Review by: Rob Zacny

Real-time strategy games too often cater to specialist players at the expense of the general audience. They operate at a blinding pace with little margin for error. To have any hope of holding their own, players must master hotkeys and build orders, and grow comfortable with near-frantic activity. These are games to be studied and practiced, but not played.

If Starcraft II represents the apotheosis of that design philosophy, Eugen Systems' superb R.U.S.E. is at once its antithesis and complement. With a stunning interface and a slow-paced design that owes more to classic wargames than to classic real-time strategy games, this is that rare RTS that actually gives players time to strategize.

Even without the deception mechanic that lends R.U.S.E. its name, this would be an outstanding game. The interface is a joy to use, giving players fine control over the amount of information the game is feeding them simply by adjusting the zoom level. At maximum zoom, the map becomes a sand-table in the center of a war-room. Groups of units are merged into large stacks corresponding to their rough position on the board, while the map itself is divided into sectors that are colored by whatever ruses are currently active. If a major redeployment is necessary, those huge stacks are perfect for sending large groups of units in a radically new direction.

As the camera moves closer to the board, the map is rendered with greater fidelity. The large stacks split into smaller ones to more accurately represent the positions of the component units. At maximum zoom, stacks give way to individual tanks and infantry squads shown in their exact positions. This allows perfect positioning of each gun and soldier. This scaling is the perfect way to filter information and streamline command.

Coordinating these unit types is the key to victory, because this is not an economy RTS in the slightest. Resources are scarce and accumulate very slowly, so you cannot spend your way to victory. R.U.S.E. does not often give victory to weight of numbers, but the exact composition and use of your forces. A single anti-tank gun can cause an assault by a half dozen tanks to disintegrate. A few squads of infantry holding a town can stymie any ground forces sent to take it, but are sitting ducks if an artillery spotter gets in range and calls in the big guns.