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EndWar - UbiDays 07 Preview
Jon Wilcox
29/05/2007
Ubi reveals more about the apocalyptic techno-thriller heading to next-generation consoles in February...
Not content with three highly successful franchises under the Tom Clancy brand, Ubisoft recently confirmed that it was also working on a fourth: EndWar. Currently in development for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the publisher's Shanghai studio (home of Splinter Cells Pandora Cell and Double Agent) and headed by Michael "Rome: Total War" De Plater, the publisher is keen to stress that whilst the game is a real strategy title, "it's not an RTS in the usual way." Despite playing a very compelling trailer of what the first quarter 2008 release is aiming to achieve, actual gameplay footage remains elusive, even at Ubisoft's recently held UbiDays event in Paris. That didn't stop De Plater and Producer Julian Gerighty from revealing more information when TVG sat in to find out more...
Going further than the usual regional conflicts of Tom Clancy titles, the world in EndWar has pretty much gone to the dogs. Following the construction of a global nuclear missile shield in 2014 that brings peace and stability for the first time in Earth's history, an announcement by Oil companies reveals lower reserves than had previously been made. The resulting grab for oil between the US, a Federated Europe, and Russia (revitalised after using its vast oil reserves to rebuild its economy) begins to destroy the world's stability, which completely breaks down when a terrorist attack triggers a series of events that lead to all out war by 2020.
EndWar will purportedly be the first 'true' RTS title built from the ground up specifically for consoles (apparently, EA's RTS titles on Xbox 360 have remained too rigidly to their PC cousins to be considered truly 'built from the ground up' for Ubi's liking). One of the key elements to accomplish this will be EndWar's functionality for players to complete the game entirely with their voice. Using a branching system that will enable gamers to select specific battle units and issue them various contextual commands, it is Ubisoft Shanghai's ambition that EndWar will deliver an incredibly immersive and intuitive gameplay experience, providing "strategy at the speed of thought". Thanks to the improved technological grunt behind both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, De Plater and his team have been able to take advantage of the multi-core hardware and donate more power to the recognition system.
It's not the first time that a Ubisoft development team has tried to implement a voice recognition-based command system into a game; 2004's Rainbow Six 3 also featured it, but it was largely hit and miss, and subsequently dropped from the likes of Rainbow Six: Vegas. The prospect of being able to have total control over an army a thousand units strong with just your voice is quite a compelling idea however, but its implementation will have to be much more successful than anything seen in the past - it could very well end up being the weak chain in an otherwise solid strategy game. That said, De Plater's band of programmers and testers have been hard at work for the last three years, building prototypes of the technology so there's good reason to hope that the voice recognition functionality is much more developed than it's been in the past.
Visually, players will get a multi-view interface to control their units, from the global tactical map seen in recent screenshots and represented in the teaser trailer (which will enable a wide view of the battle zone as a whole), right down to street level where they'll be able to see the effects of their command at first hand. Like the voice recognition system, this functionality is one of the key areas where EndWar aims to bring a true '3D' RTS experience tailored towards console gamers.
In recent interviews, De Plater has also outlined how some of the units in EndWar link to the other Tom Clancy franchises. For instance, the Ghosts of Ghost Recon act as a key part of the US Joint Strike Forces whilst the Rainbow Six team are now fully integrated into the European Federation. Several classes of unit have been confirmed in various reports including Riflemen, Engineers, Tanks, Transport, Helicopters, Artillery, and Command Vehicles, with veteran units becoming increasingly effective as time goes on. However, with the North American/European anti-missile shield assumed to be still active in spite of the raging war, will nukes also form a part of a player's arsenal?
Reports have also emerged that players will take command of a single battalion of 1000 units, with a limit of 12 squads on the battlefield at any one time (presumably for balancing purposes). Ubisoft are keen to promote the player's ownership over their battalion, with the ability to personalise and customise units, including its make up of units and its motto. Besides the basic raft of units, over 400 different upgrades will feature in the game, including weapons and armour, though what structure is being developed to integrate the system is unclear for now. There are also questions over how the resource system fits into the gameplay, though with an emphasis on winning the war perhaps Ubisoft will end up utilising something similar to the one created for Massive's World in Conflict?
In an example of the advanced AI sported in the units, Ubisoft Shanghai has also described a scenario where a group of shoulders approach some firebombed cars. Taking occasional pot shots at enemy soldiers in the distance through the broken windows of the vehicles, the AI will also rescue injured comrades, dragging them back to safety. To describe what Ubisoft Shanghai is trying to achieve in EndWar as 'elaborate', is certainly sounding like an underestimation of terms...
As if the project wasn't ambitious enough, EndWar will also feature a persistent online conflict across a globe made up of 40 distinct territories where players will fight across various flashpoints on the frontline. Despite the 'massively multiplayer' approach to the still shadowy online Theatre of War mode, it's clear that the ability to see the war play out across the apocalyptic globe of 2020 with dynamic battle lines updated on a daily basis will be a compelling aspect of the game. It's also been suggested that once one side has been obliterated in the online mode, for instance if the continental US is wiped out, the world will be reset with a D-Day style invasion of the territory - evolving the ongoing 'storyline' in the game.
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