14 DAY TRIAL // R.U.S.E. is a real time strategy title developed by Eugen Systems and published by Ubisoft that aims to portray the familiar (to gamers) battlefields of World War II, allowing players to mix things up by using a variety of ruses that change the familiar combat patterns.
I have enjoyed R.U.S.E. when it was in open beta but that was focused on the multiplayer, general against general element of the real time strategy game. Now the full game comes complete with a single player campaign so I am first going to try that out and see how it manages to blend the battles themselves, set in the overly used World War II setting, with a narrative element.
The start of the campaign is a little slow, especially for those who have some previous experience with the game, with the first three missions not even allowing the player to have a base and build units.
There's also a clear disconnect between the story, which involved a mysterious traitor called Prometheus and is told in that trope of adventure gaming, the flashback, and the actual action.
It might have been a better idea on the part of the developers to give all the tools of R.U.S.E. to the player in the first few missions, allowing him to clearly see what the game does differently and simply presenting a number of tactical challenges that he can tackle any way he likes.
At the moment the single player campaign seems over scripted and too limited to keep players interested for long.
R.U.S.E. also includes the ability to play operations, little What If scenarios that set objectives and offer more freedom in how they are tackled.
There are also classic battle scenarios where the enemy is computer controlled and the nuances of the various sides can be learned.
But the beta experience suggests that the meat of R.U.S.E. lies in the multiplayer section where the mechanics really come together to deliver fast paced, fun battles.