R.U.S.E.
Preview
Deception and the art of war
by Max Keogh
previewed on PC
Deception-based game play (cntd)
The Dummy Building feature helps you create a fake building around a certain area surrounded by an enemy, and you can efficiently lure them into this decoy structure. The Decoy Offensive creates fake simulations of any army, and you can use this army simulation to then help simulate a certain attack.
Overall, the game wants you to focus at the individual goal at hand. Also, the game needs the player to properly observe, analyze and understand each enemy’s plans in order to fool them effectively.
One of the developers has actually stated that playing R.U.S.E. is comparable to playing poker and, from looking at how the game plays, I can certainly see what he meant. Like in poker, you will try to hide your cards for as long as possible, fool your enemies about the cards that you hold and change your strategy if needed when the opposition proves too hard. Manipulation and essentially doing everything in your power to dupe everyone on the opposite side is the way to win; one of the game’s main goals is to make the player genuinely feel a realistic recreation of the intensity and pressure of real warfare.
Gigantic, realistic maps
For RTS aficionados, the dimension and scale is one of the most surprising innovations R.U.S.E. is going to offer. The IRIZOOM engine will allow for maps a hundred times larger that your usual fare. However, obviously, this feature is not intended for the player to marvel at the vast landscapes; its’ actually for your chief-in-command officer to see specific locations on the map clearly.
With the large scale to your benefit, the commander can oversee his troops and sectors. Commands given to the troops can be things such as deploying a fake offensive base, and, more importantly, manage your troops in certain positions on a map.
The IRIZOOM engine from a technical standpoint is already genuinely impressive. The camera allows a huge, vast and expansive overview on your map, and will actually genuinely help the player see which areas they need to keep an eye on. All units seem to be clearly identifiable.
The nations that you will visit - such as Europe, North Africa and Germany - all have a surprisingly distinct look. Whereas most Second World War locations in video games are typically depicted of being grey, black and white, each wartime area in this game looks surprisingly bright, extremely well-lit and detailed.
A wake-up call to the RTS genre
According to the developers, the real thrills of the game’s deception-based gameplay come from its promised multiplayer. Not much has been said about it, but the developers promised that bluffing your enemies will be much more fun this way. There are online features promised, such as a leaderboard and online play, but any hard facts will come as surprises in the final product itself.
The RTS genre is undoubtedly a tired one. Whilst Command and Conquer and Total War are still the gold standards of the genre, very few current games attempt to add anything new. From my look at R.U.S.E., this is one of the few games that dares to try some new innovations. It is too early to say that it will reinvent the genre, but what can be said is that it is now the time to awake from your slumber: This game in particular may just be the potential wake-up call of the entire genre.
