Tom Clancy's EndWar

I've always been a fan of RTS games, despite being complete shit at them. So on a lark several years ago, I grabbed EndWar, which had a big thing saying you could play with your headset, and was like "Sure, it can't be any more of a shitshow than Lifeline, right?"

Well, I was right and wrong. The headset part's a little sensitive, which makes for a real fun calibration session. Highlights include my roommate asking why I was speaking to my computer "like a racist dad trying to argue with a busboy at a Mexican restaurant," giving up twice to play something else, and my friend MurderPlastic refusing to play it after his headset issues.

However, if I'm being fair, which I try to be, it's fun! Once you get into the rhythm of using the headset, this game is fucking crisp. It's got a pretty basic Rock-Paper-Scissors setup for tanks, transports, and helicopters, which can very quickly be thrown to shit when you play like me and use artillery for everything. God, I love artillery.

It's got cool little bits for infantry and engineers, too. If you send them to take a building, they'll be ducking in and out of different windows to take shots at enemies going by. You can clear a building of opposing infantry with them too, and see the gunfights from your aerial viewpoint.

Another thing I'll put on the plus side is the Capital battles. You have to take a capital, of which there are three, over three battles, one after another. They get increasingly more difficult, and I don't think I ever took one last time I played, instead taking as many areas as I could.

The major downsides of this game, however, lie majorly in its' replayability and multiplayer. The replay value is, quite honestly, low. Three factions(The United States, European Union, and Russia), and their traits differ only enough to have to somewhat adjust a battle plan depending on who you're facing. The story, what threadbare there is, isn't worth a second and third play. 

Multiplayer is an exercise in futility, if it's even still up. Last time I played, the only people still online were people at the max rank. I got destroyed very quickly each round. Which, normally I'd blame on my own lack of skill. I'm not good at RTS games. These guys put on fucking clinics of "shitting on a player" for EndWar. Shit was impressive.

All in all, I'd give it a 7/10. It's fun, and if you like RTS games, you'll enjoy it. If you like gimmicks, you'll probably find it interesting. If you don't like either? Pass.