t the Ubisoft event back in May, the company showed off a CG trailer for its newly announced Tom Clancy’s EndWar—an all-new Tom Clancy property that ties together elements from previous games. Aside from the video and a list of planned features, the company had little else to show at the time. What a difference three months makes. At the GC 2007 event in Leipzig, Ubisoft showed off the game in a two-player match, giving the assembled press representatives a glimpse at a game that, while still deep in development, looks to back up those early promises with gameplay.

Creative Director Michael de Plater said that Ubisoft Shanghai looked to a few games as inspiration before development began on EndWar. With Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare showed that the company could move from the isometric gameplay of Baldur’s Gate into a fully realized 3D world. EA Sports faced the same challenges with its Madden series. Interestingly, de Paul said the team didn’t look to RTSs, which have had their own successes and missteps shifting from tile-based worlds into more sophisticated 3D environments.

One of the most striking things about EndWar is how close the camera is to the action. Unlike a lot of other games of the same genre, the player has a clear look at individual units, down to the men on the ground. Another departure from other RTSs is how the camera locks onto units and tracks them, rather than just remaining a static observer perched high above the action. There is also a Commander view available, which gives armchair generals a top-down, pseudo-satellite view of the action, with units and structures highlighted. It looks like a good place to plot out your broad strategies, but you’re going to need to be closer to the action if you want to succeed.

Much has been made of EndWar’s control scheme—and for good reason. Instead of forcing players to learn obscure button combinations in order to order troops around, Ubisoft has a couple of tricks up their camoed sleeves. Managing a single soldier or a small squad is a lot different than controlling an entire army, which is where the voice commands come into play.

“Calling all troops. Create group.” With those two sentences, de Plater’s troops did exactly what he told them to—all the available troops were alerted and then grouped together. “Unit 2 camera. Zoom.” After saying that, the camera jumped onto the second unit and, unsurprisingly, zoomed in on the action. When he started talking, blocks of commands appeared on the screen as they were recognized, serving two purposes. First, players can see that the computer is picking up on the words. Second, they show off what commands are available to specific units by listing them.

While the controls are certainly different from what we’ve seen before, the game seemed to be deeply rooted in standard RTS gameplay conventions—and that’s fine. Basically, you’re moving your army across a map to defeat an opposing army. De Plater moved his troops near a building to capture a spot on the map, and they tried to take cover where they could find it, creeping behind buildings. Once spotted, the two sides exchanged gunfire, but little progress was made. That’s when de Plater called in for a little extra help.