Tom Clancy's EndWar

Infobox VG
title= Tom Clancy's EndWar


caption= Multiplatform cover box art
developer= Ubisoft Shanghai
publisher= Ubisoft
distributor=
designer= Michael de Plater
series=
genre=Real-time tactical
engine= Unreal Engine 3
version=
released= vgrelease|NA=November 4th, 2008vgrelease|EU=November 7th, 2008cite web |url=http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/903/903052p1.html
title=Tom Clancy's EndWar for Xbox 360 Release Summary |publisher=IGN |accessdate=2008-09-18]
modes= Single player, multiplayer
ratings= ESRB: Teen
platforms= Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows [ cite web
url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/tomclancysendwar/news.html?sid=6188280&mode=recent
title=Ubisoft shares jump 12 percent on Clancy deal
publisher=GameSpot
work=
accessdate=2008-05-23 ]
media= Blu-Ray Disc, DVD
requirements=
input=

"Tom Clancy's EndWar" is a real-time tactics game designed by Ubisoft Shanghai for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Xbox 360 platforms, to be released on November 4, 2008 in North America and November 7, 2008 in Europe. A Windows version is planned for release at a later date. It is set in 2020 at which time World War III is ongoing.

Background

tory

In 2016, the unthinkable happens, a nuclear war occurs between Saudi Arabia and Iran, killing 20 million,also destroying the world's majority of oil reverse, making crude oil now at 800 dollars a barrel, making an energy crisis on the world nations. In 2017, the United States and the European Union sign the historic SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield) Treaty, agreeing to co-develop technologies for a comprehensive, interlocking anti-ballistic missile system. Left out of the treaty, Russia accelerates development of its own system. SLAMS is activated in 2014. The US and EU launch test salvos against each other, which the SLAMS weapons completely destroy. Emboldened by the success of the tests, the US and EU pronounce "the end of strategic nuclear war," and the world celebrates a new age of peace and security.

But energy security becomes the explicit priority of governments around the world. Russia, being the world's number one supplier of natural gas and crude oil, has its economy skyrocket up with the energy crisis, spending its oil profits on modernizing its armed forces and utilizing its new-found power to influence world events. Later the alliance of individual countries of the European Union are forced to band together to consolidate political, economic and military power in the face of growing global security, environmental and economic concerns. Morphing to become the new superpower of the "European Federation" (EF) in 2018, most of the wealthy Western Europe is now recognised as an independent state in its own right. Britain and Ireland decline membership while Switzerland remains neutral. Relations between the US and EF are not exactly warm- each regarding the other's power as a threat to their own, the now fractured former allies embark on a costly space arms race with each other, with the United States developing kinetic strike satellites, while the European Federation developes laser satellites.

The militarisation of space reaches its peak in 2018, when the United States reveals plans to launch the "Freedom Star" space station into high orbit by 2020, in an effort to regain its position as the premier world superpower. While partly designed for civilian research purposes, the station will also house three companies of U.S. Marines, who can deploy anywhere on Earth within 90 minutes. International reaction is extremely negative, to say the least. The EF and Russia in particular despise the development, seeing it as a way the US could use to neutralise their portion of anti-ballistic defences and upset the balance of power. They withdraw from the already divided NATO in protest. In 2020, when the final module of the Freedom Star is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center amid international outcry, it comes as little surprise when a group of terrorists attack the launch site. But the same terrorist attack the European Federation and Russia at the same moment as they attack the launch site. In investigating the source of the attack, the US, the EF, and Russia find themselves at odds, rolling with unstoppable momentum toward full-scale global war. [ "Gamepro", Issue #231, December 2007. pg. 46] [ [http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3158897 EGM #216] ] [ "Endwar Demo In-game story"]

Locations

The game will take place in the same universe as Ghost Recon, HAWX, Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell.

In an IGN interview [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/790/790983p1.html IGN Michael de Plater interview] ] De Plater said the setting of EndWar (as a possible series) is a global battle, but this installment is focused on the North Atlantic theatre of battle, Europe, Russia and North America, but players will also hear reports of events in other parts of the world. [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/790/790983p2.html Endwar: Real-Time Armageddon] ]

Characters

A TeamXbox Article confirms that Captain Scott Mitchell of the Ghost Recon series survives the events of GRAW 2 and leads the JSF as a General. Creative Director Michael de Plater has revealed that the Ghost Recon team will be the Special Forces team for the US faction, Rainbow Six characters will be promoted as special EF commanders, and Third Echelon will provide battlefield intelligence, along with special units such as snipers. [ [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=164730 End war interview] ]

The U.S. president in the novelization of the game is David Becerra. During the Ubidays 2008 conference, it was revealed that units appearing in the upcoming Tom Clancy game HAWX will also be available in EndWar.

Gameplay

Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 216 [ [http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3158897 EGM #216] ] contained an interview with the game's lead designer, Michael de Plater. He confirmed the game to be a Real-time tactics strategy war-game.

Units will gain experience as they are used in battle. The emphasis will be more on smaller scale battles rather than the overarching campaign. Clans will also be included in the game online for coordinating battles and creating a unified strategy for attacking or defending.

Ubisoft also claims that the game is "completely controllable through voice commands." This is demonstrated on a handful of game play videos by de Plater himself.

Factions

There are 3 playable factions in EndWar:
*The "Russian Spetsnaz Guards Brigade", which is composed of veterans of Russia's many regional conflicts, specializing in heavy weapons and heavy armor. Russia's campaign mode will focus on a Russian invasion of Europe.
*The "European Federation Enforcers Corps", which is made up of veteran elite counter-terrorist and peacekeeping forces from throughout Europe, especially skilled in urban warfare. While their weaponry may not be as precise as those of the JSF and their units are slightly less armored, their strength lies in electronic warfare, as well as non-lethal weapons technology and advanced directed energy weapons. Their ranks notably contain many previous members of the elite counter-terrorist unit Rainbow.
*The "United States' Joint Strike Force", which is led by Ghost Recon main character Scott Mitchell [cite web |url=http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1816/Tom-Clancys-EndWar/p1/|title=EndWar Preview|accessdate=2007-12-03 |format= |work= ] , is modeled after today's Marine Expeditionary Units. The JSF is built around small, fast, units packing a precise punch, and is made up of elite soldiers from all branches of the U.S. Military [cite web |url=http://kotaku.com/gaming/background-information/endwar-riflemen-profiled-328484.php |title=Endwar Riflemen Profiled] . They also specialize in access to state-of-the-art stealth technology and battlefield robotics, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Automated Sentry Drones. It has been confirmed that in the single player campaign you will play as Scott Mitchell against the Russians.

Units

There are seven types of units available for direct command: riflemen, engineers, tanks, transports, gunships, artillery, and command vehicles. Troops which have been with the player for many battles will be more effective than fresh recruits. De Plater, Creative Director, says this creates a "Pokémon-like" ownership of the player's units, and will have a large effect on his tactics. "It's a battalion that you own," says de Plater. "You can personalize it. You can customize it. You can choose its motto and its heraldry. You can change its composition and abilities." According to a Pre-GC IGN article: "Each faction has roughly 150 upgrades and units have six levels of experience. These upgrades are where the seven unit types can gain great variety and specialization through three different ways-experience, equipment and training, all of which have different effects and abilities. This allows many of the related unit types other games consider a different class have merely to be folded into one of the eight present in EndWar. For example, a rifleman may be upgraded to a sniper unit rather than having that unit type exist by itself." [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/813/813722p1.html Pre-GC First look] ]

Each individual unit can gain many upgrades for attack and defence (eg. extra armour on sides of tank or anti aircraft gun attached onto tank). Upgrades must be bought from points earned in the game.

There are about 40,000 lines of dialogue, 9,000 of which are "unit chatter" that will give a battalion its own personality. Each unit will have a specific voice to help the player recognize instantly which one is in danger, and these voices show the degree of danger they are in (such as the severity of an injury or the morale the unit has).

The player will not control individual soldiers, but much larger platoons and companies. The soldiers will behave realistically, using stealth and military tactics. Veterans will act based on their experience in previous battles.

Robert Ashley, a writer for EGM reports:

"Squadrons of heavily armed soldiers, when ordered to a cluster of firebombed cars, will automatically take cover in different ways, periodically taking potshots at the enemy through windows and over hoods. If a soldier gets shot, one of his squadmates will drag him back to safety. When the player orders reinforcements, the additional troops deploy from helicopters, rappeling down the ropes like old pros. When ordered to take control of a building, the troops will gather around the entrance and break in Rainbow Six-style-boot through the door and guns blazing. Then they will take sniper positions in the windows." [ [http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=3&cId=3160170 Previews: EndWar - Reinventing warfare on the 360 and PS3.] ]

Craters, walls, debris, and buildings can be used for cover, and units can be pinned down by heavy enemy fire.

De Plater hinted at the game being streamlined with regards to units, resource management, etc. He stated that "every time [they] cut features out, it just made the game better." For example, only 12 groups are allowed under control at once, creating a "Madden at war" style of battle. Also, the resource system will be stripped down compared to other RTS games. Each unit costs the same amount of resources, which are gained by capturing strategic points on the battlefield. Reinforcements will be handled realistically meaning all new units must be transported onto the battlefield by a transport vehicle (or in the case of helicopters, will fly in from off-screen).

Weapons

Most, if not all, weapons in EndWar are based off concepts of, discontinued, and real weapons in real life; although they have a different name and/or numerical designation from those real life base weapons. In-game, weapons are used by infantry units, divided into two general groups, "Engineers" and "Rifleman".

Voice

The game will feature optional voice commands so that the player may use a headset to give orders to their troops, although the troops will only react to valid and game-related orders in certain languages, but are able to understand many accents of those languages. It has been said by officials at Ubisoft Shanghai that, "You can control the whole game using voice controls if you wanted to." Hearing enemy soldiers communicate gives the player a strategic advantage to counter their attack with one of their own. Ubisoft even created a video showing Parrots commanding units using their voice. Fact|date=September 2008

Point of View

The view in the game is from the perspective of one of the units under the player's command. The camera can be panned 3-dimensionally and swapped between units but is not directly under the control of the player. Enemy units will only be detected if they are within the Line-of-Sight of a unit; doing away with the fog of war common in most strategy games; however, a player with enough investment into the space program can use satellite feed to see all units on the map.

In addition to the units' point of view, there is a tactical map or 'sitrep' (Situation Report) view, which shows the entire map with the locations of all allied and any visible enemy units which can be used to issue commands.

MMORTS

A prominent feature of the game is the Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy feature. Players choose a faction and engage in combat with players from opposing sides in roughly 40 battlefields spanning North America, Russia, North Africa, and Europe, contributing to their side’s overall success and changing the front lines on the global map. In a Game Reactor interview, it was revealed that players will have a personal character, and each day the front lines of the overall war will be reset based on smaller battles that have taken place. A briefing before each match will inform the player of his or her previous actions and the current global situation, as well as the possible effects of the battle that they are about to fight. There can be hundreds of battles that last an indefinite amount of time in a single territory, with the victor being the side that was the most effective; there are plans to include game play recordings of the best players' battles. There will be multiple ways to initiate new combat on a continent that's already been captured by the enemy, some examples that were given were a "D-day" style invasion of France, amphibious landings in southern or northern Europe, and a mass invasion of Siberia through Alaska. There will be several different types of gameplay like Attrition, Siege, and Sabotage.If one faction completely defeats the others, the developers can create a new scenario based on the previous outcome and start the war over again. Also, according to Erik Brudvig, "Ubisoft didn't rule out a little 'interference' on their part if one faction was getting a little overambitious."

Marketing

The special edition of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 included a video with the first live gameplay footage of this game.

Trailer

The first EndWar trailer shows an overhead map of Europe with only Spain and half of France under US control, while the Russians occupy the rest of the continent. The camera then zooms to an ongoing battle in Paris, where a local Joint Strike Force commander, Major General Smith, directs the action from a mobile headquarters vehicle by using an interactive holographic map display. Outside, US soldiers armed with modified M8 assault rifles, along with advanced M3 Bradley APCs, DPV jeeps and M1 Abrams tanks, attack Russian forces holding out at the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre museum. Eventually, the US troops call in air support in the form of redesigned RAH-66 Comanche attack helicopters and V-22 Osprey transports, forcing the Russians to fall back. However, the assault is short-lived, as in addition to a mechanized counterattack, the Russian forces launch several UCAVs that shoot down the helicopters right on top of the soldiers. Realizing the desperate situation, General Smith issues voice attack commands to a Kinetic Strike satellite hovering over Europe. Russian soldiers surround him as he emerges from his command vehicle.

Just before the Russians take him in as a prisoner of war, the general says, "Now." The satellite fires at least three kinetic missiles down on his position, obliterating himself and the Russians, as well as a large section of Paris. Smith's death would be mentioned in passing on the EndWar novel.

The trailer depicts several major cultural icons from Paris, including the Eiffel Tower and a heavily damaged Luxor obelisk.

The music used in the trailer was composed by Michael McCann and can be found at his [http://www.behaviormusic.com/ website.]

Novelization

"Endwar" was published as a novel, [citeweb|url=http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780425222140,00.html|title=Tom Clancy's EndWar novel] on February 5 2008 in paperback form. The back cover says "Based on Ubisoft's bestselling game, "Tom Clancy's EndWar", despite the game not yet having been released.

Xbox 360 Beta

A private beta test version was playable among Xbox Live Gold members. It included three maps and both 1v1 and 2v2 matches. The beta test began June 16, 2008 and ended July 9, 2008. [ [http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/30/tom-clancys-endwar-private-beta-coming-in-june/ Tom Clancy's Endwar private beta coming in June.] ] Participants were placed under non-disclosure agreement until the game's first commercial launch.

Demo

The VIP demo for Xbox360 users who pre-ordered the game was released a week late on October 7th and featured one single-player story mission, one map that is playable in skirmish mode with either 1 versus 1 or 1 versus AI plus The Voice Command Trainer. [ [http://www.ubi.com/UK/News/Info.aspx?nId=5482 Ubisoft Q&A] ]

Emails containing beta keys were sent on October 11th. The emails also contain a bonus beta key.

References

External links

* [http://endwargame.us.ubi.com/ Official Game Homepage] at ubi.com
* [http://www.rev64.com rev64] Official EndWar teaser-site. Requires password "s9p1z6" , to view two hidden video clips.