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This just in from 1UP
What's the game about? Winning the information war has been a fundamental key to victory since the dawn of modern combat, but it's never been featured in a real-time strategy game to the extent that it is in R.U.S.E. Actual combat takes a back seat in Ubisoft's latest RTS, where the real battle is over information. Played correctly, enemy tanks and bombers become useless in the face of well-placed ambushes and other tactics, but the tide will definitely turn if the enemy gets the upperhand in the battle of information.
To that end, Ubisoft has implemented "ruses," which can be used much like Command & Conquer's superweapons. Ruses become available every few minutes, after which weapons like camo nets can be used to keep enemy players in the dark while spy planes root out the enemy headquarters. Once the enemy base is finally uncovered, it's time to send in the B-17s.
R.U.S.E boasts six factions, and has become the norm in the RTS genre, each one has different strengths. But while Americans have excellent artillery and the Germans can roll out strong tanks, the ruses are a constant on all sides. And in the end, they will be what makes all the difference in the information tug of war.
What's new for TGS? Producer Samuel Jacques was kind enough to walk me through the demo during TGS, where he showed off the Xbox 360 build of the game. I got to see a few of the ruses in action, including the camo nets and spy planes, as well as a nifty little ambush that he conducted against an enemy tank. It seems that while there may be the occasional large-scale battle, players can expect to spend a great deal of time gathering information, hiding their supply bases, and conducting quick hit-and-run attacks.
Jacques also demonstrated the controls for the console version, which features a "hot spot" system. The camera is controlled by the analog sticks, with building placement governed by convenient hot spots. Jacques was of course able to navigate the menus with ease, dropping buildings in various hot spots while building new units and directing ruses. Naturally, I wasn't nearly as successful, but it didn't seem like a terribly hard system to pick up. As much as the controls have been streamlined though, this is still sort of the game that does best on the PC, and it's likely to be treated that way by strategy fans.
What's our take? Given its emphasis on deception, it seems appropriate that R.U.S.E has flown under the radar, having receive little to no attention this point. However, what I saw was an extremely solid little RTS build around an interesting premise. It's just the sort of game that I can see picking up a small, but rabid, base of strategy gamers.
Unfortunately, real-time strategy games have yet to hit on consoles, and solid controls aside, I just can't see R.U.S.E doing any better. While I'm sure the developers would argue differently, the impression I got was of a game that will seem impenetrable to newcomers. R.U.S.E may seem similar to Company of Heroes, but their similarities end with World War II. Much like Sins of a Solar Empire, R.U.S.E would probably have been a hardcore turn-based strategy game a decade ago.
That's definitely not a knock against it. Really, it looks fantastic. Those who loved games like Close Combat back in the day should eat up its methodical, intensely tactical combat. Unfortunately, some games just aren't meant to extend beyond their designated niches, and it looks like R.U.S.E is one of those games.
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What's the game about? Winning the information war has been a fundamental key to victory since the dawn of modern combat, but it's never been featured in a real-time strategy game to the extent that it is in R.U.S.E. Actual combat takes a back seat in Ubisoft's latest RTS, where the real battle is over information. Played correctly, enemy tanks and bombers become useless in the face of well-placed ambushes and other tactics, but the tide will definitely turn if the enemy gets the upperhand in the battle of information.
To that end, Ubisoft has implemented "ruses," which can be used much like Command & Conquer's superweapons. Ruses become available every few minutes, after which weapons like camo nets can be used to keep enemy players in the dark while spy planes root out the enemy headquarters. Once the enemy base is finally uncovered, it's time to send in the B-17s.
R.U.S.E boasts six factions, and has become the norm in the RTS genre, each one has different strengths. But while Americans have excellent artillery and the Germans can roll out strong tanks, the ruses are a constant on all sides. And in the end, they will be what makes all the difference in the information tug of war.
What's new for TGS? Producer Samuel Jacques was kind enough to walk me through the demo during TGS, where he showed off the Xbox 360 build of the game. I got to see a few of the ruses in action, including the camo nets and spy planes, as well as a nifty little ambush that he conducted against an enemy tank. It seems that while there may be the occasional large-scale battle, players can expect to spend a great deal of time gathering information, hiding their supply bases, and conducting quick hit-and-run attacks.
Jacques also demonstrated the controls for the console version, which features a "hot spot" system. The camera is controlled by the analog sticks, with building placement governed by convenient hot spots. Jacques was of course able to navigate the menus with ease, dropping buildings in various hot spots while building new units and directing ruses. Naturally, I wasn't nearly as successful, but it didn't seem like a terribly hard system to pick up. As much as the controls have been streamlined though, this is still sort of the game that does best on the PC, and it's likely to be treated that way by strategy fans.
What's our take? Given its emphasis on deception, it seems appropriate that R.U.S.E has flown under the radar, having receive little to no attention this point. However, what I saw was an extremely solid little RTS build around an interesting premise. It's just the sort of game that I can see picking up a small, but rabid, base of strategy gamers.
Unfortunately, real-time strategy games have yet to hit on consoles, and solid controls aside, I just can't see R.U.S.E doing any better. While I'm sure the developers would argue differently, the impression I got was of a game that will seem impenetrable to newcomers. R.U.S.E may seem similar to Company of Heroes, but their similarities end with World War II. Much like Sins of a Solar Empire, R.U.S.E would probably have been a hardcore turn-based strategy game a decade ago.
That's definitely not a knock against it. Really, it looks fantastic. Those who loved games like Close Combat back in the day should eat up its methodical, intensely tactical combat. Unfortunately, some games just aren't meant to extend beyond their designated niches, and it looks like R.U.S.E is one of those games.
Read the article from its source