R.U.S.E. Multiplayer Preview: Not Your Grandpa’s WWII Game

The Real Time Strategy genre has always been a staple of PC Gaming. French-based developer Eugen and publisher Ubisoft plan on changing that by making their RTS game, “R.U.S.E,” accessible enough for the console market. This doesn’t mean they are “dumbing down” the game by any means, as they also plan on making some rather innovative and risky changes to the traditional RTS format, in hopes to create something new for a future generation of strategy games.

“R.U.S.E.”’s features compared to other RTS games, are more simplistic and come with a minimal interface. Instead of a game designed around micromanagement, the focus of “R.U.S.E.” is more along the lines of improvised tactics and strategically deployed deception methods and that makes this is a very big risk for the PC gamers, since they might view “R.U.S.E.” as being too simplistic.

The maps in this game are different as well. With its incredible zooming capabilities, you are able to zoom all the way out to give that “mock war room” vibe, but still be able to zoom in to see your units in action with great detail. The maps used in the beta were considered the “smallest” by the developers, which is very astounding since these small maps are bigger than many of the other big budget and popular RTS games offer.

All the maps will follow a World War II theme, only “R.U.S.E.” will venture to different places besides France. There are plans on creating maps that take place in Africa, Italy, and some of the other major fronts. Don’t expect a historical accuracy either, as the WW2 theme is only pasted on to give these tanks, soldiers, and landscapes a face that people will recognize.

After all that, how does the game actually play? Quite decently. Base building is basic as it follows a simple “drag and drop” format. Roads become the life line of your base, as your constructors and supply trucks will use these roads to follow your progress. There is only one currency: Money, which you get by making it to specific areas on the map, but to keep everything balanced, those are limited in supply. Also, your supply trucks must make it to your base for the gold to be delivered, so it’s quite possible for the enemy to harass your line on its way back to you, preventing it from completing its task.

The terrain itself also plays a big part of the overall strategy. You can use trees to set up ambushes, towns to raid incoming tanks, and planes to patrol an area. Just amassing a large number of units and throwing them at the enemy isn’t going to help you win a fight.

However, the biggest feature in this game are the Ruses themselves. As the match progresses, both you and your opponent will accumulate Ruse points. You spend these points to create tactics that are designed to mess with your opponent’s intelligence, gather intelligence yourself, hide your buildings/units, as well as other various techniques. Using your strategy with these Ruses is a key trait of good “R.U.S.E.” player.

At launch, “R.U.S.E.” will have 6 factions from both the Axis and Allies, and will require a different style of play to use them effectively. There is no limit on who can use what faction, so Japan versus Germany is a weird, yet viable possibility. Multiplayer on the PC is 4-on-4, while consoles will be 2-on-2. There should be a variety of maps and game modes to keep a healthy multiplayer community. With all this being said, RUSE is definitely a game to look out for.

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