EndWar Interview - part one

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We chat with EndWar's Creative Director

EndWar Creative Director Michael de Plater knows the RTS genre like the back of his hand. Hisportfolio includes the likes of Creative Assembly and the Total War franchise. At Ubisoft's recent Ubidays event, wesat down with Plater to learn more about how his team intends to make a console RTS that actually works.

Tell us how EndWar will redefine the RTS on a console. Some pretty big claims came from the conference.

de Plater: Yes there were, but I think it's not even a case of "redefine" because I don't ever think it's been defined. This will actually define RTS on console. We are to the RTS genre what Knights of the Old Republic was to the RPG genre, or what GTA was to action-driving.

By designing the game from the ground up as a genuine immersive 3D experience designed for a console - what Halo was to the FPS - that's how we're taking the genre onto console.

From a control point of view, how will EndWar differ from the likes of Command & Conquer 3 on Xbox 360?

de Plater: We haven't looked at the conventions of PC RTS games at all. The game's we've looked at have been tactical shooters where you give squad mates pretty simple commands like Brothers in Arms. Use the D-pad to select and press A to send them there. It's got to be that easy to issue the orders.

Additionally it's very easy to group guys. You select multiple units by pushing up on the D-pad. There are no modifiers and no tricky combos to learn. If you can give a squad an order in Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon then you'll be able to play EndWar.

Plus on top of that you've got the voice command that lets you shortcut or give high level orders to your whole army. You could literally start a game, give the command "All units attack" and let the AI push forward an assault the enemy. You could then drop in and manage squads or micromanage right down to the level of each unit.