The Escalation Pack DLC contains four missions taking place on all new battlefields in skirmish mode, from the Siege of the Kursk Firebase in the Ukraine to the Conquest of Dorsey Knob in West Virginia. The pack also includes 3 exclusive unit upgrades and a set of 10 new trophies and achievements for players to attain. The Escalation Pack is priced at 800 Microsoft points or 10 real dollars respectively.

Also launching today is a free title update for the Xbox 360 that introduces a four vs. four mode. PS3 owners can look forward to the same update sometime in early 2009. Not the best news for PS3 owners, but just imagine how bad the DS owners have it – they’re not getting shit.

Tom Clancy’s ENDWAR ESCALATION PACK DLC AVAILABLE THIS WEEK FOR XBOX 360 AND PS3

Also Available is a Free Title Update Enabling Four vs. Four Play.

London, UK – December 11, 2008 – Ubisoft today announced the release of the “Escalation Pack” downloadable content (DLC) for Tom Clancy’s EndWar™ available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system on December 11, 2008.

The “Escalation Pack” DLC will include four new exclusive missions on all new battlefields playable in skirmish mode, three exclusive unit upgrades and an extra set of achievements or trophies to expand your experience with Tom Clancy’s EndWar. The new missions include the Siege of the Kursk Firebase (Ukraine), the Assault on Devon beach (England), the Raid on Rota naval base (Spain) and the Conquest of Dorsey Knob (USA, West Virginia).

These new challenges will also be available with more fighting power; as the “Escalation Pack” will also introduce three new unit upgrades and 10 new achievements and trophies to unlock.

December 11th will also mark the day where EndWar brings you a completely free title update that will bring the stakes of the war to a whole new level by including the much sought after four vs. four mode. This content patch will be available on the XBOX 360® on December 11th while the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system title update will be available in early 2009, also free of charge.

For more news and information on Tom Clancy’s EndWar, please visit the game’s official website at www.endwargame.com.

But just how much of Tom Clancy got into Tom Clancy’s EndWar and how much of it is just about the game’s amazing tech?

Loved
Voice Recognition: Ubisoft’s voice recognition software is by far the best thing about EndWar. There is virtually no set-up, few miscommunications and it runs seamlessly, making the experience of commanding troops not just easier but more immersive. There’s nothing like bellowing out orders into a headset then watching them get carried out by soldiers, tanks and helicopters.

Streamlined Command System: Working hand-in-hand with the razor-sharp voice recognition software is a command system that makes speaking your orders as easy as a mouse click. By boiling almost everything down to four or five words, EndWar’s control mechanic is easily the best around for a console-based real-time strategy title.

Global War to Local Conflict: The sheer scope of EndWar, encompassing skirmishes, raids and sieges in cities around the world, is impressive. Even more impressive is how the game ties all of these battles together to create the sense of world at war, where every conflict matters. Moving this idea online gives the real-time strategy game the feel of a massively multiplayer title where everyone has to pitch in to make a difference.

Hated
Vanilla Aesthetic: If Blizzard showed us nothing else, it’s that the art style of units and backdrops can make or break a real-time strategy title. These are the units you will be ordering about for the entire life of the game, they are the settings you will fight through time and time again. EndWar’s units are bland, mundane looking military knock-offs, and the settings begin to blend together after just hours of play. It doesn’t help that there’s really not much splash in the thick of battle either.

Poor Pathfinding: It’s difficult in EndWar, unlike with mouse and keyboard titles, to nudge your troops to specific locations. Instead, you have to hope that “Unit 1 Move to Alpha” does the trick. Because the game relies on such broad commands it’s problematic that units seem to be in desperate need of a map to find their way from point A to point B.

Muddled Story and Campaign: Despite a humanizing introduction and the tantalising lead-in to the game, once things get going, EndWar is a surprisingly personality-free title. Sure you have tactics and enemy attacks laid out for you between skirmishes and the game tries to track which commanders you’ve fought against before. But it’s such a web of battles that it’s hard to tell when what you’re doing makes any sort of difference and the plot quickly becomes nearly transparent window dressing.

Generic Strategy Gameplay: It feels that the team at Ubisoft Shanghai used up all of their creativity with that wonderful voice-recognition command system. EndWar is the epitome of rock-paper-scissors strategy. There are a few super attacks that can be unleashed, like mini-nukes and support forces, but in general the game is far too simplistic to have any lasting power for fans of strategy.

Needs More Clancy: It’s got his name in it, right there at the top of the box, so why isn’t more obvious this is a Clancy game? In theory, the Ghost Recon teams make an appearance as playable units in the game, but that’s really just in name. And, from what I saw, that’s it. Why use the Clancy name and not tap into the rich background it affords?

You really can’t understate the brilliance of EndWar’s voice command system. Even in this simple form it shows so much potential that I’m eager to see what game it shows up in next. But a new bit of innovative technology, no matter how amazing, isn’t enough to support a triple-A title. The game works. Technically it is almost flawless. But there’s no soul, no depth, no story, nothing really, to make even a hardcore strategy fan such as myself want to play the game for any length of time.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar may have been worthy of a purchase at a time when there weren’t so many other excellent titles vying for a shrinking budget, but not now. I just hope that now that the technology for this command system has been proven, it can be placed in a game with a bit more substance and character.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar was developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, published by Ubisoft and released on Nov. 6 for the DS, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360. It was reviewed on the PlayStation 3. Played the single-player campaign, tested campaign coop and skirmish.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Each version will feature three separate campaigns with over 30 scenarios each, two-player multiplayer with 100 ready-to-play scenarios, and a mission editor to create and share your own battlefields. An absolutely huge slice of Clancy-flavored strategy, coming to the PSP and DS next month.

Ubisoft Announces Tom Clancy’s Endwar TM for Handhelds

SAN FRANCISCO – OCTOBER 20, 2008 – Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s EndWar™ will be released for the Nintendo DS™ system and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Developed by Funatics Software and optimised for the handheld platforms, Tom Clancy’s EndWar is rated T for “teen” and will ship to retailers on November 4, 2008.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar for handhelds allows players to command an elite military force on the ground, in the air and on the seas during World War III. Take control of the elite U.S. Joint Strike Force, European Enforcers Corps or Russian Spetsnaz Guards Brigade and lead your faction to victory in three separate yet interwoven single-player campaigns. Each campaign includes over 30 battle scenarios taking place on real-world battlefields including Paris and London, and features increasingly challenging missions and objectives. Fight against a friend in tense two-player battles in any of the 100 ready-to-play scenarios or in your own custom-created missions.

Key Features:

Turn-based strategy with a twist: Simultaneous move and attack phases make the experience as intense and authentic as real-time strategy.
Three campaigns, one for each faction, with increasingly challenging battle scenarios and objectives.
Over 20 units and vehicles per faction including ground, air and naval units. Units gain experience in combat, dramatically improving their combat performance.
Two-player versus multiplayer mode, including additional missions specifically designed for multiplayer battles.
Easy-to-pick-up mission editor: Create and share your custom battlefields and battle scenarios to play solo or against another player.
Full stylus control on Nintendo DS.

Hello, NDA Ignoring Bastard

We’re pleased to inform you that you have been selected to participate in the Tom Clancy’s EndWar Private Beta.
You now have access to the full EndWar Beta website at www.endwarbeta.com and can begin posting on the forums.

Your username is: NDABREAKER2008

Don’t forget to check out the “how to play” section for helpful information on getting started. The EndWar Beta will be ready for you soon and once it’s available for download we’ll be sure to let you know.

I am going to start using NDABreaker2008 as my handle every time I sign up for a beta test, just to see if anyone ever lets me in. Congrats to those who got in! We promise not to say anything to Ubisoft unless they offer us candy. Hit the jump for exciting screens from the beta instructions!

The three gig download will feature three maps for 1v1 and 2v2 matches, but no offline play.

I hope they launch a public beta as well. As with most new ideas, the concept of voice-command mixing with real-time strategy isn’t easy to wrap your head around without trying it first hand.

As I mentioned in my preview of the game earlier this year, it seems to work quite well and despite the reduced unit types, I think there’s enough depth in the game to keep things interesting.

EndWar [Via Joystiq]

De Plater said that part of the impetus for the game was the fact that, as real-time strategies have evolved, the genre has left a lot of people behind. People like my dad, even people, in some cases, like me. People, basically, who aren’t interested in dealing with a Zerg rush five minutes into the game and instead want to play something a bit closer to, say, a detailed and realistic game of chess.

“One of the things we hear a lot of us is ‘I used to love real time strategies, but it’s gotten too complex’,” he said. “So we decided to make a tactical game, slow the pace down. We call this game strategy at the speed of thought.”

While the developers put a lot of effort into both the game design and user interface to make it pick-up and play, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have depth.

For instance, the game, due out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this fall, only has seven unit types, such as anti-tank, tank, light infantry and helicopters. But there are about 300 upgrades for the units. And the units, which gain experience during combat, keep both their experience and upgrades from battle to battle on the game’s more than two dozen maps. With that in mind, the game has the ability to evacuate units in the middle of battle. If you get them out before they die you can still use them in the next match.

All of the buildings in the maps are destructible. Nothing new, but EndWar has a fairly sophisticated MMO-ish online component that looks at the game’s 40 territories at the end of each day and averages out the outcome of all the matches to decide which of the three factions won which territory.

So the pick-up-and-play isn’t really about the game being easy as much as it is about it being accessible. A key component of that, of course, is the voice commands which allow someone to play an RTS on large maps on a console without getting frustrated. The voice commands let you manage the battlefield from any location on the map.

“One of the fundamental differences between a mouse and keyboard and this is the level of precision,” de Plater said. “So a big part of the AI is that you give commands like a general.

“War should be a series of intelligence decisions.”

In other words, you can’t tell your units to take cover behind a building during an attack, only that they should attack, the rest is up to them.

Verbal commands are typically broken down into three steps. First you say the unit’s name, then the order and finally the goal. For instance, to move a unit you just say “Unit three move to Yankee”

To create a group you say “Calling all gunships create team, red team.”

To order a group to attack you say “Red team attack hostile one.”

The game is surprisingly good at recognising not just when you get it right, but even when you say it wrong. The main problem, De Plater said, is where people put the microphone. Too close and it can cause some major distortion issues.

The game starts off with a simple voice tutorial that teaches you, not the game. This way gamers’ are taught what to say instead of teaching the game to learn a bunch of different ways to do the same thing.

After talking with De Plater a bit about the game, he handed over an Xbox 360 controller and headset to let me give it a go. Within minutes I was ordering troops around the battlefield mostly flawlessly. In fact, the few times I misspoke and used the wrong command, the game still knew what I was getting at.

The game felt an awful lot like a one-player version of World in Conflict to me. You don’t have to construct units or bases, instead, you spend all of your times issuing commands and keeping an eye on the battlefield. The fact that you don’t really use the controller for much more than moving around on the map or holding a button so you can talk to your online opponents, the game felt much more immersive than your typical strategy title. I felt as if I was viewing a battlefield from a far, issuing commands to my troops and watching, like one might a chess match, as my tactics and the tactics of my opponent unfolded.

Having said that, there are some potentially game-killing stumbling blocks. I didn’t see any issues with the friendly AI while playing around with the game, but when you have zero direct control over your units if they get that wrong then the game is dead in the water.

I also really didn’t play enough to get a sense of how challenging the game would be to play. A big issue, I think, is that Ubisoft can’t make your units too smart. As many of you pointed out, you don’t really want to play a game that essentially has you saying into a microphone “Get out there and kick some arse for me.”

Finding the correct balance between no-neck, brainless AI and a self-reliant army of ass-kicking automatons has got to be tricky—and it’s where this game will live or die, I suspect.

What does surprise me is that, at least based on my time with it, the unusual interface, using mostly your voice to control the game, won’t be an issue at all. It seems both seamless and a function that actually adds quite a bit to the experience.