Lies, deception, espionage, misdirection. These are all concepts of war that have been employed since the dawn of man. Gaining a tactical advantage over your enemy through misinformation and bluffing has proven through history to turn the tide on battles that once seemed unable to be won. This is the concept of Ubisoft’s leap into the world of real-time strategy.
Game: R.U.S.E.
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Eugen Systems
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Price: $59.99
Verdict: A unique and intelligent RTS entry into the console market
Pros: Excellent controls, fun multiplayer, unique combat initiatives
Cons: Bad single-player, uninspired cut scenes, mundane story
Acquired via Publisher
R.U.S.E. is a unique RTS game brought to the often ignored console world that quickly sets itself apart from other games of the genre. Ubisoft was generous enough to provide GrE with a copy of R.U.S.E. on the PlayStation 3, which normally would spell disaster as RTS titles and consoles often have the same compatibility of oil and water. This happens to be quite the contrary with this title as R.U.S.E. controls quite naturally with a PlayStation 3 controller in hand. You’re given ultimate control over your battlefield through full zooming technology that can close in on so much detail, you’ll witness troops flail around as they meet their demise from your latest dispatch of force. Even the way you view the game is unique as the game takes place on the war table of a strategist general of the Army in command. What really sets R.U.S.E. apart is the concept that is hinted by its name. As you control your forces across the battlefield, you’re given a series of ruses such as fake radio transmissions or feint troop movements which attempt to fool your foe into thinking the battle is happening in one area while you prepare your forces to attack their blind side. Effective use of these ruses can lead to certain decimation of your enemy if played correctly.
All of this would be enough to suggest rushing out and purchasing the game right now if it weren’t for the fact that the single player aspect of the game was so lacking. Sub-par visuals in the cut scenes lead to very plastic-looking character models that often give off a creepy, dead-eyed stare that takes away from the gravity of the situation at hand. Couple that with amateur voice acting and it feels like the story setup isn’t even worth watching. When you’re finally into the game and controlling your forces, you’re given a slew of predictable story queues that play out as you’d expect any advancement in World War II to behave. To say that this part of the game is its biggest detractor would be an understatement.
Thankfully, multiplayer is where this game truly comes alive. The advent of ruses in the game paired with the unpredictability of playing a human counterpart make for a game far superior to typical RTS gameplay. Feinting your advance and using your other ruses wisely can give you logical waypoint capturing and resource collecting to give you an edge up over your opponent that is far and away different from the typical build-until-you-overpower that plagues so many other games of this ilk. Learning how each ruse plays out can benefit your control of the board greatly. That is, of course if your opponent hasn’t also learned the ropes with their ruses. Unfortunately this is rarely ever experienced as the multiplayer matchmaking system in R.U.S.E. leaves much to be desired. Finding a game is almost impossible. If you setup a board yourself and await a random player, you’ll often be staring at the same screen for no less than 30 minutes before someone may find you and join for a battle. Whether this is a flaw in the net code or the fact that no one is playing the game remains to be seen. Either way, it is very disheartening as the battles can become quite epic in scale when you have real world logic opposing you on the other end of the board.
There does seem to be a big issue on balance in the game though. Artillery can do massive damage on your forces, which may or may not be an accurate reflection of real battle, but to the same effect, a single entrenched unit under cover can spell certain death to an entire tank squadron. If a player gets control of the air early and builds an effective air force, there is little in the way to stop that person from completely controlling the tide of the battle.
In the end, R.U.S.E. finally brings a competent RTS game to the consoles and does it in a unique and enjoyable way. The controls are logical and very well done and the game brings a new and intriguing element that can only be improved upon in the future. Fans of RTS style games that own a console may want to check this game out because it does set itself apart from the masses of other games in this genre. While it does have its problems, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a good time playing the game.
GrE Grade: B
Popularity: unranked [?]
