Tom Clancy's EndWar

Its World War III and the battles are voice-activated. In Tom Clancy’s EndWar, you use your Xbox360 microphone to issue orders to your Russian, American or European troops and then sit back and watch as the action unfolds – calmly giving new commands or frantically rescinding old ones as events on the ground dictate.

Far from a mere gimmick, the voice aspect makes this game a must-have for armchair generals and control freaks everywhere. Orders are given according to a specified syntax, such as, “Unit four, attack hostile three” and after a quick five minutes teaching my Xbox ‘Northern’, I had no problems making myself understood. I felt a real sense of glee marshalling the troops and the fact that they make relevant and varied responses to your commands adds greatly to the sense of immersion. Furthermore, when your carefully laid plans inevitably fall apart, screaming “Unit seven, retreat!” and watching your brave boys attempt to run away and fight another day engenders exactly the right feelings of shame and loss.

If there’s a downside to the game, other than the fact that joining the European faction means getting bossed around by a Frenchman, it is that the armies on offer are a little too simplistic. After being spoiled by games like Red Alert and Generals with their fifty different unit types for each wildly individual faction, EndWar’s seven options repeated across three factions with nothing but a lick of paint and a comedy accent to differentiate them can feel a little underwhelming.

That said, comparing traditional ‘point&click’ strategy games with this interactive offering is a little bit apples and oranges. Whatever is lost in detail and depth is, at least initially, more than made up for by EndWar’s immediacy and immersivity.