Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I desperately wanted to love RUSE and for the first two hours I did. You begin the game as an (initially) interesting US Army Major of the 1st Armored Division in the infamous Kasserine Pass. At your command are historical units engaged in deliberately paced and tactically based action all presented in an attractive and zoom-able tabletop environment. What's not to love?
Unfortunately as the Single Player Campaign progresses the game's mechanics begin to breakdown. RUSE is a game that wants you to look at the "big picture" but ends up forcing you to micromanage on the ground. The combat revolves around the tried and true "rock, paper, scissors" concept. Here this translates as tank units kill infantry units who kill anti-tank units who then kill tank units. This is then reapplied to air units. Pretty simple right? Well not entirely.
RUSE is many enjoyable things but a historically accurate or realistic war game it is most defiantly not. Many of your units, which were historically very versatile platforms, are represented in this game as part time assets that must be babysat so as not to turn into total liabilities. It's very shocking the first time you see armored, self propelled anti-tank units with 88mm cannons and 7.92mm machine guns retreating from Infantry advancing across open terrain because they're "rock" to the infantry's "paper". This creates an environment where the tactical level becomes a burden which must be borne instead of a fun challenge to overcome. The player will also note with frustration that the developers have thrown any and all semblance of historical accuracy out the window at the strategic level as well. Being presented with a situation where you're asked to take part in a counter offensive after the Battle of the Bulge where the Germans have dominating air superiority would be amusing if said level where not so infuriating.
Not to say the tactical level is not without its pleasures. The designers made excellent use of line of sight concepts (despite the ability to shoot through forests which is simply bizarre) and the ambush. The first time I saw a light tank from an advance element sprinting down the cobblestone street of a small Italian town and then the whoosh of my waiting infantry's bazooka and the resulting fireball I had an ear to ear grin of pleasure. This combined with the emphasis placed on recon units allows the true use of enfilade, L-shaped ambushes and some other realistic tactics. Unfortunately, again, as the game progresses you are forced to fumble with poorly grouped and managed units at the strategic level which simply doesn't allow for the implementation of much of the careful attention required to do these things.
While I'd like to be able to say that the Campaign is, by far and away, the worst portion of RUSE the truth is that it has some very stiff competition from the poorly constructed, stand alone "what if" scenarios available. Some are embarrassingly easy, others incomprehensibly hard but none of them are actually fun.
The one aspect of RUSE that does translate well is the multi-player. Because your opponent doesn't have the ability to simply spam you with units like the computer does the tactical aspect becomes fun again and the strategic level becomes as important as it should actually be. The "RUSE ability", which is a collection of psychological actions, fakes, feints, espionage and counter-espionage tactics, actually has a use against a human opponent whereas they are often left either forgotten or unpleasantly forced into use in a linear fashion during the campaign.
The bottom line is that RUSE is not a realistic war or historical strategy game. It's simply an RTS set in World War II which is usually frustrating but occasionally brilliant. The bulk of the enjoyment the player will get out of the game is in playing other people so I'd recommend a rental to WWII and RTS enthusiast so they can try out the multi-player and before they sink the retail price into the game.
Pros:
*Looks great with very smooth camera action.
*Terrain details and map lavished with attention.
*When ambushes and complex plans work the game comes to life.
*Tactical mechanics conductive to multi-player.
*A wide variety of units and factions which play slightly different.
*Real time saves/loads.
Subjective qualities:
*A deliberate, even slow, pace of game play.
*Game play forces player to play on both tactical and strategic levels.
* Campaign missions "unfold" with progressive goals.
Cons:
*Silly unit attributes and abilities.
*Tedious micromanagement which robs the strategic level of any fun.
*A sub par AI which spams the player with units.
*Really poor level design.
*Some missions are frustrating in their difficulty.
*Obvious, eye roll inducing, storyline.
Click Here to see more reviews about: R.U.S.E.
Rebirth of the RTS Genre Through Deception Developed by Eugen Systems, R.U.S.E is a WWII based Real-time Strategy(RTS) game that is set to refresh the genre through the introduction ofbattlefield deception on a major scale. Of course the existence of deceptionas a tactic is as old as the RTS genre itself, but the approach to thistaken by R.U.S.E is far beyond anything that has come before it.Instead of the one-off ploys and minor misdirections enacted at players'discretion seen in other games, R.U.S.E. Raises deception to thelevel of an integral battlefield tactic. Deceptive tactics, known as "Ruses,"allow players to do things like bluff enemies in order to lead your nation'sarmy to victory, camouflage your troops, lure your opponent with decoy units,sabotage his logistics and more. Ruses are built into the game's mechanicsin the form of "cards" that can be played at particular times. There aremany of these to choose from and use in accordance with particular scenariosand unit abilities. Just a few of these include:
Radio Silence - A way to hides all units in a sector from an enemy intelligence system.
Spy Plan - Reveals all unidentified units in the sector and keeps spy units hidden from the enemy detection system as long as they do not leave the affected area.
Decryption - Reveals all enemy orders in a chosen sector.
Decoy Offensive - Creates 5 decoy units to simulate an actual attack, drawing enemy forces out.
Camouflage Net - Hides buildings and production facilities from enemy intelligence resulting in possible flanking scenarios by unexpected forces and unseen resources.
Dimension is another fundamental aspect of R.U.S.E. That highlights theimportance of deception. The IRISZOOM Engine, utilized by R.U.S.E.Displays maps a hundred times larger than in traditional RTS games, whichraises strategy to an unprecedented scale and gives deception a lot moredepth. With the zoom, you are able to both command your units as a chief-in-commandand manage your troops at a tactical level as a ground officer; for exampleby deploying a fake offensive on your opponent’s HQ while carefully hidingyour infantry in villages to ambush the surrounding tanks. Playable Factions and Multiplayer Because R.U.S.E. Is set during the WWII era, playable factionsseen within the game are reflected in the combatants of that conflict.Centered around the European theater, players can expect see nations including:US, UK, Germany, USSR, Italy and France. Each have specific units, strengths,tendencies and tactical deceptive leanings. Also, since fooling a humanplayer is very different than doing the same against AI, in addition toa deep 23-mission single player campaign, multiplayer options play a majorrole in R.U.S.E., To the tune of up to 8 players getting togetherand battling it out online across huge battlefields. In fact, multiplayeris the dominant mode available in R.U.S.E. And players will beable to set up games with their own preferences thanks to several parameters(number of available ruses, conditions of victory, game time, 1939, 1942or 1945 mode, etc.). Key Game Features
RTS action that includes becoming a master of deception on the battlefield using tactics like decoys, camouflage, radio silence, deciphering to mislead enemies.
Experience war as a strategist commanding a huge spectrum of mechanized and infantry units.
Choose between six Axis or Allied powers with specific units and abilities and tactical leanings.
Test your strategic skills with fast-paced, addictive adversarial skirmishes, up to 8 players.
R.U.S.E. Displays maps a hundred times larger than in traditionalRTS games, which makes raises strategy to an unprecedented scale andgives deception a lot more depth.
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