History VideoGame / EndWar

''[=EndWar=]'' is a real-time strategy game in the Creator/TomClancy line that attempts to capture the notion of modern warfare through aversion or subversion of the tropes we usually associate with real time strategy.

...if only it were that easy.

The story of the game centers around the obvious: WorldWarIII. Set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, major nuclear terrorism in the Middle East in 2016 causes gas prices to skyrocket, with Russia becoming the world's only major exporter of oil. In 2017, the [[KillSat orbital anti-ICBM shield]] jointly deployed by the European Union and the United States goes online, ending the threat of worldwide nuclear war. At the same time, Russia's export of oil and energy causes them to experience a significant economic boom, allowing them to become an international military and economic superpower again. In response to this, Western Europe forges a new charter for the Union, becoming the [[UnitedEurope European Federation]] - with the notable exception of Great Britain. The prologue to the game begins in 2020, with the US about to complete the Freedom Star orbital military platform, which will shift the balance of power - which upsets the EF, who leaves NATO.

That was a lot. You can get a drink, now, and come back when you're ready. The next section spoils the tutorial, for your information.

Needless to say, everything goes wrong. [[FalseFlagOperation "Terrorists"]] attack the three superpowers. The US attacks the EF, believing they're funding the terrorists, because Russia planted the evidence. Before those two can compare notes and come to a conclusion, Russia manages to slip in (again, in the guise of the terrorists) and hijack the missile shield with a virus, and the Freedom Star lifter is mistaken for an ICBM by the missile shield and exploded. Presto. {{World War III}}. The player takes on the role of a battalion commander for an elite force on one of three sides of the conflict:

* [[RussiansWithRustingRockets Russians with Refurnished Rockets]]: While decidedly conventional compared to the Americans and Europeans (relying more on MoreDakka and old-fashioned heavy armor), the Russians by 2020 are a military powerhouse more than capable of beating both sides back. And they seem to have no qualms of doing ''anything'' for the Motherland.

* ArmourPiercingAttack: Special attacks, air strikes and WMDs bypass shields completely. This can be used to quickly [[CoupDeGrace execute fleeing enemies]] when the unit can't stay around to engage.

** [[spoiler: Third Echelon has been branded as a terrorist organization and replaced with Fourth Echelon]], [[spoiler: [=EndWar=], HAWX, and VideoGame/GhostRecon disagree about the timing and the nature of the war with Russia]]
** [[spoiler: it seems to ignore or not mention the previous total war with Russia, which ended in total defeat ''for'' Russia, in the first Ghost Recon, even though it happened less than a decade before [=EndWar=].]]

** [[spoiler: Third Echelon has been branded as a terrorist organization and replaced with Fourth Echelon]], [[spoiler: [=EndWar=], HAWX, and GhostRecon disagree about the timing and the nature of the war with Russia]]

* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler:Captain Scott Mitchell]] (of the ''GhostRecon: Advanced Warfighter'' series) is alive and well in this game, so if you play this before ''Advanced Warfighter 2'' [[spoiler:(where Mitchell is last seen critically injured and being evacuated due to his injuries)]], the impact of that game's ending is rendered pointless.

** European Panther 1A3 Tanks, with their reporting name calling back to the rightly feared Panther tanks of the [[WorldWar2 previous World War.]]

* LethalJokeCharacter: Command vehicles appear to be practically useless in combat, only armed with a single short-changed defensive weapon that you can't even control. In fact, the entire game works to portray the vehicle as a rear support vehicle, from the in-game tips literally declaring the vehicle ineffective in combat to the vehicle being granted a "bodyguard" of drones to protect and handle the footslogging for it. What they ''don't'' tell you, however, is that the vehicle has the single highest health of any unit in the game and its "defensive" weapon has a monstrously high damage output. Granted, the vehicle is slow enough such that it can't chase down fleeing enemies, but it's sheer survivability makes it useful as a [[barrierWarrior battering ram]], simply driving up to and parking on top of a defended position. The enemies are forced to abandon their post or tank the damage of the command vehicle's gun (particularly useful in breaking force recon or uplink defenders as they cannot flee). Commanders underestimating the power of the command vehicle have had units singlehandedly wiped out.

* OhCrap: Radio chatter from units who are at a disadvantage consists primarily of them discussing how screwed they are, usually at high volume and with a lot of panic in their voices.

** European Panther 1A3 Tanks. Used in masse, with they fast-firing 120mm main guns, they can destroy almost evertyhing in the field.

** One possible callsign for American [=IFV=]s is [[CitizenKane Rosebud]].

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Units that lose 75% of their HP are "down", and send up a flare to signal for evacuation after recharging their shields. Particularly unpleasant enemies may continue firing on them, or at their transport choppers, in order to kill them completely (see: LostForever). The acceptability, fairness, and overall jerkitude of using this tactic is debated in multiplayer games.

* LostForever: Any unit which ''completely'' loses their HitPoints is removed from your persistent battalion - as is its experience. It's immediately replaced by a green unit, but still, you feel it.

** It should be noted that units being 'killed' in the game are LostForever, which doesn't always happen with your units being hit by a WMD, but it will make them incapable of fighting.

** The ''ElitePack'' DLC added [[UpToEleven Elite Armies]] ''[[UpToEleven for]]'' [[UpToEleven the Elite Armies]]: the JSF 15th Special Operations, Spetsnaz Alpha Brigade and EF Battlegroup 1. How Elite? Where every other army is lead by a [[ColonelBadass Colonel]], this one is lead by a [[FourStarBadass General]]. Heck, 40 turns into the game, the overall commander of the '''entire faction''' takes over the Elite battalion (for the AI).

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: Battles can happen in the US.

* SceneryGorn: A large battle (or WMD strike) will eventually end with a significant portion of the city flattened, bodies littering the streets, forests burning down and the husks of vehicles dotting the landscape.

* BondOneLiner: Just prior to bringing up the mission results screen, your [=XO's=] will make rather nasty quips about your opponents if you won. For example, beating the EFEC as the JSF yields...or beating the JSF with the EFEC:
--> '''Maj. Alice Dennison:''' Sleep tight, Eurotrash.
--> '''Capt. Ilaria Cimino:''' Now i see why americans don´t believe in evolution.

--> '''Capt. Ilaria Cimino:''' Now i see why american´s don´t believe in evolution.

* BondOneLiner: Just prior to bringing up the mission results screen, your [=XO's=] will make rather nasty quips about your opponents if you won. For example, beating the EFEC as the JSF yields...

* MnogoNukes[=/=]PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower: Due to the joint missile shield, no one can launch [=ICBMs=]. This just means that they have to get creative with their [=WMDs=].

* EMP: A mission support call-in that can disable enemy vehicles, drones and shields in its blast radius for a short time as well as [[InterfaceScrew removing the map]] on the enemy's screen and [[DefogOfWar revealing the targeted area]]. Interestingly, the Spetznaz level 2 EMP shows [[HollywoodHacking a hacker hacking a computer]].

** Transports have this as their {{hat}}, [[AntiAir filling the sky with bullets to shoot down aircraft]]. Again, the Russians take the cake with their transports having two barrels compared to the JSF's one and the EFEC's rockets.

* UnitsNotToScale: Thoroughly averted when it comes to units on the field. Played straight when a single transport helicopter drops off 4 tanks, [[ClownCarBase each as big as itself]].

* AttackDrone: JSF and EFEC command vehicles are escorted by a squad of these. They're armed with machine guns by default, but can be upgraded with missiles (JSF) or lasers (EFEC). However, they're not especially powerful against anything except gunships. Non-upgraded drones can also be deployed by Engineers to defend an Uplink. Neither variant can be directly controlled, though the escort variant can be ordered by the command vehicle to attack specific targets.

** It can be horribly tempting (particularly against AI) to call down a WMD strike on the last incapacitated unit of your enemy when victory is assured.

!!This game provides aversions of:

** [[VideoGame/GhostRecon Ghost Recon: Future Soldier]] takes place ''after'' this time or at least close to this time period and Russia as well as most of the world is still intact.

* OrnamentalWeapon: Riflemen and Engineers have what you would expect from a modern day infantryman modelled on their bodies. For example, the JSF Marksman has what appears to be a smoke grenade on his belt which he cannot use, the Russian Engineer has a backpack with a string of grenades which he cannot use and the JSF and Russian soldiers all carry a combat knife even though they would rather shoot you point blank with a rifle than whip it out.
* [[RussiansWithRustingRockets Russians with Refurnished Rockets]]: While decidedly conventional compared to the Americans and Europeans (relying more on MoreDakka and old-fashioned heavy armor), the Russians by 2020 are a military powerhouse more than capable of beating both sides back. And they seem to have no qualms of doing ''anything'' for the Motherland.
* RedShirts[=/=]{{Mooks}}: "Army troops" are your RedShirts and enemy Mooks. They have no shields and effectively serve no real purpose other than to fight it out between themselves and whichever Special Forces (player units) they stumble upon. The [[WeHaveReserves Force Recon upgrade deploys slightly tougher ones with Fast Attack Vehicles and Tanks to wherever the player needs them.]]
** To be fair, they do stand a chance against Gunships and Engineers if they are lucky or [[MoreDakka concentrate their fire]].

* CommandAndConquerEconomy: The only currency worth anything is Command Points, which slowly build over time and can also come from securing Uplinks. Played somewhat straight when nothing gets upgraded without your say-so and you have to spend Command Points to set a forward uplink as your landing zone when the transport helicopter should logically be able to fly anywhere.
* ConstructAdditionalPylons: As has been stated earlier, units are air-lifted from off map. Also, your mission type determines how many Reinforcements you have, and how many units you can have deployed at once. The closest you get to base building is by upgrading uplinks to provide access to army reinforcements, EMP blasts, and Air Strikes.
* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: Despite all three factions having the same units, there are subtle differences in their capabilities and upgrades. However, the [[TacticalRockPaperScissors combat chain]] remains identical for all factions.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Units will lose troops or vehicles, and therefore firepower, when their health bar depletes. Units taken down to 25% health will send up a flare, disengage, and wait for evac.
** This also means that if a transport unit is carrying infantry, the squad inside transports that get destroyed will also die, and a transport unit missing vehicles will not be able to transport a full infantry squad.
* DefconFive: [=WMD=]s become available at Defcon One.
* HeroUnit: Not present at all. The command vehicle might count, but it's really not good at all in combat; its really more {{Mission Control}} than anything else. Arguably, a Legendary unit might count, but they're still as much fodder as any other unit.
* MnogoNukes[=/=]PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower: Due to the joint missile shield, no one can launch [=ICBMs=]. This just means that they have to get creative with their [=WMDs=].
* ObviousBeta: Double-subverted. About a month before the game's release, Ubisoft released a public beta of the game.
* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: You don't build stuff. Units are flown in from off-map via the same transport helicopters that evacuate them. Even upgrading uplinks reveals that the upgrade is actually stored inside the uplink itself. (where it gets the space to store 3 separate versions of antennae is [[ClownCarBase another problem]])
* SlapOnTheWristNuke: Yeah, those [=WMD=]s will kill ANYTHING. A full health-shield Command Vehicle at ground zero is just about the only thing that will survive.
** It should be noted that units being 'killed' in the game are LostForever, which doesn't always happen with your units being hit by a WMD, but it will make them incapable of fighting.
** Just watch where you point those things, because they will destroy YOUR units just as easily as the Enemy's.
* UnitsNotToScale: Thoroughly averted when it comes to units on the field. Played straight when a single transport helicopter drops off 4 tanks, [[ClownCarBase each as big as itself]].