit and Unit 5 is a helpless unit, it sure isn't fun when Unit 5 gets slaughtered by an enemy. This gets really frustrating, as you basically have to watch the voice command system every time you talk instead of the battlefield.
Overall, I would give 3.5 stars, but I rounded to 4 because of concept. This game is fun in short bursts, but tends to get old as you cycle through old battlefields and fight an enemy that just seems to "be there". I would advise checking other reviews to see if the voice command system problem is specific to one type of headset, but I think this game is definitely worth giving a try.
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I purchased EndWar on the release date and have been hooked ever since. This game is very intense and very competitive during online play. It is really more like a PC game than a PS3 game. First you select whether you want to join the US forces, Europe of Russia. You take control of the different units like Tanks, Choppers, Artillery, Infantry etc and bring them to victory. There are different modes of play like conquest which you have to secure control points, Raid where you have to destroy select buildings or Battle where you fight your opponent until you have destroyed all of his units. You earn points for playing and more points for winning. Then you can use those points to purchase many different upgrades. You really have to be good at multi-tasking to be good at this game because there is so much going on at the same time. You can try the demo out for free on the playstation store to give you a better idea what this game is like.
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Wow! It has the simplicity of tic-tac-toe and the complexity of playing multiple chess matches simultaneously. The first couple times I played was without a headset. Even with the headset on the first few times I thought it was going to be too difficult to play and enjoy. There is a steep learning curve but the basics can be conquered in a few days of playing it.
I started with the solo-game. The first section which is about nine battles is also a tutorial. It teaches you the basics of the game. You have to learn what each unit does and how best to use them in battle to achieve your objectives. You also have to learn how to get them to do what you want them to do. That's where voice control comes in.
Once you get beyond the "Prelude to War" missions you then begin battling for World domination. You are presented with a global map and each of the three factions US/Europe/Russia battle each turn for control of more territory. You choose which "City" of territory to go after or you can defend one of your "cities" from attack. My first choice was to battle the European forces that had gained control of a city in Florida. At the end of my battle win or lose the system will show you the "new" global map; who now controls what.
The objectives of each mission so far have been one of two things. You either attack or defend by destroying ALL the hostile forces or gaining control of more uplinks and holding them until the timer expires. That's the tic-tac-toe of it. If there are nine uplinks you have to control 5 then hold til the timer expires to win. You decide which units to bring to the battle. You decide which uplinks to go after and in what order. You decide which reinforcements to call up during the battle. That's the multi-chess part of it. It gets hot and heavy and very dynamic. You are continually assessing the situation, ordering units movements and actions, monitoring battles, extracting units to fight another day, ordering specific reinforcements and on and on, during the battle.
One of the key elements is your command vehichle. Without one you cannot have a satellite view of the battle field; which is the easiest way to command and control your units and know where the enemy is. I lost mine during a battle and lost the battle. I felt blind as a bat.
An uplink is a bunker that is used as a place to be controlled to achieve victory. It can be upgraded to help you use your advanced skills (Airstrikes, Electronic Warefare, etc...). My strategy to date has been to capture the most centrally located uplink and use it as a springboard to capture other uplinks. I'll station my artillery there because usually they can reach hostiles closing in on the other uplinks (tic-tac-toe). The battle can be and is most successfully fought using the satellite view aka sitrep.
There is so much to like about this game. If you like War games and Real-time-Strategy games, you are going to LOVE this one. I am already thoroughly enjoying it and I've still got tons to learn.
One last thing I enjoy. You can get a mission brief before each battle. Pay attention to your intell and objectives. What you have to accomplish and what the opposition is going to throw at you should dictate your tactics and what units you bring to the battle. Also when you transition to the WWIII phase you get to decide what your Battalion consists of from a choice of Battalion types. Airborne has more air units, Tactical has more Tanks, Assault is more balanced and is what I chose. You can also upgrade your units from the currency you earn in battle. You get graded on each mission and earn credits to be used to upgrade.
I have not played online in the "Theater of War" mode yet. Trying to hone my skills cause I'm thinking the competition is going to be tough online.
Really fun game!
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I've never played any of Tom Clancy's games so loaded and installed EndWar without any expectations whatsoever and have to admit it's surprisingly fun.
No doubt the troops control capabilities are more limited than a PC-based game due to the controller/headset limitations but when using a combination of both along with the DualShock sensors the command capabilities are very decent.
The different types of campaigns (single player vs AI, single vs single instant death, single campaign, multi campaign...) definitely add to the replay value. The graphics are very good but given the size of the map along with all the pertinent HQ information such as units count, battle engagements, troops health meter... my 47inch TV is nowhere near big enough and I find myself moving closer and closer until I sit close enough to almost use it as a computer monitor.
If you're old school like I am and have enjoyed the Command & Conquer series as well as Dune and would like to try a console-based RTS game you may want to give this a try. If on the other hand you have not played C&C or Dune, have no patience whatsoever, are trigger-happy and prefer brute full-frontal force over strategic finesse, and your game repertoire is composed only of the Call of Duty series then EndWar is definitely not for you. You'll only find yourself reselling this game at GameStop at a loss and post 1-star reviews on Amazon while calling it a "Roll Playing Game" whatever that means. Could it be "Role" instead? Soldiers, let's role!! LOL
Tom Clancy's EndWar
