It is rare for a game to come out that is something new but when a game comes out that is new in two different ways then that is even rarer.

Tom Clancy’s End War is one such game. It is, as far as I am aware the first RTS to be made specifically for a console and secondly and the selling point is the voice control system (more of that later)

End War is set in a futuristic setting but with a basis that is so possible it is quite scary. Oil is becoming scarcer and scarcer and this has led to tensions and stress across the globe. A new missile defence system has also been invented which effectively has stopped the possibility of nuclear war but this too has added to the tension as the great powers feel their strength and power in the world has been seriously compromised. End War takes place in the World War caused by these tensions with the US, Russia and Europeans fighting an all-out war with no allies between them.

In single player mode you play an introduction to the war and then you pick the side you want to represent until you get to the end of the war to end all wars.

Control wise it is possible to play the entire game with just your headphones/mouthpiece on and the trigger of your controller, as throughout the game you issue commands through the use of your voice. However, don’t think that you can say any old thing because you cannot. The system is not quite that sophisticated (it may be in years to come however if this ‘first’ is anything to go by) however with the use of certain phrases you can move your troops to various points of the map, attack certain groups of enemies etc. The game does help you however, as it will tell you if you say something that you cannot at that point in the game and also in the upper left of the screen it does print up a command line with the various different options open to you.

The thing that is most impressive about this is how quick your units actually react to your commands because it is almost instantaneous.

However as well as speaking the commands another thing that is imperative to this game is that you listen. Why? Well because quite often some of your troops will alert you to something that is going on, well before you see it, especially if you have two units of troops attacking at once and you are concentrating on the wrong one at the wrong time.

As well as the single player game there is also the Theatre of War mode which is the multiplayer version. Here it is very easy to jump into a battle online and come up against another real life commander providing the server at that time will let you.

Graphically I actually think this is possibly the best RTS on any console so far, with detailed landscapes and individual troops, good explosions and overall good effects. The sound in the game includes some good vocal acting including some rather funny Russian accents. The sound effects are good and the music when used is good for a game of its type.

Overall this is a very impressive achievement. As a RTS it is possibly the best on the consoles at the moment as it offers a deeply user involved experience. The variety in the three sides in the war means that the replay value of the game is immense as you will have no hesitancy in playing the game completely through three times.

The voice command ‘gimmick’ (and essentially that is what it is at this stage) is very well done and bodes great things for the future.

The single player mode and the multiplayer mode are strangely similar because the Ai of the opposition in single player mode acts with the irregularity as if it was a human you are playing against.

Infact the only thing that can really be said against this game is not really the fault of the game at all but rather in the flimsy headset that you get with the 360. I don’t know what the cordless one is like but the basic one that you get with the machine that you plug into the controller is not good enough for what a game like this needs.

Very recommended.