In the year 2020, a global anti-missile shield eliminates the threat of nuclear war. However, the loss of a "mutually assured destruction" scenario, coupled with major political upheavals, paves the way for World War III. Three major factions: America, the European Union and Russia vie for control of the planet. Players choose a side and take command of customized armies in Tom Clancy's EndWar.

EndWar, an online strategy game that plays like a tactical action game, has been designed from the ground up for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 - a major shift for Creative Director Michael de Plator, who has worked on real-time strategy (RTS) hits like Rome: Total War. Whereas real-time strategy games like Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars successfully overlaid a PC control scheme onto a game pad, the developers at Ubisoft Shanghai expunged all thoughts of PCs from their minds as they figure out EndWar's controls. Additionally, it will throw out traditional concepts of single-player vs. multiplayer action and combine them into one seamless concept. Single-player offers tutorials, but the real fighting takes place online. The globe will be divided into territories. Players will decide which ones they wish to engage and then jump into the fray alongside and against other commanders.

The game trades in the god-like top down RTS view for a more restricted character perspective. Although players can choose where to look, the camera is always attached to a unit at any given time. These limitations bring in a different dimension of strategy, since opposing units will be hard to spot from a distance and hidden behind terrain such as mountains and hills, creating plenty of ambush opportunities.

Players can switch to an overhead map view to plan things out. To streamline controls, EndWar includes an optional voice command scheme. From the strategic map, players can shout commands into their headsets, directing squads to assault positions or call in for reinforcements. In combat mode, voice commands can be used to switch to different points of view. Backed by the processing power of the 360 and PS3 consoles, voice recognition should work much better than past endeavors that have been tried on previous platforms, adding an unprecedented sense of immersion, since players will feel as though they will be talking directly to their units.

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