Besides, for every negative we can think of about Endwar we can also think of one or two positives. The game is obviously a labour of love for many of the developers and it's clear than an awful lot of work has gone into not just perfecting the admirable science behind the vocal recognition software, but also the balancing and technicalities of the game itself.

There are still a few things which need to be cleared up to satisfy our curiosity -- is the game part of an entirely new franchise Ubisoft are launching and will the game be staying as an Xbox 360 exclusive, for instance. These are matters on which Ubisoft is keeping understandably a bit quiet on for the moment.

Still, whether or not the franchise looks set to spore one thing is certain for the moment and that's that Real-time Strategy buffs are in for a definite treat when it comes to / /Tom Clancy's Endwar. The game may still look a little bit rough and may be a bit on the small-scale side of things, but the game is very fast-paced and has a deceptive level of depth once you've got to grips with the voice controls and are able to order groups to take cover in buildings or unleash special abilities.

/ /Endwar is an interesting looking game and while it obviously isn't going to be the definitive Tom Clancy experience by the look of things (that honour still lies with //Rainbow Six), it could certainly be one of the most interesting console games of this year regardless.