R.U.S.E - Move PlayStation 3

Released on 10/09/2010

• R.U.S.E - Review

  
  

  

  The artifice of war

  From the outside, R.U.S.E. may look like just another World War II strategy game. You harvest resources from nearby supply depots, build up your base, create armies of troops, tanks and aircraft, and march them off to do battle. The truth is, it's anything but.

  The big difference is that RUSE, as the name suggests, is all about deceiving your opponent as to what you're actually doing by feeding him false information. At any time during the course of a battle, you can tap Y and bring up the menu, which gives you access to all your unit-building options and the all-important RUSE menu.

  When you or your opponent zoom out to see the map from a greater height, you're able to see the general disposition of forces on the battlefield. Friendly - and enemy - units are represented as stacks of circular chips, whose size denotes roughly what they are. Large chips, for example, represent heavy units such as tanks or artillery, while smaller ones may represent infantry or recon units. Therefore, at any given time, you can see roughly what sort of foes you're facing, and where they're going on the map.

   

  

  Confound and conquer

  The Ruses allow you to jimmy around with your opponent's perception of this. Reverse Intel, for example, swaps your light unit-markers for heavy unit-markers in order to fox your foe, while Decoy Offensive creates balsa-wood tanks and troops that charge around the battlefield, but ultimately disappear in a puff of smoke when his units come close enough to see.

  Some of the Ruses also apply to your forces, and your perception of the battlefield. Blitz, for example, improves your troops' movement speed for a limited time, while The Spy gives you a brief glimpse of exactly what enemy forces are in a given sector. Bear in mind that your opponent has Ruses of his own, so it's counter-measures such as this that help you keep a handle on what's really going on in the field.

  But this extra layer of intelligence and counter-intelligence isn't just a gimmick. Beneath the frantic dealing-out of Ruses lies a well-made real-time strategy game that's both fast and fun. The satisfaction of sending a wave of bombers over your enemy's frontline armies is a thing of glory - as is the surprise when you find out it's just a decoy, and his real troops are sneaking around to flank your base.

   

  

  Fights, camera, action

  The single-player campaign is a slow-burner, as it drip-feeds you new Ruses as the missions progress. It leads you into the system pretty gently though, in preparation for the moment when you go online, and just like any multiplayer game, there's no opponent quite like a human opponent. It's online where you'll face your greatest challenges, and your most thrilling victories.

  It's also worth noting that, unlike many strategy games, RUSE is a breeze to control. There's a great sense of freedom to the way you scoot your camera-view around the battlefield, and with all movement confined to the analogue sticks of the joypad, it's so intuitive that it feels almost like a first-person shooter. The engine is also tremendously scalable, as you can micro-manage individual units from ground level, but with a swift flick of the stick, the view zooms right out to take in the whole battlefield, where troops can be ordered to move en masse.

  Easy to play, and with an extra level of intelligence-management that strategy games generally lack, RUSE is a fast and furious blast across the battlefields of World War II.

  GAME's Verdict:

  
  

  The Good

  • Smooth, intuitive controls.
    
  • Neat system of deception.
    
  • Fast-paced strategy.

  The Bad

  • Campaign a bit slow.
    
  • Unit models could use a polish.
    
  • Could use more unit types.

  Published: 15/09/2010

• R.U.S.E. Review

  Ruse or lose

  A one-of-a-kind real-time strategy game, World War II-themed R.U.S.E. allows you to bluff your enemies to lead your nation to victory. Rendered as a turn-based board game but playing out in real time, the title's unique twist is the ability to play different ruses – cards that let you alter your opponent's perception of the battlefield as you a bid to deceive and outsmart them on the fly.

  Theatre of war

  R.U.S.E.'s campaign features two storylines, one from the Allied point of view and one from the Axis, although there are six factions to play as in multiplayer, each with their own variations on unit types. You observe battles from two perspectives, a general's viewpoint from a command centre away from the action, and that of a ground officer's in the heat of the battle.

  Battles are won with bluffs, double bluffs and by second-guessing your opponent's moves.

  The former lets you view giant maps split into grids featuring poker chips of different colours representing friendly and enemy troops, while the latter, switched to using a quick camera zoom, allows you to man-manage every individual unit's placement.

  One lets you analyse and dictate the ebb and flow of battle from a distance, while the other exposes you to your troops fighting it out in fantastic and bloody detail in real time. It's a great marriage of viewpoints that's easily controllable using the analogue stick, which hints at one of R.U.S.E.'s greatest successes – a simple to use control scheme. The game's complexities are cleverly attributed to just a handful of buttons, making it accessible without dumbing down its strategy elements.

  Bluff up
  

  Battles are won with bluffs, double bluffs and by second-guessing your opponent's moves. Ruse cards, which come in limited, replenishing supplies, change perceptions of the battlefield by offering temporary intelligence and counter-intelligence advantages. These ruses, or deceptions, are split into three categories. Reveal ruses include Spy Plan, which shows you all of the unidentified units in a given sector, and Decryption, which reveals all enemy orders in the area, enabling you to see the opponent troops' actions one step in advance.

  The ruse cards bring something new and exciting to the genre.

  Hide ruses like Radio Silence and Camouflage Net let you conceal your troops or buildings from your opponent's radar, meaning you can create hidden factories behind enemy lines and produce secret armies your foe doesn't expect to fight. Meanwhile, Fake ruses are used to trick or confuse your enemy. For example, the Decoy Offensive lets you create five decoy units to simulate an army and an attack, misdirecting your opponent to a threat that isn't real. You might think you know where the action's occurring but it's not always safe to trust your eyes. More than a simple gimmick, the ruse cards bring something new and exciting to the genre.

  Victory

  Unlike some RTS games, R.U.S.E. rewards strategy over other elements such as the speed of your actions, allowing you to use your brain as the ultimate weapon and ensuring that the smartest players are likely to triumph over the fastest clickers. While the WWII setting is conservative and the storyline's not the most engaging, R.U.S.E.'s great looks, excellent controls and exciting gameplay mechanics make it one of the best console RTS titles available.

  GAME's Verdict

  

  • Fantastic ruses which add something refreshing to the RTS genre.
  • Accessible controls.
  • Great looking.

  

  • Takes a while to get to grips with.
  • WWII setting is a bit conservative.
  • The story isn't that original.

  Review by: Tom 'The General' Ivan
  Version Tested: Xbox 360
  Review Published: 07.09.10

  Published: 07/09/2010

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