While RUSE might not be as action-packed and fast-paced as other popular RTS titles, its control mechanics are very accessible, making this a great console game for the genre. The early missions are very slow but incredibly tense.

The campaign element of R.U.S.E. is a series of set pieces from World War II where you get to direct and command Allied troops from the safety of your war room, no doubt somewhere deep underground.

Developed by: Eugen Systems Published by: Ubisoft RUSE, set in good ol' world war 2 that most abused and celebrated piece of history in the gaming world. You play Joe Sheridan, an American Commander with the mission to find a particularly nasty spy/entity that has caused the deaths of thousands of...

A smart (occasionally too smart) new take on strategy, teeming with ideas and features.

A strategist's heaven; Real-time chess

Tough going at first

For years the real-time strategy genre (RTS) has been mired in the turgid, tiberium soaked legacy of Command & Conquer. Once a pioneering game, it's regular as clockwork sequels have done little to improve the series beyond the occasional graphical overhaul and a handful of new units.

The game performs well, letting you zoom in and out with ease without any noticeable slowdown, though it would seem that some compromises have been made to accommodate the overall scope. Neither the terrain nor the units are all that detailed when viewed at relatively close distances.

Ruses provide a nifty and original strategic element; Slick tabletop interface makes it easy to stay organized; Recon; ambushes; and other elements make for lots of flexibility; Online and skirmish matches are really fun

Bland story characterized by poor cutscenes and inferior voice acting; Campaign is boring and badly paced

If you pull the camera all the way back in the World War II strategy game R.U.S.E.: The Art Of Deception , the scenery fades into miniature, revealing that the entire battlefield sits on an old-fashioned war-room planning table. It's a cute nod to the fact that R.U.S.E.

R.U.S.E. is a fun and fascinating real-time strategy game, as long as you know which parts of it to invest in and which to skip entirely. It prospers in the competitive arena, putting an intriguing use of bluffs and reconnaissance to good use on expansive maps that will test your ability to control...

Ruses provide a nifty and original strategic element; Slick tabletop interface makes it easy to stay organized; Recon; ambushes; and other elements make for lots of flexibility; Online and skirmish matches are really fun

Bland story characterized by poor cutscenes and inferior voice acting; Campaign is boring and badly paced

Format Reviewed: Xbox 360 (Also on PC and PS3) Developer : Eugen Systems Publisher: Ubisoft Release Date: 10th September 2010

One of the more surprising titles released this month, R.U.S.E. may appear at first to be a pretty average war title. Looks can be deceiving though, which is something R.U.S.E. knows a lot about.

Excellent, coherent control system; Ruse concept works well, and elevates the title beyond mere RTS scrapping.

Useless campaign mode; Texture details sorely lacking on Xbox 360 version