We recently checked out EndWar Online from Ubisoft, the free to play RTS taking this popular series to the online arena, in the ruins of a global war between Earth’s greatest super powers new factions have now arose to claim territory and dominance. Stepping into the shoes as one of these new Global leaders players get to choose from one of two primary factions in a bid to solidify their position, establish a base of operations and raise up a powerful army. The game is currently in Beta and we got open access to test it out for ourselves, accessible through your web browser with its flash based graphics the game also comes with an optional mini-client.

Stepping into the game for the first time we picked up the Russian Spetznaz faction as our side of choice, which defines the story for the single player PVE portion of the campaign, specifically having us start in Russia and defending against an initial attack on Moscow. The story element essentially has players heading towards complete domination, taking control of various regions and countries and advancing the story in the process which coincides with a tutorial mode unlocking new features and mechanics. On the one hand the pace of the game is relatively simple and doesn’t feel overwhelming, but on the other it can start to drag as you unlock buildings/commanders and subsequent units at such a slow pace that isn’t really necessary… the game isn’t that complicated.

Combat works by having two players (either player or AI) starting at each end of a map and having 2 or more lanes linking them, in real time players get to build up Command Points which constantly regenerate and spend them to place down units in the different lanes. These units will move automatically as soon as they are placed and can no longer be controlled, stopping and attacking any enemy unit or structure that they come in contact with along the way. The main strategy revolves around a traditional rock-paper-scissors scenario where Tanks beat Anti-Air, Anti-Air beats Gunships and Gunships beat Tanks, at least as your primary units. There are other units unlocked along the way including Infantry who can capture points to give the team boosts and Artillery that will occupy stationary defensive points at the side of the lane and launch rocket strikes at any enemy that comes nearby.

When playing against the AI players can see what enemy units are being sent down the lane, against other players, or player teams, the enemy units are hidden so players don’t know which units to send to counter them until they get vision on them. The balance between offensive and defensive is far more prevalent when going up against players, against the AI your strategy can be completely reactionary, constantly countering and because of that it does feel extremely easy sometimes. Occasionally one of the missions feels more like a horde mode battle, putting players completely on the defensive against overwhelming odds and the potential for defeat is a lot higher.

  

The units you can take into battle depend on the Commanders that players unlock, each commander has a set number of units attached to them as well as having the types of abilities that these units can use assigned to them. By levelling up Commanders players make their units directly more powerful as well as unlocking new skills that their units can perform in battle (also using up Command Points). Similarly players are able to acquire and craft parts to upgrade their units once they find blueprints, which will make them more powerful and adds an extra layer of strategy to the game.

PVP is an interesting take with two primary PVP modes; Fortress Mode and Skirmish Mode. Fortress Mode allows players to attack you and, based off your pre-set chosen Commanders and unit upgrades, the AI controls your units and all you ever see is the result; similarly you can attack other players and there’s no actual player opponent involved. The idea is to use player strategy with building up a good team as opposed to actual in-game tactics to win, or playing against an AI enemy with a potentially more viable team that the AI might make in the story campaign mode. Secondly, unlocked far later into the game (level 25) is Skirmish Mode which allows players to fight each other in PVP, essentially it takes until level 25, a good few days of play for a casual player, before they can even consider going up against a player rival (albeit Friend PVP mode is unlocked earlier). Due to this we’re kind of mixed on the PVP aspect, a lot of players like to go up against real players and honestly they game isn’t so in depth and involved that this kind of “end game” feature level requirement is needed.

The Campaign is fairly basic and quite shallow, the story just snippets of dialogue between battles being the main story element. The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag, the graphical interface is generally pretty good, and the models themselves and level design look nice, but there’s just the odd poorly rendered area or jagged shadows really lets down the overall quality that just isn’t acceptable for such a title and from a company like Ubisoft.

One of the bigger pet peeves for us is the “Asian MMO” feel that has come with the game, feature locking being an obvious one, but the number of popups and freebies and “buy VIP status”, the use of “Recharge” and using stamina to perform “Auto Battles” where you instantly succeed in the AI campaign battles against levels/regions you’ve already conquered just so you can get the resources and campaign loot. When this start of thing comes into play then there just becomes a little bit too much pay to win possibility and that’s something we’d hate to see for an otherwise pretty fun little title.

The game is fun though, but due to how basic it is we’re not sure about the overall longevity of it for any serious gamers looking to get heavily involved. PVP is definitely going to be where it’s at and with the huge variety of Commanders and gear to acquire, even if the number of units is actually quite limited, nine different unit types in total, there’s enough variation to build something decent.

SCORE:

• Graphics: 7


• Gameplay: 8


• Performance: 10

• Pros: Interesting combat, lots of customization options, relatively unique gameplay.


• Cons: Story is somewhat shallow and lacking, takes quite a while to get into PVP, graphics are a little weak in places.

Rating: 8

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