Command & Conquer meets GRAW
What makes EW so special and better than other RTS on console?
Of course I'm biased but I think that EndWar is the most innovative and exciting strategy game to come out since Dune 2, back in 1992.
I think EndWar is the epic war experience that every strategy game and every second shooter for the last decade have been trying to make you imagine with their CG intros. Now you don’t have to imagine, EndWar creates that experience in real time. Combined with the incredible 3d gameplay, the Voice Command system, the strong online multiplayer component, the apocalyptic World War 3 scenario, the ultimate 21st Century war machines and the Unreal 3 powered graphics I think we’ll offer strategy gamers something they have never experienced before.
I also believe that a lot of gamers who thought strategy games were complex or boring are going to love EndWar. Almost all of the top military games have an element of strategy or tactics which makes them more interesting than pure twitch games. Whether you like GRAW, Rainbow 6, Brothers in Arms or Battlefield then EndWar is going to give you an intense full scale war experience that’s very new.
Click for larger imageHow did you conduct your research for the creation of the game's weapons & units?
As well as the reference from Tom Clancy, the team has studied hundreds of books, specialist publications and websites to ensure that every unit and weapon in the game is based on real world technology which has working prototypes existing today and which will be on the battlefields of 2020. This includes some advanced technology such as high energy microwave and laser weapons, satellite weapons and soldier exoskeletons.
We've also benefited a lot from the expertise of the others Clancy teams. The Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter team in particular were an inspiration and they shared their researches and studies on the future military technology and weapons with us.
Could you explain how voice command works?
We have a rule in our game, which is No magic! We aim at making EndWar the most realistic experience of full-scale war ever in video game. Therefore the voice command system is a central element of EndWar. We believe there’s no more natural and intuitive way to command an army than shouting orders in a micro. This is truly strategy at the speed of thought! The significant technical jump between the past and new generations of gaming consoles allows us to design a highly effective and responsive voice command system which is not frustrating for players. Also the voice command will work in several different languages – including French, German, Italian and Spanish - meaning you don't need to be fluent in Shakespearean English to have fun with the game.
What about the multiplayer aspect?
EndWar is a Tom Clancy’s game and as such the team is really focused on pushing the boundaries of what is possible in terms of online multiplayer and community features on consoles. The Blizzard’s games on PC and their battle.net community site have been key benchmarks for us when designing the online part of EndWar.
Though it's a bit too early to reveal much of our intentions in terms of online multiplayer content, I can say that one of our most ambitious features is a massive multiplayer persistent online world campaign. Every time you log in you will see the shifting front lines of an entire world at war where everyone is participating in a unified global version of World War III.
Can you tell us one funny/interesting thing that has happened to you since you started the development cycle?
One of the most rewarding things that happened to me is when we did our first play test sessions one of the happy few who had a chance to play an early prototype of EndWar had this comment about the game: [This is] Command & Conquer meets GRAW, twenty times bigger". It is always a huge satisfaction and relief for a game developer when you see that gamers understand and like your game.
