In the war being waged to invade consoles with real-time strategy games, more battles have been lost than won. Electronic Arts has taken more than their fair share of battlefield falls with an underwhelming release of Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars that hardly worked toward the specific needs of Xbox 360. Hardly anyone bought SEGA's port of Universe at War: Earth Assault, which isn't surprising given how poorly it was tailored to a controller. This is a war without end, however, as more real-time strategy games are on the way. That isn't to imply that it's a losing proposition; instead, Tom Clancy's EndWar could break the string of losses. While more time is necessary to get a definitive feel for the game's accessibility, it's looking good to become the first truly playable strategy game on a console.

EndWar follows the outbreak of World War III as American, European, and Russian forces clash in a conflict over natural resources. Unlike a typical real-time strategy game though, the outcome of the war depends wholly on the results of competition among players online. A set of single player missions arranged into a short campaign offer a sort of tutorial to brief you on the game's mechanics. This campaign, however, sets the stage for the real war that is to go down in the inventive multiplayer Theater of War mode. In short, you venture online to battle against others in proxy battles that contribute to the overall balance of power. Should players belonging to your faction succeed in their individual battles, your faction emerges victorious. It's an interesting structure, one that forces you to hone your tactical skills in battles that constantly shift due to the actions of real opponents in real time.

Of course, the inventive approach EndWar takes is all for naught if the tactical mechanics fail to function on a console. Fully understanding the limitations of a controller versus the freedom afforded by a mouse and keyboard configuration, the game aims to simplify tactical orders and the process for building structures and new units. An on-screen series of collapsible menus enable you to navigate options using the left thumbstick. As you'd expect, flipping through menus with a controller takes considerably more time than tapping a keyboard hot key; however, opting for voice commands is faster all around. Any command that can be issued via the controller is possible by speaking specific phrases into a compliant headset.

Everything from the deployment of new units to technical upgrades to adjusting the camera can be accomplished through voice commands. Directing a specific unit to move, for example, requires stating the unit's numerical designation and the point of destination. Unit designations line the bottom of the screen, so a quick glance informs you of each unit's title. "Unit six, move to foxtrot," would order the identified unit to head on over to that way point. If you needed to pan the camera over to another set of forces on the opposite end of the battlefield without scrolling manually, shouting "unit five camera" instructs the game to switch the view to that specific unit. These voice commands do wonders for directing units on the battlefield, especially when juxtaposed against a controller. This could be the first real-time strategy game to actually nail controls on a console.

No matter how intuitive the controls are, you're still going to need to contrive clever strategies if you plan on winning against opponents online. Achieving victory in most battles requires either entirely eliminating your opponent's forces or capturing and holding a majority share of control points. Beating our enemies in the Conquest of La Mancha, for instance, had us capturing uplink locations scattered about the map. In addition to being the primary objective of the battle, uplink points act as remote bases. Capturing one enables you to call in air support, upgrade units, and access other tactical aids. As such, gaining possession of these points is challenging because of their mission-critical nature; in short, everybody is gunning for them.