Second Day Move Impressions: R.U.S.E.

I’m going to just detail how Move (and navigation controller) works within the game, this is in no way a review of the game itself, just how functional the application of motion control is.

Upon glancing at the control scheme I had a sense this was going to be a complicated experience but then again what good RTS doesn’t give that initial impression?  My first few moments of game-play mostly consisted of ‘wtf?’ moments and wild camera swinging.  One by one I eased into each control feature starting with camera zoom, which worked more by tilting the controller as opposed to using the depth sensing capabilities.

Then onto troop selection, which works best in a couple of ways.  First individual troop selection is as simple as pointing at the unit and hitting the Move button.  You can also hit square to select all similar units in view and there are handy D-pad shortcuts for aviation units i.e. bombers and recon.  The navigation controller trigger can be used to create a circle of various sizes, depending on trigger pressure, which can ‘paint’ troops.  I found this most useful under pressure when quick selection of various units is needed to meet a growing threat.

I found some of the pop-up menus a little confusing at first as my mind had trouble deciding where the motion to swipe open a menu and the navigation sticks ability to browse began and ended.  Also I kept selecting unwanted units when trying to move another or accidently moving ones I didn’t want to.  This was basically due to my inexperience with the controllers more than anything and a bit practice went a long way.

The cursor moves swiftly and accurately and has a handy ‘snap-to’ feature when hovering over important locations or enemy troops.  After a while and with a bit of mental adjustment I was able to jump from troop to troop, adjust view accordingly and lay out orders at a speed I could only dream of with a DualShock.

To wrap up I’d like to say that the controls worked well, even though the game was not originally developed with Move in mind.  It left me quietly optimistic that the RTS genre can become relevant on consoles and, when a game built from the ground up with Move in mind comes along, I have the feeling it will be as intuitive and speedy as it’s PC cousins, if a little less versatile.  It’s just a shame that the first RTS to utilise the Move was a pretty average game, don’t let it put you off future releases though as the quality of the game is not a true reflection of the new control method.