Every now and then a game comes out that is so awful and so terrible you are lost for words.
Shootmania debuted in June presented by ultra-popular Youtuber Toby Turner and a representative from Ubisoft. It was presented as an eSport platform.
They presented an eSports viewer that seemingly does not exist. Upon death you get this odd little view where it is centered on the map. You never seem to be able to follow people’s first person cams and generally get awful vision.
So right off the bat the game fails on what it is sold for, eSports.
But there comes more problems with the design.
#1. Two Hit Kill
Being two hit killed means that you die very quickly. Without it regenerating the goal of the game becomes killing as many people as possible as opposed to preventing death.
Without a way to regenerate health in any way it removes the strategic element to being a shooter and emphasizes too much just randomly firing each other.
#2. Bad Map Designs
In a game where you have only two hits you would expect to have some completely awesome escape routes available. Instead most maps lack a lot of walls and allow for you to be flanked too easily.
In my gameplay experience tunnels represented a problematic scenario. Basically upon entering a tunnel it meant you could be targeted from two sides through a narrow corridor in which it was very easy for you to get hit.
It’s not like pushing someone into a tunnel is even a strategic move since it just opens yourself up to getting killed or having your kill stolen by someone else.
There’s also all sorts of odd triggers. One can launch you in the air so that it’s just a little off of getting to where you want to go without specifically timing a jump.
Another makes you move super fast in which it runs you into a narrow corridor… once again no real strategic advantage there. Possible that you could use it for running away… but it just allows you to run away while running into someone else.
#3. Customization
A big sell on this game is that you can build maps and eventually if maps become popular enough they can become official maps.
But besides this it’s amazing how little development went into customization of load outs. After playing for four hours I was given a global ranking, but no access to different weapons… just the same stupid rail gun. If I played the 3v1 mode I’d get a rocket launcher.
It seems weird that a modern shooter would launch without having more than one stupid weapon. And I do mean stupid. It feels like you are just shooting people with laser dodgeballs with how little they shoot.
There are no grenades or secondary weapons.
It might as well just be Portal with how little options you have with your weapon. But truthfully even the Portal Gun allowed you to do more than this.
Overall I feel the game is priced appropriately because there really isn’t much to this game. If the mega game producer Ubisoft wasn’t behind this it wouldn’t have any sales or any fans. It’s a game no one asked for… and no one will be playing after a month.
It’s finally here, the PC release of Assassin’s Creed 3. Assassin’s Creed franchise have done a marvelous job of porting their release to the PC. Is Assassin’s Creed all we expected it to be? Continue reading!
The Brief: Assassin’s Creed
The Assassin’s Creed games follow the life of Desmond. Desmond was a bartender who was captured one night by an evil corporation. The evil corporation.
Kristen Bell (yes the famed actor) has Desmond strapped into a device called the “Animus.” The Animus allows Desmond to relive genetic memories.
The evil corporation (Abstergo?) wants to use Desmond’s ancestor’s memory in order to find something.
First Desmond relives the life of Altair, an early assassin from the original brotherhood found in Crusades Holy Lands. Altair’s tracks down and slays the leaders of The Templars. Upon killing the final templar he informs Altair that his master who has been naming the hits is in fact a Templar as well.
Altair confronts his former master who now has the power of The Apple of Eden. This relic gives his master uncontrollable power. upon gaining the Apple of Eden Altair is revealed a map of the world indicating other locations of these relics.
Altair, Ezio, and Desmond
Abstergo gaining this map decide they no longer need Desmond and decide to kill him. Kristen Bell rescues Desmond as she is secretly working for the assassins. She brings him to a safe house where a new version of the Animus is made available by these rebel assassins.
This time Desmond is plugged into the Animus not for collecting information, but instead for training to become an assassin himself. Desmond is plugged into the life of Ezio Al D’etore, an Italian assassin during the peak of The Renaissance.
After Ezio’s father is killed he finds his assassin heritage and plots to kill those who murdered his father. The murderer conspiracy focuses around the D’Epazi and The Borgias, both powerful families in Renaissance Italy.
Ezio sees a larger picture when The Borgias becomes Pope and his Papal Staff is in fact a Relic of Eden. Upon capturing the staff he enters an underground chamber in which he witnesses something peculiar.
Inside the vault is a woman, a founder of all people’s, who informs Ezio that his descendant Desmond must save the world. She warns of an on coming disaster that he must stop.
A new villain emerges more dastardly than the rest
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a direct followup to this as Ezio, looking to retire, is forced to hunt down the remnants of The Templars . Upon doing so he hides his Apple of Eden. Desmond and crew go to get the Apple of Eden.
Upon clutching it the voice of the founder informs him to kill Kristen Bell… which he does. It is explained in a DLC that she is in fact a triple agent working for Abstergo all along. After this vicious act he is sent into a coma.
In Assassin’s Creed Revelations he is plugged into the Animus which acts as life support. He is sent to Ezio’s old age in which he is trying to unlock Altair’s library by collecting the five keys. Much like previous games Ezio is also stirring up a little revolution and trying to take out the local powers. Desmond needed to unlock Altair’s library in order to fix his own mind, otherwise he would be stuck in a coma like Subject 16 was.
The group seeing a deadline for the end of the world continue on to a cavern. Upon entering Desmond (now able to masters the powers of the Apple of Eden) faints into a coma, is plugged into the Animus… and is reliving Pre-Independence America times.
Synopsis
Introducing our newest hero. Fresh off the boat from a trade galleon this established assassin has been knifing targets for quite some time.
Your mission starts as you awkwardly try and find your seat so you can sit down for the show. Of course you have to awkwardly move across people because your seat is the furthest one away. As you sit down you are given a target and upon killing him a little boy witnesses the murder. You steal a medallion.
The opening sequence of course is designed to throw you off, because as it has been well publicized this game is not about an Englishman, it is about a native named Connor.
Compared to other cities in the series Boston is not quite as scenic.
Connor is sent on a mission from the spirits to train to be an assassin and murder all of the templars who are looking after a treasure. Trained by a black former slave, Connor learns to amalgamate his aboriginal heritage hunting with the teachings of the assassin’s order.
The game quickly introduces you to the controls from the last game including the fighting style. This time around fighting has a more Victorian fencing feel to it as every man you famous is a noble gentleman.
You will travel through all of the historic battles and all of the historic cities of the American war of independence. But as usual the historical background is just that, the background to a greater plot.
The game has popups explaining what happened in actual history just to make sure people don’t start doing something stupid.
The game features a lot of the familiar elements of the previous titles. Actually maybe too many familiar elements. Still there are all of the same old commands that were used in the original Assassin’s Creed game that are no longer useful because the purpose of using them has been removed from the game.
When you are in cities you can free roam and parcor around the city. When you are out of the city you can swing around like a monkey around the trees. Not all trees can be swung from so this means you will spend a lot of time trudging through the snow.
The addition is realistic snow is both one of the most ambitious and one of the most annoying features of AC3
Oh yeah, you trudge through the snow. Ubisoft put in a mechanic that when it is winter you cannot run through snow.
The combat is going to look very familiar. To attack you have your attack button. For defending you have your defend button. How weapon selection works at least has changed. You now have two scroll menus for each hand that you go through to select weapons…. I guess there really are too many weapons in this game now.
Gun play isn’t exactly a new feature to the game, but colonial gunplay is. Every single gun is worth about one gun shot as the re-load time for these bad boys is absolutely brutal.
You also gain access to the tomahawks which act like swords and the assassin’s creed stealth blade simultaneously.
You also gain the rope dart. This allows you to pull enemies to you for stealthy kills. If you use it from above you can hang them high!
No, not many weapons added to the game, in comparison to Revelations. But there really ought not be.
A major key change to the game’s combat involves counters. In the old game you countered and did damage. In this version of the game a counter is now a block and the game slows down so you can decide whether to disarm or counter-attack.
The game features a collectible called Benjamin Franklin’s Almanac pages. Unlike inventor Da Vinci, Ben Frank just doesn’t seem as connected to it all. Whereas Da Vinci and Ezio were deep friends, Ben Frank seems to just request services from the assassins.
With Alamac pages you have to chase them down as they blow in the wind. They swerve in various directions and most often you get caught by a guard for jumping around like a monkey.
As well the game has another manor to rebuild. With this one you have two methods of rebuilding. The first is through trade. Using a book you can instruct convoys to deliver goods from business you acquire to a bulk client.
The other method of improving your estate is through doing missions. Missions will attract businessman and settlers to your location. After realizing this you can actually see how much open space is around the area for settlers.
These two methods are inter-twined with each other as doing estate missions also gives you resources to increase your trade. This convoy involves a system in which you order resources from new trading partners, craft resources, and then trade them off to the local town. The riskier the trade becomes them more profitable it becomes.
The game has quite a few mini-games that come as part of the game. A lot of the old climbing puzzles/challenges have vanished and have been replaced by climbing straight up to your objective. This of course was my favorite part about the older games.
The first sort of mini game you are introduced to us chasing the Almanac pages, not that fun… already introduced.
The second mini-game is a game of strategy in which you move white or black pieces in order to swipe the opponent’s pieces…. it’s far more simpler than it sounds.
The third mini-game is a hunting game in which you must hunt for certain animals, kill then in certain ways, and amount. The game can range from the easiest beavers who you can just whack to death to deer which require specific luring and baiting to kill.
Ubisoft created an air simulator for a 4 minute segment of the game in which you have to fly as an eagle
The hunting aspect of the game has a bit of quirkiness to it because if you don’t skin them you de-synchronize and lose all progress.
The fourth mini-game is a sailing one in which you have to do battle with the enemies or deliver cargo by sailing. The controls in this sailing game are honestly better than those from 99% of actual sailing games. Huge hats off for Ubisoft for mastering this bad boy.
The game, much like Revelations, features multiplayer. In this multiplayer there is the same old assassin vs assassin target and attack game.
The more important is a new mode which allows for a group of assassins to get together and complete goals together. This often involves four assassins doing kills together, each having a different target.
I found the multiplayer in Revelations to be awful. I found multiplayer in this game to not only be playable, but quite fun.
Strengths
Tones of Content
Less Desmond
Amazing Mini Games
I was expecting this game to last me about 6 hours (like Revelations did). Instead I found the longest and most content packed Assassin’s Creed to date. Without them multiplayer the game gave me about 20 hours of gameplay. Add in the multiplayer and I was up to about 25 hours.
Connor’s real name follows the tradition of unpronouncable names
I think the weakest part of all Assassin’s Creed was actually Desmond. Here is a character that was supposed to grow in the franchise as an assassin. Instead he’s the same whiny character we always hated. Whenever we’re given an option to see the real world… we choose to ignore it.
The mini games in this game are so insanely well designed. Each of these could be an indie title for $10 by themselves. Big hats off to Ubisoft for designing these parts of the game, it was great to be a part of it.
Weaknesses
Weak AC Components
Unlikable Characters
Synchronization
I can’t help but feel upon starting every single one of these games they just take what was left from the other game and throw it on top. Climbing super high roof tops for scouting information proved invaluable in Assassin’s Creed… but by Assassin’s Creed 3 it becomes absolutely pointless.
It was pretty useful to shove your way through crowds in Assassin’s Creed 2… but after three sequels it becomes a useless feature.
The game just stinks of all these useless old abilities that just don’t do anything and just needed to be either removed or modernized.
Benjamin Franklin makes a cameo… but that’s all
The game is also loaded full of unlikable characters… including the main character. I’ve never found someone as unlikable since Desmond. If you weren’t killing people all the time you’d be pretty bored by this game.
Synchronization is a pain in the butt in this game for some reason. The conditions for synchronization are far more stricter than before and it becomes way too easy to fail. Here’s a funny condition, if you fail to skin every animal you kill you lose synchronization. When you have to kill a wolf while following someone… that’s just awkward.
The game does have a few bugs, but it’s mostly bug free. Here are some of my favorites:
For whatever reason there is a floating pick in the air….
Concluding Thoughts
I think the biggest complaint that keeps this game from being a perfect 10/10 for most people is simply that the expectations on this game might have been just too high.
As far as an Assassin’s Creed game goes, it’s a good game. But people will always expect the game to be bigger and better than the last. In truth this might be the best of the Assassin’s Creed games.
Overall this is a great game, it’s worth picking up and you’ll enjoy most of it. It does have a lot of weak moments for sure but when you compare it to what is available on the market, this game might be seen as a pillar to compare others to.
One of the biggest threats in Anno 2070 is no doubt hard AI. Hard AI in Anno 2070 are punishing and vindictive. Every time you are weak it seems like they move towards declaring war on you.
This video deals with this awkward opening in which you have just been destroyed by pirates and you need to get open an army to deal with emergent threats from other players. Where do you go from here?
The answer, quite simply is you expand your citizenry to give you access to ammunition.
As an alternative ammunition is purchaseable from the arc. HOWEVER this is a short term strategy and you will need to start manufacturing ammunition on your own anyway.
Surplus ammunition will also sell well later. At this point in the game there is a small awkward timing where you are insanely vulnerable to attack. In this point you have to balance the creation of a fleet with the development of you citizenry.
This is a game I have wanted to do a Steam Sale review for quite some time. R.U.S.E.
If you haven’t heard of this game, that’s not surprising. This game remained under the radar for quite some time as an RTS. At fault for this was Company of Heroes which was releasing it’s final expansion pack at roughly the same time. This game is a port from PS3 and Xbox 360 so much like Tom Clancy’s EndWar do not expect insanely fast gameplay.
I bought this game for the wicked discount of $4.99 at 90% off on Black Friday.
Fast History of WW2
The main character of this fiction is General Joe Sheridan whose name might ring a bell to you if you know anything about WW2. The General Sheridan TANK is after all one of the best light recon tanks to be developed in the war. But yes, the remainder of the game and this character is entirely an act of fiction.
The game starts in the real battle Kasserine. Kasserine was commanded by Montgomery on the British side and Patton on the American side against Rommel. Kasserdine was considered by many as the allies first push into Europe. By capturing Africa they opened up the Mediterranean to quickly wipe out Italy and establish an Italian-Austrian front. The battle was one by well placed anti-tank positions and excellent recon information. Patton was rewarded an extra star for his victory.
The invasion of Italy follows Montgomery’s plan. Patton is forced to undermine ‘Monty’ and make an amphibeous landing in Northern Italy to quickly capture Italy and cut off German forces from retreating. The conquer of Italy was a large endeavor requiring allied forces to climb over mountains and through swamps to get to the objective. While Monty pushed the main army back Patton cut off their retreat in one of the most brilliant field decisions ever made. The captured Italian forces would eventually be redeployed to defend the Italian front against the Nazis to free up resources for the conquer of France. Opening up this front stretches Nazi forces even thinner. The battle in Italy would rage on for most of the war as Nazis constantly send forces to remove the Allied threat.
With the capture of Italy they are able to take over Italian arms and machines to secure the zone. Lesser known is that American and British forces take this time to secure the territory now known as Yugoslavia and attempt to install General Tito as a potential ally against the Germans (not in the game). This key victory allows allied forces to gain advanced guerilla fighters who will undermine the Germans and later Russians without having the allied banner shown.
The next major invasion is the D-Day invasion. This is a major undertaking involving the co-operative efforts of the British admiralty, British and American armies, British regulars, Irish regulars, Canadian regulars, Australian regulars, Royal Air Force, and American elite paratroopers. Ironically this 5-beach 5-flank landing would not be the highest costs of the war. The beaches are all taken but objectives are not met.
In the South Canne is not captured which slows the advance. Omaha Beach was supposed to secure a town under the orders of Montgomery however Montgomery’s field commanders are able to puncture through forcing a plan to shift forces around. They eventually create a beach head to launch a major invasion, but far slower than expected. Because of these delays the allied forces are forced to create a new plan for the invasion of Europe.
The next major operation is Market Garden. Montgomery’s plan was to avoid the Siegefriede line by moving through the Netherlands. This plan involved massive air cover and the efforts of almost half of the allied forces. The Nazis were however prepared and had many hardened fortifications all along this pass. As well there were many guerilla fighters and tanks avialable. If D-Day is the second highest fatalities in the war…. this was the third. The whole plan went astray and although they secured the Netherlands and won the battle, they lost the more important objective… entry into Germany. The Germans burned down all of their bridges, alienated entire regiments and blew a quarter of the combined Allied forces to bits. The loss of troops was massive and worst yet this forced the allies to find an alternative route into Germany…. through the Siegefriede line.
The American forces would inevitably beat through the Siegefriede line and push into Germany. However because of the winter they were hampered and forced to make camp. During Christmas all of the British commanders decided to return to Britain to be with their families. Patton however smelled something funny and prepared defenses on all flanks of attack. He successfully defended the entire invasion efforts and stopped the Germans from once again slowing down the assault. This successful defense decimated German forces which inevitably caused the Russians to be able to push deeper into Europe. These forces were after all pulled off of the Russian flank.
The largest loss in WW2 comes slightly after this engagement. The entire British army and an American tank army are stuck up North beyond Patton’s lines. Montgomery ends his Christmas early as Montgomery and Patton bravely venture North to save these poor souls. The entire British regulars surrenders out and an American tank army is brought to pieces. While the British offer a surrender the Americans won’t go down without a fight. A parlay is called where when the American commander was asked to surrender he simply responded “nuts.”
The British regulars and American tank army push past all odds to save these men and restore this army. This impromptu battle decides the final ends of the war. Slightly after this defeat the Germans surrender. The Russians not believing in Christmas have pushed deep and are now entering Germany.
After Christmas it was a race with the Russians for who could capture the most territory. The Russians and Americans met up in Berlin where as per capturing the Allied forces would gain control of Western Europe and Soviet forces would control Eastern Europe with the city of Berlin being the dividing line.
This would be the setup for one of the longest periods of peace Europe has ever seen.
The Synopsis
The game goes through all of these battles individually and puts a twist on them. You are Joe Sheridan. You start off with the rank of Colonel in Africa. As the highest ranking American soldier you take control of the American forces. You advance slowly to the rank of 3-star General and end the game at the Russian-American peace in Berlin.
This may sound familiar because this is the exact same time frame that the entire Company of Heroes series brought you through.
While Company of Heroes tells real stories recounted from real soldiers, R.U.S.E. is a complete work of historical fiction. Because of this R.U.S.E. is able to tell you a tale you would not expect and one that is interesting with many twists.
With you (Joe Sheridan) is a British colonel who acts as your right hand man and chief of your staff. This British colonel keeps the rank of colonel until the very end of the war. This is not something uncommon during World War 2. For the sake of the war many officers will maintain their rank and position to support their champion general. General Bradley for example stayed as a simple 1-star general under Patton until Patton was discharged in Italy. After that Bradley became the joint head General for the D-Day invasion and greater invasion of Europe. By staying under a general it gives these individuals insight into their sense of tactics so that when that general dies or the war is over they can take over that position (or a greater one like Bradley).
The game focuses on two main feuds.
The first feud is internal and is between Wetherby and Joe Sheridan. General Wetherby is an incompetent individual who basically loses every major battle in WW2 on behalf of the British. However no matter what Wetherby is given the grace of command and is given whatever resources he needs to win the battle. Sheridan thinks very little of this second fictional character and slowly rises above him. Wetherby is constantly getting in the way of progress and is constantly given high profile jobs alongside Sheridan where he inevitably fails. Most noteable is the winter defense where Wetherby surrenders and Sheridan declares “nuts.”
The second feud is between Von Richton and Joe Sheridan. Von Richton is modeled after Rommel and he is a tank commander who much like Rommel is a military genius. Richton is able to beat your moves before you make them and looks at the world like a chess game. Their feud, unlike that of Wetherby is not a personal feud. This feud is instead based on a more intellectual competitive basis. If Sheridan was Kobe Bryant, Wetherby would be Shaquel O’Neal and Richton would be Michael Jordan.
The main plot line focuses around a triple agent named Prometheus. Prometheus is a Greek Titan who steals fire from the gods and gives it to man. He instigates a war between Persia and Greece so to increase his own favor and aid him in his battle against the gods. Prometheus is mischievous and plays all sides.
In a similar way Prometheus is stealing secrets from the Americans to prolong the war. Prometheus is decidedly anti-American and helps fuel the fire on continuing this war. The colonel is constantly indicating that their is a spy but you (Joe Sheridan) are always looking the other way abuot it.
A snake is introduced in the form of an American intelligence officer who was successful in crafting Wetherby into a pompous jerk. As Wetherby’s star is falling she joins up with Sheridan and influences his decisions. These decisions revolve around over-confidence in the battle field causing Sheridan to lose many key battles. Everything she says is dishonest and deceptive. When she leaves it is clear that she just may be Prometheus. The game is constantly throwing you twists about who Prometheus is and why he is doing it.
The game features roughly 20 missions and 6 scenarios with the original copy of the game. It also features a multiplayer that is still commonly used. The game also features a full RUSOPEDIA that will give you answers to any question you will have. I should note that the scenarios are by no means historically accurate and are designed for replay. They will have multiple objectives of which are not all obtainable. Each side objective you complete will grant you extra experience.
The game does feature an active leveling system. The campaign will get you to Level 26-30 depending on how well you do. Each scenario will get you about half a level per win. Level doesn’t seem to have too much of an impact on the game other than to indicate your level of experience with the game.
The game features in a methodical and slow fashion. The game was designed to be played on PS3 and Xbox 360 and so unlike a lot of RTS games like Command and Conquer or Starcraft this game features a supreme use of tactics. The game gives you a direct feeling of being a WW2 general. If you zoom out all the way you will see the edges of a planning board and see the hands of generals commanding. If you zoom in you will see artillery shells fired and men dying in the battlefield.
The game focuses around flanks. Much like World War style you are playing a game that is defensive in nature but promotes aggression.
Infantry are best deployed in the forests and in the towns. They gain cover from vision here and gain a “surprise” bonus that will aid them in eradicating nearly any enemy.
Recon vehicles can be deployed to find infantry in the woods and towns to remove their surprise bonus. These vehicles are necessary for success since small numbers of infantry can do insanely high damage if left unchecked. By adding recon on with your tank numbers you will be able to easily deal with surprise attacks.
Tanks are best deployed against infantry and structures. Their heavy armor prevents infantry fire from hurting them and their heavy rounds can destroy buildings. These armored units can also take mean hits from other tanks and artillery.
Anti-tank units are used to destroy tanks and only tanks. Tank fighters are tanks themselves that are extremely mobile and can only attack tanks. AT guns (anti-tank guns) have deploy time and can be deployed in forests and cities for cover and surprise damage. As a downside anti-tank weapons are very vulnerable and are very easy to destroy.
Artillery is long range attack units that are vulnerable to everything. However they can attack a very long range and soften up targets for you. It is very hard for them to destroy anything without very high numbers other than structures.
Bombers are the answer to artillery. These planes can fly in and knock out artillery easy. Bombers can also strafe infantry and soften tank targets. You need vision of the area to attack them. Scout planes can be deployed to give vision of the area. In order to defend against or assault planes you can deploy fighter planes or fighter-bomber hybrids.
A ground solution to air crafts involve anti-air weaponry. There are two types: one that can be deployed in the woods and one that is stronger and can be deployed in the open. The one in the open can also damage ground units.
So that’s all the unit types. Each is balanced around having counters and being deployed well. You will need all of these to beat an enemy. Missing one of these unit types will be dire.
Although there are six playable nations (British Army, American Army, Irish Army, French Resistence, Nazi Army, Russian Army, Italian Army). Each nation will have roughly the same units and roughly the same costs. Each however gains stronger of a certain unit type. French for example get stronger infantry. Nazis get stronger tanks. British have the best artillery.
The game is tactical in nature. This means protecting your flanks. You may need something as simple as well placed infantry and AT guns or you might need air cover and artillery support. If an enemy can break through one of your flanks it can mean a quick defeat. This is especially true since infantry have the ability to capture your structures. Once a flank is broken all an enemy has to do is initiate a blitz and push its soldiers into your bases.
This game will not be won by micro. While my Starcraft 2 micro is around 100 APM, in this game it maxes out around 10 APM. The game even records this statistic as if it was meaningful. When your units are injured the game will automatically micro them away using a weakened units feature. When there is an explanation point over their name this means they can be killed. If you have enough units on the flank they will all micro back and survive.
You need to use your units against their counters… or get slaughtered.
One final aspect to the game is the namesake of the game, your RUSEs. RUSE are deception tactic with a limited number of deployments. These can deploy odd tactics like radio silence to imply your units are not there, spying on unit positions or even creating dummy units to deploy at the enemy. Using these tactics can win games and will require your opponents to use counter tactics or field support against them.
Graphics – 8/10
RTS games are generally pretty graphically poor. So when looking at this game you have to look at it from the perspective of a franchise. Starcraft 2 has kept its graphics refreshed by making them more cartoony. This makes it so this RTS will survive the test of time.
RUSE uses realistic graphics but keeps them timeless by focusing on zoomed out mode. When zoomed out they appear as mere Risk pieces moving along the board. If you zoom out even more they appear as circles of varying sizes to indicate what sort of unit they are. By making the greater strategic mode less graphically inclined it makes this game have some serious staying power.
When you zoom in you realize quickly this game has no blood at all. You realize that the shells do not cause explosions and the trees do not burn.
If you enjoy RTS games this aspect of the game will not hinder you as you will be looking upon the greater battle field with joy.
The game does feature a large number of cut video sequences however the visuals are not exactly all that stunning. They are the same style of graphics we might have seen four years ago.
Despite this the game does a great job displaying battlefields and great controls to zoom in and quickly figure things out.
Noobie Friendliness – 10/10
Very few games to me are so friendly to newer players than this one.
When you get into the campaign you start off with infantry and AT guns. You learn about positioning and lines of fire. As you move on you learn about flanking the enemy and deploying traps. Further more it gives you a better sense of strategy and involves you in slowly bringing you along the game.
My favorite feature of the campaign is when you have to deploy a totally new unit that has a new and more complicated ordering pattern. In these missions you ONLY use this unit and you learn how to deploy it to knock out the unit it is designed to fight.
Each RUSE is given to you in a mission where having it will cause great advantage
The game is by no means easy though. Despite having simple units, simple understandings and simple breakdowns the game involves complicated WW2 tactics that will require you to deploy all of your tools. The games enemy commander Von Richton on the hardest difficulty will be able to adapt to changes you make and so there is no set pattern to win these missions… just good powerful tactics.
Opinion – 9/10
I will say I usually hate these sorts of tactical games. I find them to be slow, boring and tedious. Company of Heroes was an amazing game because capturing nodes and deploy hit teams gave it an interesting twist. Total War was a great war series because beyond the slow boring tactical fighting there was an aspect of managing your territories and choosing what territory to go after next.
But beyond this tactical games are generally terrible. I struggled to beat Liberty or Death for the SNES out of a pure need to just finish it. But Nobunga’s Ambition… I couldn’t bring myself to touch this game.
Games described as Tactical RTS just make me cringe.
But R.U.S.E. was a breath of fresh air once again. I bought it blindly not knowing anything about it mostly because it was a pretty recent release by Ubisoft (mid November 2011).
It’s hard to describe why I’m stuck on playing this game. Maybe it’s the campaign that keeps me playing constantly asking “who is Prometheus.” Maybe it is the constant aggression you fight and the need to always check in and reinforce your flanks. Maybe it’s the sense of victory you get from crushing armored columns with infantry. Maybe it’s the pure sense of joy you get out of deploying multiple teams on multiple objectives.
Yeah, it’s probably that last one.
In 99% of RTS games you just ball up all of your forces into one giant pack and defend choke points. It’s like that in Command and Conquer. It’s like that in Starcraft 2. It’s like that in Dawn of War. But in this game balling up all your forces leaves you vulnerable to artillery fire. By separating them into separate objectives you can attack and test multiple flanks.
I love how insanely punishing this game is if you don’t field the right units. If you don’t you are stuck on your ass defending.
I enjoy the ‘impossible’ missions where you are forced to take on endless waves of units defending multiple fronts against bad odds.
I like at the end of every mission it tells you the ratio of units lost to units killed and it feels great when that ratio says something like 45:1.
I love this game and I’ll be getting my friends to pick this up so we can do some multiplayer.
Conclusion – 9/10
Despite having weak graphics this game gives a new unique twist on the RTS genre that any RTS gamer will enjoy. At first you will be put off by how slow the game starts and how you won’t be doing anything interesting until around Mission 10. You will be dismayed that you are giving out less than an order per minute in many of these missions.
But as you continue to play the campaign I guarantee, the game will grow on you.
A weakness in this game I never really rated this on is the multiplayer. This game does have multiplayer and about 1,000 active players in that regard (total). It is not hard to find a game, but it is hard to get into a game. I tried hard to show what the multiplayer is like in this game but once I got a handle on it no one would let me in a game for a week. The community that has formed around this game is insanely elitist and very skilled. Out of the eight multiplayer games I was able to play I lost 1 and after that I was auto-kicked from the games for being too low level.
It is a bit infuriating and if you want to get involved in this game you should definitely get some friends to pick up this game and level up together.
In the last video we saw how F.A.T.H.E.R. used superior tactics to wipe out the entire Global Trust fleet leaving the defense of the sector entirely up to you. F.A.T.H.E.R. has deployed a shield technology that has baffled the Global Trust and the Eden Initiative… but not S.A.A.T. S.A.A.T. has a scientific facility that has survived the nuclear blast and in this mission you must rebuild their worker base, power the island and build the electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) needed to de-activate these shields.
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So to start off some tips for this you will want to build up your S.A.A.T. population before you build any power at all. There is no point in getting to the research phase of this mission if you are broke. If you followed through on my strategy for the whole of mission 3 then you will have a positive balance at the beginning of this mission. Great!
If you are not so fortunate remember to destroy buildings you will not need on the Northern tycoon island and make sure to clean up the oil mess on the southern one. Also trade weapons and uranium.
When building S.A.A.T. buildings remember that you will require 300 researchers to finish this mission. So do advance these guys to the second tier and do create trade routes to meet all their needs. You can even meet needs of Tycoons and Ecos if you feel the need to be a perfectionist.
You will need a submarine. You get the Trimarine from your Arc for 3,000 credits (cheap boat). You use this to find underwater islands that will help you. There are three in this game. Only two of these three have the seaweed you need. This island is located on the North East side of the map and is within patrol range of the shielded F.A.T.H.E.R. ship. You will never ever want to engage this ship. The key is to build your settlement as far south as humanly possible.
From this underwater island you will gain access to oil and food. These are expensive to make and must be shipped to your main island. If you over produce on these you can setup a trade route with Eden as these items sell for a tonne.
In the North West corner is a brand new island that can be used for producing of Tycoon champagne but also includes a key ingredient to get S.A.A.T. to the next tier. When setting up this trade route remember that you can satisfy the tycoon’s needs but you will also need to cover S.A.A.T.
You will have two missions involving using the submarine. You get them by clicking on the two Arcs (Global Trust and Eden Initiative). The Global Trust one will grant you 40,000credits while the Eden Initiative one will offer you an item that will increase the efficiency of wind technology.
When you are in the green and have all of the buildings you need, prepare to hit into the negative. There are a number of ways to get your power level to 1,000. I would suggest getting the hydro-electric dam for an even 200 power and building wind turbines all along the land and all along the water. You should go about -800 to -1000 on credits.
The power race will happen in multiple phases. Make sure to turn off all of the power you don’t need when you are not using it, this will save you tones of credits.
You will have to build three modules total. These three modules are combined at an academy. The academy is something you will build and you will need enough researchers to put one down. Make sure your academy is in a decently crowded area and put down a S.A.A.T. information centre in the area to help increase the build time on this tech.
When you hit the 1,000 power marker F.A.T.H.E.R. will send helicopter drones at you, three total. For this you will need to prepare some defenses. First make some flak cannons in the harbor of your island. You can also build a flak cannon on the north eastern tip of this island. Second prepare your fleet. You will have three small ships that can hit in the air and two Vipers that cannot hit into the air. These ships will always target Vipers first since they are defenseless to these attacks. Use your heavier HPed vipers to draw fire while your anti-air takes them out.
On that note build a repair crane on the S.A.A.T. island. You may have to be mobile with your fleet to help protect some trade routes. The stationary defenses and the repair crane should help trade fleets sitting in port, but not those that are caught in the open.
This has been pretty costly. Once you have the EMP built get rid of all of your surplus power. This will mean almost all the wind turbines leaving you with just the power plant. You will need about 100 surplus power to build anything later on, which you will want to do so hold n to that power plant. You should be back in the green after destroying all of that power stuff.
You can also build a repair crane at the northern tycoon island and destroy the stationary defenses and repair crane at your S.A.A.T. base. If you are not ending this mission at a positive I would suggest taking your time and getting your money back in check. If you are close (-50 range) than your trade routes should cover your expenses and you’re actually in the positive.
Send a single ship in with the EMP to take on the F.A.T.H.E.R. ship. The EMP will not only knock off the shield but also disable the ship. EMPs have friendly fire and will hit your own ships if you have any in range, so don’t.
