Tom Clancy’s EndWar deserves to be the next RTS game you play

Ubisoft’s RTS title, Tom Clancy’s EndWar, isn’t a household name like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. In fact, it’s arguably one of the lesser-known, forgotten about, Tom Clancy titles in the series. It had a troubled launch, being pushed back three times, and is more known as a commercial failure than a hidden gem.

However, a good video game shouldn’t be judged by how much money it makes. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is a unique take on the RTS genre and it does a lot of things that make it stand out from the crowd. There are drawbacks, of course, but history has not been kind. When we think of RTS games, Command & Conquer titles dominate the discourse. However, with the growing popularity of the Tom Clancy IP… We think it’s time Ubisoft look back at EndWar and think about how they can breathe new life into the RTS genre like they tried to do in 2008.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar Stands Out From The Crowd

If there’s one thing that Ubisoft have done right with Tom Clancy’s EndWar, it is that they’ve completely thrown what it means to be an RTS title out of the window. There’s a lot of things that make Tom Clancy’s EndWar unique from its counterparts.

Firstly, there’s a Voice Command system fully integrated into the gameplay experience. In an effort to be innovative, Ubisoft tried to do something no RTS has done before and very few games have done since. It developed and introduced a Voice Command system for Tom Clancy’s EndWar. The voice recognition at play isn’t the best, but when you consider that it was released in 2008 it’s quite impressive. You can command units near-fully through the Voice Command system as every friendly unit and every enemy unit is numbered.

Of course, there are things that you can’t do so you still need your Mouse to fully play the game. However, making callouts to your units onscreen feels much more like an immersion tactic as opposed to one that aids gameplay. Don’t have time to scroll through your units and direct them all to one enemy? No problem. Just say “All Units – Attack – Enemy 1”. It’s that simple.

Secondly, there’s no Free Camera in Tom Clancy’s EndWar.

When you first start playing Tom Clancy’s EndWar, it feels weird – wrong, almost. You should be able to survey the battlefield you’re facing off on in an RTS game, right? Well… That isn’t how real warfare works and Tom Clancy’s Endwar, combined with the Voice Command system, achieves another level of realism with its lack of Free Camera. It’s not something you think about immediately, but it helps to keep you invested in “the moment”. You can’t go off and explore the area and leave your units to fight it out; they are always at the forefront of your vision.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar is an RTS that tells the story of a global conflict through semi-independent flashpoints across the Northern Hemisphere. You are in control and Tom Clancy’s EndWar doesn’t let you forget it. When you think about it, you can see why it might not appeal to the wider gamer who sees “Tom Clancy” on a game and assumes it’s “Rainbow Six” or “Splinter Cell” related. However, when given the time it offers a less-intensive RTS experience that focuses on intense gunfights as opposed to long-from tactical gameplay.

However, That Isn’t Always A Good Thing

As you can imagine, there’s a reason why it wasn’t commercially successful. Tom Clancy’s EndWar doesn’t offer the deep tactical gameplay that you’d expect from an RTS title. It doesn’t offer much in the way of minute unit placement like Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes. It doesn’t offer the base-building aspect of Command & Conquer, either.

If you’re looking to flex your strategic muscles, Tom Clancy’s EndWar isn’t for you. There’s always a “Rock, Paper, Scissors” aspect to RTS gameplay and Tom Clancy’s EndWar takes that almost too literally. Tank beats Transport, Transport beats Gunship, and Gunship beats Tank. There are a couple more units involved, but you get the idea.

You can upgrade your units as you progress and units that survive more battles are going to be better in the future. It’s all standard RTS stuff, however, it seems a bit out of place given the fact that the rest of the game is largely action-based as opposed to strategy-heavy. You have to make these upgrades in-between battles, but they ultimately feel useless. The “Rock, Paper, Scissors” combat is so pervasive in gameplay it’s almost impossible to go against.

A Gunship is always going to outgun a Tank. A Transport will win a fight against the same Gunship. Of course, you can swing the odds a bit but never to the point where a Transport can win a fair fight against a Tank. It just doesn’t happen.

The Little Things Make It Memorable

With that being said, Tom Clancy’s EndWar is still a fantastic RTS title. There are lots of little details that help make it a memorable experience and it ultimately is one of the better RTS games we’ve played purely on the fact that it’s different.

One thing we like is the fact that each unit has a nickname. Badger, Bugbear, Wild Card and Cobra are all people you’re going to become more familiar with going forwards. This might seem like a minor feature, but it forces you to care about your units. They quite literally listen to what you tell them, thanks to the Voice Command system, and you truly feel like you’re “part of the team”. You are their commander and they are relying on you to win the battles and defend the Capital Cities across Europe and North America.

In addition to this, the limiting POV that Tom Clancy’s EndWar offers an evolution of the “Fog of War” feature that really does make how you play the game completely different. Your units can only attack what they can see and that leaves you with two options. Either, you sit tight and wait for the enemy to attack you or you go hunting for your enemies. A lot of RTS games put as much focus on defending your base as they do in attacking your enemies’ stronghold. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is all about the battle. There are different objectives in each skirmish, but there’s no base to defend and that works in its favour.

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Furthermore, there’s a complete abandonment of Resource Management in the best possible way. Everything costs the same and you’re not restricted by not having a certain amount of a certain resource if you want to double-down and call in more reinforcements. To put it plainly, it really is quite an easy game and winning makes everyone feel good. All your focus is on the combat and that’s where Tom Clancy’s EndWar fits in the grand scheme of things.

Ultimately, It Deserves More Love

We know we’ve said a few bad things about Tom Clancy’s EndWar, but there really isn’t an RTS title out there quite like it. Time and time again, when we look for a lighter RTS experience that doesn’t need hours of your time for each skirmish, we turn to Tom Clancy’s EndWar.

We know that a lot of people look for a difficult game to feel a sense of achievement when they play. However, Tom Clancy’s EndWar offers a lighter experience that can be just as rewarding without the struggle that some other RTS titles give you. In a Post-COVID world where we’ve all been sat inside playing more games than usual, we don’t want to feel stressed about what we’re doing all the time. “If you don’t enjoy playing a game, play something else.”

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It’s a rhetoric that we all find hard to remember sometimes, but one we should take note of nonetheless. Why should people who might not be the best at forward-thinking analysis be excluded from RTS games? Tom Clancy’s EndWar offers an entry-point to the genre that, with a bit of tweaking, could become a fantastic formula for a sequel in the future.