14 DAY TRIAL // EndWar was one of the innovative games of the last year. The Shanghai developed and Ubisoft published real time strategy title paired voice commands with a focus on small unit tactics and a super weapon system that always gives the losing player a chance to catch up and turn the tide of battle.
Still, the game lacked an enticing storyline and enough diversity to attract a huge number of fans. Luckily, Ubisoft has tasked the same Shanghai studio with creating a sequel to the game, addressing these problems by putting together a title that focuses on depth and single player story.
Michael De Plater, who is the creative director of Ubisoft, told Videogamer that “You compare it to World in Conflict, or Company of Heroes, where they invest a lot in the storytelling, there’s no mysteries about how we could do that and apply it in the game, it’s just something we didn’t give attention to. Giving more attention to the single-player is straightforward to address and will make the game a lot of fun.”
The original EndWar provided Ubisoft with a very powerful platform, with capable tech, good graphics, complex game mechanics and well balanced combat situations. All that it was lacking was a way of bringing it all together and making the player involved in what's happening.
Still, the game managed to sell around 1.5 million units and initial development of a sequel is being handled by a small team, which at the moment is looking at how it can use the tech available to create something more immersing, able to engage the player in the same way that Company of Heroes and World in Conflict do. De Plater did not talk about a specific date for EndWar 2 but his statement suggests that the game is in its early stages and a release will not come until late 2010 or early 2011.