R.U.S.E – Preview

And, as if by some kind of demon force, my base has been overrun through the back door again, thanks to some enemy ingenuity and my own carelessness. I’m not entirely sure how it happened but I’m guessing the 20 flame tanks may have something to do with it. Welcome to R.U.S.E, an RTS which asks you kindly to screw with your opposition before they wise up and do the same to you.

Traditional RTS titles usually just ask you to build as many units in as short a time as possible. Master this strategy and, usually, online supremacy awaits, but Eugene Systems have crafted a system where if you’ll spend your time performing optimal build queues, your enemy will have scoped out your base and destroyed it. It’s an interesting dynamic, which is slightly at odds with the predictable RTS setting of World War II, as everything else is far from the genre standard.

Gameplay is dominated by securing supply bases, which provide the war funds for you to buy tanks, planes, artillery and infantry you’ll need to dominate the battlefield. Trucks automatically move back and forth between your headquarters and the supply base, which offers a more plausible basis for your gradually increasing revenue. Units are governed by the usual rock, paper, scissors ruling of dominance, however units like infantry – can gain almost insurmountable odds by utilizing cities or forest as cover. The environment, much like ruses, has the power to turn the tide of battle.

This title looks fantastic, and the zoom system seamlessly provides beautiful visuals but without ever compromising control. Unit size scales as you zoom out, and at the furthest extremities they become stackable tokens. It’s another way which this game sets itself apart and really sells the idea that you are a far away general calmly calculating the tide of battle.

Ruses recharge as you play the game, and you can save each one for when you need it. They each only last for a couple of minutes and you’re restricted to using one per segment of the map.

A big focus

Multiplayer is a big focus, and the game has been built from the ground up to accommodate human versus human matches. The single-player will include most of the major battles from World War II spinning’s the European and Africa campaigns between 1939-1945 unpredictable twists and turns have also been promised by Ubisoft. A certain amount of historical realism has been maintained, with the use of satellite imagery for geographical authenticity and each of the units behave as we would expect.

R.U.S.E is shaping up to be a fantastic RTS title in a genre that’s already packed with games, and even though we took Eugene Systems’ initial promises with a pinch of salt a few months back, they look set to deliver a thrilling, good looking and unpredictable experience.

blog comments powered by Disqus