14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft can be a pretty weird publisher at times. With no prior announcement, the French company has released a new add on for its console real time strategy title Tom Clancy's EndWar. It's called the Faction Elite Pack and it’s a piece of downloadable content that can be obtained from the Xbox Live Markeplace, if you are playing on an Xbox 360, or from the PlayStation Store, if you are gaming on a PlayStation 3. Ubisoft says that the DLC pack will cost 300 Microsoft Points or the equivalent of 3.99 Euros, for those of us who like to think in real money.
As the name implies, the Faction Elite Pack will add three new battalions to the game, one for each of the factions. Battalions are chosen at the beginning of a campaign by the player and have special characteristics, like emphasizing one unit abilities over the other. The United States of America gets the JSF 15th Special Operations, well known in the Tom Clancy universe, Russia receives the Spetsnaz Alpha Brigade, while the European Federation will have to settle for the Enforcer Corps Battlegroup.
The Faction Elite Pack also includes six new and exclusive unit upgrades, with enticing names like Ceramic Armor for the Spetnaz Guard Brigade and Caseless Ammunition for the European Federation’s gunships. The way the upgrade system works ensures that these will not create an unbalanced game experience.
Ubisoft has already launched another add on for the game, called the Escalation Pack. It's not clear at the moment whether those who have the latest add on, the Faction Elite Pack, will be able to engage in multiplayer matches with those who have the other two versions of the game.
EndWar launched last year and managed to impress with the way it allowed players to control the entire action using voice commands, even though the gameplay could be repetitive and limited.