R.U.S.E. PC Preview. - The Next Great RTS Or A Delayed Mistake?

R.U.S.E. PC Preview. - The Next Great RTS Or A Delayed Mistake?
Page content

What is R.U.S.E.?

I’d love to be able to tell you what R.U.S.E. stands for, but Ubisoft is keeping that tightly under wraps. There is a forum featuring a great many guesses by expectant fans, but no confirmations of who is right. The words “Don’t Believe What You See” emblazoned on the box however, give a clue as to what this game is about.

What R.U.S.E. is in terms of gaming is the latest Real Time Strategy game by Ubisoft. R.U.S.E. takes the gamer back to WWII once more, placing them in the role of a commander overlooking the battlefield. While most RTS games do this in some form or another, R.U.S.E. really truly takes this idea to heart. Instead of the micro-management gamers have come to expect from RTS games, R.U.S.E. prefers to leave such mundane details to yesterday’s games. For once, gamers can concentrate on true strategy and let the game handle the rest. Finally, there’s a RTS game that utilizes the concept of strategy.

Graphics…I Need Graphics!

One of the first ways R.U.S.E. differentiates itself from other RTS games are the visuals. Simply put, R.U.S.E. looks to be a beautiful game. Instead of the usual dark and grim WWII scenes, R.U.S.E. prefers to illustrate the era in bright scenes and clean lines. Blue skies are the norm here.

A Beachside View

Another significant aspect of this game is how scalable the viewpoint is. The gamer can view things through the eyes of a line soldier and then quickly zoom out to get a more strategic view of the whole battlefield - as well as the range of views in between these two extremes. This improvement over other RTS’s is significant and should really help to make the gamer feel as if they are “part of the action”.

There is also the use of full motion cinematics, which hopefully will help tell the story without getting in the way of gameplay.

A Ruse By Any Other Name… R.U.S.E. PC Preview

R.U.S.E. In Action

True to it’s name, this RTS gives the gamer ruses they can employ on the battlefield to destroy the enemy. This is where the game really stands out, and with some careful thought, this aspect of the game can truly be effective. So what is a ruse? It’s a set of tools that can fool the opponent. For example, there are Decryption ruses that illuminate enemy movement in a given sector. There are Radio Silence ruses that instruct the allies to remain quiet, thereby hiding them within that sector. There’s a Blitz Plan ruse that doubles how fast your units move so you can attack and take key points on the battlefield. There’s even a Fanatacism ruse which tells the allies to keep fighting no matter what - even to death.

This is a unique and powerful way to play an RTS game, and the ruses in the game should make for a new experience in this genre. It’s interesting to note that R.U.S.E. does not use the fog of war and the implementation of ruses is probably why. Gamers will need to plan carefully and utilize ruses in just the right manner in order to be effective.

R.U.S.E. PC Preview - A Few More Important Details

R.U.S.E. features both a single player campaign as well as online multiplayer/co-op gameplay. The only faction available in the single player campaign is the United States, but all the other factions are available for the online component. The other factions include the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, and the Soviet Union. There is also the concern that the game will be too complicated for the average gamer, but the draw of all R.U.S.E.’s unique features may be enough to overcome that impression.

The drop date for this title is in September 2010. This date has been pushed back a few times, but the impression so far is that such delays have only served to improve what may be the new standard of RTS gaming. If the hype surrounding this game proves to be true, we may be looking at the strategy game all others model themselves after going forward.