EndWar is a turn-based strategy game set in 2016 during an escalating conflict between Europe, Russia and America. By playing each of these powers in turn, it is possible to have three completely different sets of scenarios. But don’t let the subject or the Tom Clancy moniker fool you. This is not a game for the hardcore war gamer. It is strictly a casual game, and it is very simple and playable. In spite of its lack of depth or a realistic plot, I was mesmerized by the game for several hours of an international flight when I should have been sleeping!
I’ll start by saying that I am the hardcore war-gamer type. I was disappointed at the simple graphics, few unit types, lack of decent AI, weak story and poorly written dialogue. On the other hand, I did keep playing it long after I thought I would have put it down, because each mission was just enough harder than the one before to keep me challenged. Some missions required very detailed planning to avoid specific enemy units or meet certain tactical conditions required to win. Some of these I had to start over once I saw that I hadn’t followed the “Golden Path” for that scenario. It still felt good to figure out what strategy was required and implement it on the second try.
The premise of the game is that a nuclear strike on Saudi Arabia in 2016 damages a large portion of the international oil supply, driving oil prices dramatically upward and making Russia the largest oil producer in the world. The European nations band together and work with the United States to develop an antiballistic missile shield until the United States builds a military space station in 2018. Disagreements over this station’s capabilities fracture NATO. In 2020, a terrorist group begins coordinated and determined attacks against American and European fuel and energy facilities. An attack also is made against a Russian nuclear reactor, then the European Federation accidentally shoots down the American military space station, Freedom Star. Thus begins World War III.
There are three playable factions in EndWar — one each for the United States, Russia and Europe. The American Joint Strike Force is made up of small, fast units with accurate and precise weapons. It is made up of elite combat veterans from all branches of the military. They specialize in combat robots and stealth technology. The Spetsnaz Guards Brigade is made up of elite Russian veterans of regional conflicts among the former Soviet states. It specializes in heavy weapons and heavy tanks. The European Federation Enforcer Corps is composed of veteran counterterrorist and peacekeeping forces from all over Europe and specializes in urban combat.
There are several unit types to manage, including naval, air, infantry and mechanized, but the variety isn’t great because each unit type is focused on a specific task. There are no options to create new units, give units special abilities, provide overwatch or supporting fires, or hide units (except submarines in deep water). Some aspects seem very unrealistic and more like an real-time strategy (which is what this game is on regular console platforms). For example, a headquarters occupied by six infantry and tank units can be captured by a single infantry squad because the units in the headquarters don’t fight back.
Gameplay is turn-based with the player moving all units and then firing all units. There’s no “undo” button for moves, which can frequently lead to problems when the AI plots a course of movement that isn’t what the player had in mind. I restarted missions several times due to critical movement errors early in the game. This issue is somewhat alleviated by the ability to select enemy units and compare their movement and ranged fire capabilities with your own. This way you can try to find the most effective location to move into. Since there is no hidden movement or fog of war (except for the aforementioned submarines), and and since there are no differences between friendly and enemy units, this “hex counting” is the only real “strategy” in the game. It’s no substitute for realistic or thought-provoking gameplay or an intelligent opponent.
Overall, I’d give this game a pass unless you are really interested in shallow “combat light” strategy games. I haven’t tried it multiplayer, so that might be more challenging, but to me the weaknesses of the game overshadow its strengths by a wide margin. Primitive graphics, cartoonish characters, generic units and simplistic gameplay combine to leave this game a pale shadow of a true military strategy game. From what I have read about the console and PC versions, they have many more features and are much better games. If you have the choice, get one of those instead.
EndWar also is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS (the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions are real-time strategy games, rather than turn-based). A PC version is due out in March 2009 (it will be RTS, like the console versions).
