The Tom Clancy brand has done extremely well for itself.

Having spawned successful franchises like 'Rainbow Six', 'Splinter Cell' and 'Ghost Recon', in 2008 Ubisoft decided to buy the exclusive rights to the 'Tom Clancy' name, which opened some doors in that the Tom Clancy universe could now be extended and shaped without it really being an official Tom Clancy idea, product or story.

And the first entry after said acquisition is the aptly titled 'Tom Clancy's EndWar', an RTS game designed from the ground up specifically for consoles.

I always get slightly nervous at the prospect of playing an RTS on a console. There have been decent attempts to merge the complexity of an RTS game with the console control scheme, but without a doubt the PC have always remained the undisputed platform to experience a great RTS as it was intended to be played, simply because it allows control with a mouse.

This time around, 'EndWar' is not coming to PC's, at least alleviating my fears of a sloppy port being done. It promised intuitive controls, a package tailor made for consoles and, most importantly, innovation in the form of voice commands via a Bluetooth headset.

Although 'EndWar' is by no means a must-have RTS, it's fresh and bold enough to immediately have its own identity, which easily warrants a look. It's a bit too easy, there is a severe lack of depth compared to its PC rivals, and may disappoint RTS purists. But it is a successful first attempt to re-imagine the RTS-genre on consoles, laying a solid foundation for future attempts while gaining invaluable experience.

Before you play the game, a short voice-recognition and calibration process will take place. It's remarkably responsive, and within 10 minutes you're ready to start your first mission.

The story, while competent, is decidedly one dimensional. Containing the usual political and economical intrigue which is staples of any good Tom Clancy premise, it suffers from poor exposition and awkward pacing.

The short version goes something like this: in the nearby future, there are three reigning superpowers: Europe, Russia and the USA. To gain a bit of an upper hand, the US is in the process of launching a military space station that can deploy marines within 90 minutes to any position on the globe. Terrorists launch an attack on the space station, which leads to the start of WWIII. Queue ensuing chaos.

Part of the problem with the single player campaign and the story it's telling is that, despite there being three factions to choose from, the game (and story) plays out in exactly the same fashion. This makes any replayability the game might have had redundant and is rather disappointing considering the wasted potential for different scenarios that could have played out, unique to each faction.

But back to the burning question: how does it play? 'EndWar' is a simplistic look at the RTS-genre, trimmed of all fat, frills and to some extent, depth. You won't be building bases, and your units are mostly very one-dimensional, which would seem blasphemous to the hardcore RTS-fan.

Furthermore, you will issue voice commands from a predefined list of available options. For example, a typical command would be "Unit 2, attack Hostile 4". With your left and right buttons you can choose the unit-view, so to speak, scan the immediate vicinities or horizon for enemies, and issue your command.

As mentioned, the voice commands work surprisingly well and only on a few occasions did it misinterpret what I have said, but this could have been due to lousy pronunciation on my part.

Four game types are used throughout the single player campaign: Assault, Raid, Siege and Conquest, with the latter being arguably the best of the lot. Conquest mode pits you against your enemies in a race to capture half of the points on the map and the short, compact style of the missions and voice commands are the perfect combination for some all-out RTS mayhem.

Unfortunately, once the basic strengths of the units have been discovered, (i.e. helicopters are stronger than tanks, tanks beat transport vehicles) the fun factor is rapidly diminished as the simplistic nature of the game reveals itself.

The multiplayer aspect is fairly intriguing as well, with the 'Endwar' universe constantly being updated depending on the matches played during the day and which factions won the most. The matches can unfortunately get a bit stale after a few playthroughs, and the blame is once again laid squarely on the simplicity of the game.

Overall, the game looks fairly good though — the nuclear explosions look especially fantastic — and the production values of the pre-rendered cut-scenes are top-notch. Similarly, the sound design is very good, with the constant chatter of team mates, the buzzing of aircraft and the ever-present echoes of gunfire and explosions in the background.

'EndWar' may not be the cup of tea of hardened RTS-veterans, but is also something that shouldn't be overlooked. The missions are fun, short and perfect for quick RTS sessions not bogged down with overly complicated trappings. It's not going to set the world on fire though, but it should leave you with a rather warm, pleasing glow in its aftermath.

7.1/10

Buy this game: PS3 | Xbox 360