Endwar

BlitzKrieg

Anyone else giving the multiplayer demo of this a go on xbox live?

The voice com is pretty damn cool, its not completely open, it amounts to telling them to go to specific waypoints and attack certain units.

But had a game there and it was pretty fluid, I was moving units around the map with ease securing points.

It takes a leaf from COH and battlefield with a conquest mode which really lets the voice comm shine. And it also takes COH's retreat element and uses it with voice comm (shouting unit 12 RETREAT! is strangely appealling, though I wish I could name my units, cause then I'd have one called cobra...
COBRA RETREAT!!!!)

its core gameplay though is pretty much a smaller World in Conflict with voice commands

My only complaint atm is the units are not very diverse. two of the 3 sides were available in the demo, USA and Europe and they seemed identical,

It be nice if they put alot more emphasize on secondary abilities in them. At the moment only a few of them have basic ones which I rarely used (helicopter has hot missiles, enginner has mines, command unit has UAV)

IF all the units had a variety of abilities (from smoke to heat rounds for tanks etc) it would put alot more involvment into engagements

it takes a very basic rock paper scissors model though which is sort of weird and can completely murder someone if you counter his opening units.

it goes

Tanks kill transports
transports kill helicopters
helicopters kill tanks
enginners kill tanks
inf kills enginners
tanks kill inf.

the support powers are pretty unimpressive, though I have yet to get defcon and use nukes

pixelburp

I have been intrigued by this game & really only have one question re: its playing; on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a berk do you feel like shouting into your mic for all (it's all isn't it?) your unit commands? It reads like a total gimmick to me & slightly impractical in the heat of an actual on/off line battle.

BlitzKrieg

Eh not a complete berk, i say a 5 or 6.

because the commands are so simply structured and they work in union with the traditional controls you can keep a clear head easily in the heat of combat.

Situations where it works wonders are when you are focusing on microing one group (say choppers cause they need alot more then tanks) around the battlefield harassing enemy troop movements, you can order your other units all around the map with ease or call them in to support while still focusing on your prime unit.

the best voice feature is the simplist. the call for retreat works like a watered down version of the restreat button in COH. Shout it and that unit retreats a short distance, really good if the battle gets too hot for certain units and you cant manage them. Only complaint is the retreat distance is pretty short and against choppers you'll just have them chasing you across the map.

pixelburp

Ah ok - I only ask because the idea of just sitting at your machine shouting "left, attack, retreat" etc etc sounds like something you'd only do when no one was around to hear you But then I guess it's not really any different to any other voice-comm game.

Mind you, the proof of any RTS pudding is always in the balance & uniqueness of the sides.

Maximilian

How does it compare to World in Conflict?

BlitzKrieg

It has one major difference to world in conflict (in the demo at least) it was only 1v1 in the online, so you dont feel as much as a small part of a larger army, as the army as a whole.

So while you control more units and they feel a bit meatier (bigger, less fragile) but they dont have as much in the way of secondary weapons etc (though the wiki says they will in the full game) also the support powers are nowhere near as dynamic

koHd

You can play up to 8 online;

http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/strategy/tomclancysendwar/video.html?sid=6199153&om_act=convert&om_clk=gsupdates&tag=updates;title;5

Just been playin the demo off line and I'm startin to get hooked. The voice commands work brilliantly and I find it much easier to command your army this way. It really is at the speed of thought as they say. Defo not a gimmick. I can see a lot more games with voice command comin over the next few years.

Can't wait til this is released.

Even if you aren't into strategy games you should go out and buy this.

Sephiroth_dude

Is there any demo for the pc?

koHd

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Is there any demo for the pc?

The PC version won't be out until next March.

After playin this some more and watchin others play it a bit more I
'm gettin more and more excited about it.

This could well be the Western worlds Starcraft.

It's extremely watchable and easy to follow as you hear all the players commands. Just about anybody can understand whats goin on and have an opinion on what the player should do, whitout being an expert at the game. And it's entertainin in itself just watchin and listenin to somebody control their army. Much more interestin than watchin somebody clickin or pushin buttons.

The problem with most games for professional gaming is they're just too complex or not interesting enough to watch for the average viewer. I think this game, and subsequent games like it are the answer.