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Mid-combat
cut-ins give you a
much better view of the objectives... and destruction of them when you
bomb them to smithereens.
Like any real time strategy game,
resource collection and
base building is present, but highly automated and allows you to focus
on the
action at any given point in time.
RUSE
is a game of deceit, much like the name implies.
Charging along a road will only lead to you
engaging a pack of decoy tanks, being blasted by anti-tank guns from
the nearby
forest, or stumbling into enemy artillery.
More than ever, intelligence is power in this game, and
all of the
factions of the Axis and Allies can use it against their opponents.
Even the plot takes on the deception
theme as each character
has their own motives and will exploit each other to their own benefit.
style=""> The single player story is
told through a
series of cutscenes and missions, with the pre-mission briefings being
done in
average 3D renders. It
lacks the camp of
the Command and Conquer games, and could be likened to the Act of War
series a
couple years ago. The
campaign is
serious in tone and you wont be seeing any Tesla Coils or Tim Curry
roles Im
afraid (though Id say Im in the right when I say these two things
make any
game better!)
Cautions
Mild Language, Mild Violence, Use of Tobacco
RUSE brings nothing to the table that you wouldnt see on network TV. It has a rating of Teen, and is suitable for all players that can understand its depth.
Gameplay - 80 / 100
The meat and potatoes of any RTS is in the combat of course, and RUSE pulls it off fairly well. Clashing units will open fire happily upon any targets in sight, automatically switching weapons to the ideal anti-tank or infantry tool. Ambushes and deception reign supreme, with a major part of the game being reconnaissance. An unspotted unit will open fire on a target that gets in range with a whopping 300% damage bonus. This leads to a lot of terrible, terrible damage.
Taking a page somewhat from the Relic series of RTS games, units that are crippled will rout. You lose complete control of them and they will retreat in a direction for a duration that varies depending on if the enemy continues to fire on them, and then will return to combat at full strength. This brings into play a very important factor of RUSE.
Units have very little variance and ways to determine how much damage theyve taken, so it can be difficult to determine how close a vehicle is to routing. Early skirmishes of similar unit counts often end up in total deadlocks since early units rout so quickly and since numbers are low, both armies will generally rout each other and youre back at square one. It isnt until the mid-game or surprise attacks that enough overwhelming force comes into play to destroy routing armor. This is a big detriment to the flow of the game, and favors turtling tactics that lead to a sluggish early game in multiplayer.
The sluggish feel begins to wear off a little as RUSEs come into play. RUSEs are special power-ups that turn a section of the map into a favorable combat zone for you, or a disaster waiting to happen for your enemy, or even more tactical advantages. Speed increases, causing your opponent to flee faster or forcing your troops to stand their ground to the death are only the start of your RUSE options. You can even see your opponents move orders with one of them, ala the Red Alert 2 Psychic Radar.
Graphics - 77 / 100
This is one of the bigger disappointments. Animation is generally poor for a PC RTS, especially on infantry. The only way youll be able to see any discernable movement is by zooming in to the point of barely being able to issue orders. This is even on the Insane setting!
This would doom a graphics score generally, but the name of the game is in tactics and not focusing on single battles with micromanagement. Some graphics power was definitely sacrificed to establish the amazing camera control in the game. If youve ever played Supreme Commander, imagine the zooming speed and scope of that only even faster. Fully zooming out turns the game into a real time Civilization game almost, with threats as icons and moving around entire stacks of units with single mouse clicks. The textures range from muddy at a distance to beautiful up close.
That simply cannot save the fact that combat looks disturbingly dull for an RTS though. Even the Total War series has more interesting looking combat.
Sound - 70 / 100
Units have LOTS of chatter, and some of it is highly valuable. Your interface will resound with all kinds of notifications and warnings, and not simply You are under attack. Generally its accurate and relevant, and makes the game a lot simpler to understand and get better at when you can pick up whats going on across the map with an audio cue and not 300 actions per minute. The actual voice work itself is standard fare, with no voices being truly awful and a few good ones scattered throughout. Explosions and cannon shots are fairly muffled and subdued however, and combat is somewhat dull to listen to as a result.
It would be worthy of a higher score if the musical score was up to snuff, but its truly lacking substance. No memorable themes come to mind after weeks with the game, and as a result this game is one of the best candidates for running your last.fm or Winamp playlists to kill Nazis to.
Multiplayer - 90 / 100
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style="font-style: italic;">The zoom feature is highly responsive and really makes you feel like a general, a feeling most RTS games lack.
style, with infantry beating anti-tank guns without a fight, anti-tank
guns beating tanks before they get into range, and tanks beating
Infantry before they can get off a shot. With the slow pace
of the game, moving counter units into position often happens far too
late to make a difference. By the time you're able to rally a
new set of anti-tank guns into position, the tank batallion is halfway
across the map towards another supply line.
Normally you would instantly write this off as a bad thing, but having
less territory to cover gives you an easier time coordinating RUSEs
that benefit your forces in combat. Since you can only deploy
these to one sector at a time per power, it can work to your benefit to
hold fast against an opponent that spreads himself thin until he is
ripe for the retaking of territory.
There are some balance issues in multiplayer, but none that cannot be
fixed by a few patches down the road. Let's hope the support
for this game lasts long enough to get them!
Value - 65 / 100
One of the major strikes against the campaign is how terribly short the first half of the game is. The missions consist of simple objectives that can be completed in less than 5 minutes for the most part. As is the case with every RTS game with a respectable plot, the campaign doesnt hold a lot of water, so youll have to turn to the challenge maps, skirmishes against the AI, and online combat to gauge its worth. If youre interested in taking the fight online, you wont regret a purchase at full price.
Lasting Appeal - 60 / 100
RUSE brings everything to the table that any other RTS does and then some, but the lasting appeal just isnt there. Your tools are unique and interesting, and no game will play out the same way twice, but all of that cant overpower the boring feel of combat after you get over the wonderful interface. The sides largely play the same, with some minor number differences between the bread and butter units and some specialties here and there. People who love RTS games like myself will stick with it for a while, but the rest of the crowd will seek greener pastures quickly.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A fantastic interface for controlling your empire and single units in a flash. The rapid zoom to a strategic or combat level is invaluable and I wish more games had it.
- Controlling the battlefield with a handful of scouts and ambush units against a battalion of tanks never gets old.
- RUSE System rewards offensive maneuvers and can help push the otherwise sluggish pace into a frenzy.
- You dont have to micromanage every little move to win. A superior strategy will always win over a lesser one.
Cons
- Combat graphics are about on par with Civilization. Yikes.
- A very slow resource flow makes games take longer than they should.
- A real lack of documentation and display in unit strengths and durability mid-combat makes for a high learning curve for new players.
- Why are my tanks auto-repairing after routing on fire? What the heck?
Conclusion
RUSE tries to rescale the RTS genre with a slower, more strategic combat style. In one way it succeedscombat is more about what you do with the units rather than what units you make to begin with. Its so satisfying to see a tank battalion run into a well placed ambush! If only it didnt take forever to set up and look rather weak by todays graphical standards, RUSE would be a worthy follow-up to Eugens previous series, Act of War. As it is though, its a fun time waster, but not a game to brag about to your friends or run out and buy today.
Overall 78/100 - Good
