Leave it to author Tom Clancy to inject realistic military scenarios and politically charged intrigue in all his novels as well as any projected connected to his unique look at the war of tomorrow. Even on the PSP, we’ve joined an advanced fighting squad in the Ghost Recon series, stormed into terrorist strongholds as a member of Rainbow Six and slipped undetected into our enemies’ backyard as a Splinter Cell. Now, Ubisoft gives us a peek into a future where the world is at war once again with Tom Clancy’s EndWar for the PSP.

While the console version offered wide-scaled battles with voice command support, the PSP version of EndWar is a trimmed-down version that concentrates more on the turn-based action as well as the battles in a way that is different from the big boy’s version of the game. In other words, the game might have all the same themes and strategic decision-making gameplay features like the console version but it plays out differently enough to be its own interesting take on World War III.

EndWar brings up a most interesting situation where financial circumstances push Europe into accepting new ties to the United States. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with most European countries as well the Russian president who sees this as an opportunity to separate them from the world to form a new superpower. A conflict between the United States, Europe and Russia escalate when a U.S. space station is sabotaged and thus sparking the third world war in the year 2020. With the formation of three factions, these groups fight for power and control over the entire world.

The single-player mode concentrates on the United State’s Joint Strike Force faction that intends to put an end to the Russian’s Spetsnaz Brigades faction as well as the European Federation Enforces Corps. You take up the role of a young Commander reporting to the frontlines in Europe as you join the war effort. In two Prologues, you will be given a chance to learn the basics of commanding your own unit as well as how to mobilize and utilize them on the battlefield. After the tutorials, you are thrust into a number of battle scenarios as you attempt to secure a victory for the United States and the world before the war destroys the world.

Played over a map that represents real-world locales, the environment is composed of several segments you use to position you various units in a turn-based phase. The maps contain environmental details that include everything from trees to building and famous landmarks such the Eiffel Tower and London Bridge just to name a few. The first phase is Movement Phase and it is here that you place your ground troops and vehicle units in the highlighted areas. The second phase is the Action Phase where you plan and execute your attacks. Once you make a decision, both phases are then engaged and your unit performs the task and then it’s the enemy’s turn.

Making good use of different unit types is also essential and it’s great to see that there are a number of them at your disposal. Aside from ground troops, you will have sea and air units as well as ground vehicles that also include tanks. You will also be able to build military bases and other buildings to repair your vehicles. With each victory you secure, you even earn enough resources to build entire units if your units just so happen to be wiped out during a mission. It will come in handy seeing as the computer-controlled opponents are actually intelligent enough to attempt to counter your every movements.

The mission scenarios are the heart of the game and not only offer inventive missions but also challenging ones as well. With a little over 90 missions, EndWar mixes things up in a variety of ways that take advantage of the locales and environments. The campaign will lead you through a number of difficult scenarios where you are occasionally limited in space, allowing for confrontations that are more direct while other missions will have you making use of your transport vehicles to reach the enemies. If the numerous missions weren’t enough you could always create your won battlefield thanks to the Map Editor feature that you can use during the single-player game as well the game’s multiplayer option.

Visually, EndWar possesses a decent overall presentation that might not be as impressive as the console version but is able to do justice to the maps that are nicely detailed and quite colorful. The visual effects aren’t too impressive seeing as the animations don’t offer much in terms of variety and all battles tend to look the same over time. On the PSP, the maps look decent enough with plenty of details that set each environment apart. There’s not much to the sound, though. Aside from the standard Tom Clancy game military-styled soundtrack, the few sound effects you’ll find in the game do the trick nicely.

Fans of the strategy game genre will not have to look very hard when they want a portable strategy game worthy of their PSP thanks to games like Tom Clancy’s EndWar. Ubisoft did a fantastic job of offering a refreshingly unique strategy game that strays from the console version of the game while remaining faithful to the central theme and interesting scenarios. If you’re a fan of the gene, EndWar has more than enough great elements that make this a fun portable strategy game.

Gameplay: 8.0
You are in command of an impressive unit that includes ground troops and vehicles in a number of interesting scenarios. The intelligent opponent AI in the game’s single-player mode makes the turn-based battles challenging enough for veteran strategy fans and those new to the genre.

Graphics: 7.5
The visuals are very adequate for a strategy game and you’ll recognize locales such as Paris and London rather quickly thanks to the landmarks. There are few animations and visual effects in this game and the battle sequences are not as exciting as they should be in a game about World War III.

Sound: 7.0
The sound effects are simple Ok in this game and the few voices you’ll hear do sound like they’re coming through some communication device. What you’ll hear more from is the soundtrack that does justice to the militaristic theme.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Your every decision will mean utter defeat or a magnificent victory that will tilt the war effort in your favor. As a single-player game, the opponent AI is astoundingly smart enough to counter your tactical decisions and oftentimes they will make good use of their numbers when they really outnumber you.

Concept: 8.0
With over 90 or so missions, this strategy game offers enough interesting battle scenarios as a single-player campaign. You can also create your own battlefield thanks to the deep Map Editor and save them on your Memory Stick to share with others when you play against a friend in the game’s multiplayer mode. 

Multiplayer: 8.0
Like a good game of chess, strategy games are best played with other strategy game enthusiasts and EndWar is no different. While this is strictly an two-player Ad Hoc affair, it’s fun to share player created battle scenarios with a friend. The multiplayer runs at a steady framerate as well. 

Overall: 8.0
A thoroughly enjoyable strategy game with a number of challenging battle scenarios, Tom Clancy’s EndWar for the PSP is a brilliant portable game that serious strategy game fans should definitely not miss. As a single-player game, the lengthy campaign is fun and rewarding. This is certainly one of those games that fans of the genre will have a blast playing.