TOM CLANCY'S ENDWAR

GAME DETAILS :-

Developer : Ubisoft Shanghai

Publisher : Ubisoft

Engine : Unreal Engine 3.1

Genre : Real-Time Strategy

Release Date : February 24 , 2009

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS :-

Operating System : Windows XP / Windows Vista

CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo Processor / AMD Athlon64 X2 5600+

Memory (RAM) : 2 GB

Graphics Hardware : DirectX 10.0 Compatible Video Card with Memory 512 MB

[NVIDIA : GeForce 7800 Series
ATI : Radeon X1800 Series]

Hard Disk Space : 10 GB

GAME FEATURES :-

In 2016, a nuclear attack occurs in Saudi Arabia, killing 6 million people and crippling the world's oil supply. The following year, the United States Of America 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. The US and EU test launch nuclear 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. But with crude oil at USD 800 a barrel, the EU member-states are forced to consolidate political, economic, and military power to form the "European Federation" in 2018. The United Kingdom and Ireland decline membership, instead merging to form the "New Commonwealth", an ally of the EF. Nations too weak the join the EF, notably the Balkans (except Bulgaria and Greece), along with Ukraine, Moldovia, and most of Romania collapse completely, and were subsequently taken over by Russia, who refer to it as "their land". The US and EF regard each other's power as a threat to their own, and the now fractured former allies embark on a costly space arms race with each other. Russia, being the world's new 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, creating its own missile defense system, and utilizing its new-found power to influence world events. The militarization of space reaches its peak in 2018, when the United States reveals plans to launch the Freedom Star space station 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 E.F. and Russia in particular despise the development, seeing it as a way the U.S. could use to neutralize their portion of anti-ballistic defenses and upset the balance of power. The E.F. withdraw from the already divided NATO in protest.

To get the most out of the experience, you'll need to plug in a headset. To order your units about, you issue a series of preset commands by holding down the space bar and speaking your directive into the microphone. If you'd rather take a traditional approach, you can use a mouse and keyboard, but doing so makes EndWar more frustrating than fun. Because the camera must be focused on a particular unit, you can't scroll across the map and issue orders with ease. You can enter a "sitrep" view, assuming your command vehicle hasn't been destroyed, which makes issuing orders with a mouse more feasible but is visually unappealing. Regardless of your faction, the basic units are the same: Infantry comprises riflemen and engineers; tanks and artillery have the armored advantage; gunships take to the skies; and transports not only whisk your infantry about the battlefield, but offer necessary antiair support. Most of the time, you'll be switching your view from squad to squad, and the camera's close-up vantage point has quite an impact when you're engaged in combat. Bullets fly, gunships fall from the sky, and artillery fire rains from above, and some visual glitches aside, it's all exciting and cinematic in a way that most other strategy games just can't accomplish. Uplinks are present in all modes, and they are a critical part of the gameplay. Most importantly, they help you earn command points, which you need in order to call in reinforcements and perform other actions. However, uplinks can be taken only by infantry, so even if you aren't playing a conquest map, you'll still want some riflemen or engineers in the field. Uplinks also hold a second key to victory: upgrades that allow you to engage support powers like air strikes and electronic attacks. These powers are invaluable in a sticky situation but also cost command points, so you'll need to weigh the advantage of bringing in another transport to defeat your gunship-heavy opponent against a quick strike that could do immediate damage. Textures are bland, while lighting, shadows, and other aspects are simply average, so even with all settings turned up, the quality of the visuals doesn't seem to justify the relatively high system requirements. EndWar also suffers from occasional performance problems, which affect not only the frame rate, but the speed of the entire game, which can suddenly start chugging for no obvious reason. The sound design does a better job of immersing you in battle. This is partially due to the din of combat--perfectly appropriate for World War III. However, it's the constant radio chatter and responses of your units that have the greatest impact, making you feel as though you really are in the role of a military commander. The sound effects aren't just cosmetic, however: EndWar's constant feedback is an important tactical tool, letting you make split-second decisions that could mean life or death for your squad. While the console versions are solid, the PC version of this unique strategy game is too stripped to stand out.

GAME REVIEW :-

6/10

Tom Clancy's EndWar Trailer :-