Gaming Tom Clancy's Endwar Voice-on Preview

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/06/19/tom-clancy-s-endwar-voice-on-preview/1

Military technology is moving forward fast and nobody knows that more than Tom Clancy, which is probably why his name is attached to the first voice-controlled RTS game for the Xbox 360. Completely controlled via the headset, we've just been hands-on with the game...

 

no love for PC?

but for a console RTS, voice command seems to be the only way forward.

 

<sarcastic mode>

Yeah! Those stupid consoles missing the mouse and keyboard. This is a great idea! Let those console morons scream frustratingly at the big screen when they trying to move their units across the screen, but the units don't understand half of the commands the console 'player' is screaming. Oh wait! you need a mic on the console.

Me as a diehard PC gamer would love to see them "scream at the big screen" while I move another 25 units in 3 seconds in C&C3 on the pc. Aaah! the joy of the mouse, this wonderful quick and responsive mouse thing. I love it.

</sarcastic mode>

 

No PC love?

There was me looking at a pre-order for Endware PC...

 

it's available on PC? didn't get a mention in the article, so i got the idea that it won't be released for PC

 

Game in the UK did an offer with R6V:2, preorder that get £5 off End War on PC. That and it's listed for PC on the Game site, and IIRC it's on the preorder book in my local Game store..

I can't say with 100% certainty, since I'm not the developer or the publisher, but I'm pretty condfident that it'll make PC.

 

That looks to be my bad. I've done a quick check and updated the article as apparently the game is announced for ALL platforms.

I however, only saw and played the 360 version and that's what the preview is based on.

 

=P

Thanks for the preview, Joe.

Can't say I'd be all that enthusiastic about talking to my 360 for a few hours, though >.>

 

Could the graphics & level sizes be scaled back to allow extra processor power for the speech recognition? Just a thought...
Also, did you find yourself speaking in a gruff army-type voice or just your normal voice?

Whether the game is good or not, Ubi has to be praised for innovation. It'll be interesting to see how the game pans out.

 

Nice review as always joe.
Check on play.com and it's definatley avaiable for pre-order on there for PC fans (£24.99)

Sam

 

'Then again, Endwar runs on the Unreal Engine 3 and doesn’t seem to be graphically pushing the envelope. Running on an Xbox 360, everything graphical should be a known quantity to Ubisoft and it seems that the graphical polish on Endwar just isn’t as shiny as the competition.

Whether or not this visual lack-lustre is a limitation of the engine or game doesn't really matter - Endwar will face stiff competition from the likes of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 and from what we saw Endwar is on the backfoot graphically speaking.'

Might have something to do with the large gameworld, the lackluster old GPU, the 512MB of shared memory and the 10MB frame buffer, the gimped in-order 4 year old CPU..

Just sayin'. Preview the proper version next time and it might look better!

 

The Daddy of all RTS games, Supreme Commander (with its own innovative control scheme) is also released on the 360 in June (For the US), not sure if/when its coming to Euroland.

still, Endwars looks interesting. For me the multiplayer will make or break it.

 

This is a Real Time Tactics Game, not Real Time Strategy.

 

I'm looking at the 3 USB ports on my Xbox 360 and wondering why I can plug in a keyboard to type my name in for scores and messages across Xbox live, but not have a mouse as well to play games like this and C&C 3. With their own licensed mice and keyboard more then enough mum's who don't realize any old USB device will work, and fanboy's that want to be keep everything official, will buy them.

I'm not saying that the voice control isn't a good step forward, but RTS games have been around for years on the PC with no need for it.

 

I did forget to mention, this isn't the first time Voice Commands have been used in a game, so it really isn't revolutionary, it is for this genre, but not as a whole.

Sam

 

They were used In SOCOM Navy Seals or something, too, weren't they?

 

Bugger, I was looking forward to putting on a funky American Accent to play the game. Oh well

 

You still can by the sounds of things.
The story sounds rather like Act of War: Direct Action.
I don't really like the sound of the new control system though. Mouse and keyboard Cheesecake!

 

the story sounds distinctely meh: frontlines fuel of war anyone?

although they must be commended for the innovation i can see this being serious 10 minute wonder fodder

 

For PC, I love games where you can be in a strong and close team, for example been part of a helecopter squadren, flying in one group and at then attack destination, BOOM!