Reviewed: June 10, 2006
Reviewed by: Jeff Gedgaud

Publisher
Paradox Interactive

Developer
Stormregion

Released: May 30, 2006
Genre: RTS
Players: 1 / 8
ESRB: Teen

9
7
6
9
7.8

System Requirements

Rush For Berlin combines all the facets of a good real time simulation into a neat and well-made package. The gameplay is well done, graphics are nice and whoever wrote or created the cutscenes really has a good sense of humor.

Rush For Berlin uses point and click with some hot keys already assigned when you start playing. Some of the special tactics or commands have been left unassigned for you to pick and choose what keys you want for special skills to be performed.

This is a good area for the tutorial walkthrough to figure out what keys you want to assign to what functions and how to use these various special skills.

While playing you have the usual fog of war many RTS games have but some officers have a special ability to see the whole map for a limited time or what they call photo recon. The ground is always there though and you can often guess where enemy units will be by the terrain and any special areas like sand bags or revetments.

The tactics and unit skills will be how this game is won and lost. Special skills are used heavily with flanking, small squad tactics and maneuvering for command of key areas as common ways to overcome your enemies no matter which side you decide to play as.

You get to choose between four of the major factions of the war; Russian, French, Allied or Axis. Each Campaign has its own unique areas and problems along with the weapons and skills particular to each side you play.

The missions have clearly defined goals both main and secondary with secret missions unlocking further things in the game. Each mission you successfully complete unlocks special squads or vehicles.

Starting at either the Russian or Allied campaign you then unlock missions in the German campaign after completing these two. The French campaign is unlocked mission by mission while finishing the other campaigns.

Some of the hot keys are very handy to use like the select all units during the confusion of combat. You can quickly see where all your units are and what shape their in.

Individual units that can be fun and very helpful when used to their fullest advantages are snipers, mortar teams, special officers and even taking over enemy armor and weapons. Using the units to the best advantage and using common squad tactics make this game very interesting and fun.

There are several different games you can play over the Internet as multiplayer type games. The common ones are cooperative, deathmatch and domination or a hold the area type along with two new types.

RISK or Race Intensive Strategic Kombat is a unique game where 1-3 players are given three tasks at any one time and have to accomplish them against the obstacles of the other players. Often the task of one player will be to stop another player from accomplishing their mission. Your tasks, which can be things like, locate then hold an object will be visible at least in part to the other players.

RUSH or Relentlessly Utilized Score Hunt is a timed race for each player to capture an area or building and hold it to gain points. You can block other teams from capturing the goal or even stop them from a distance with artillery or air strikes.

The player with the most points at the end of the time limit or that reach the maximum point level wins. This multiplayer or single player game is not only about who can get to the target spot the quickest but is also in how you use your units to command strategic spots and how you fight on the run.

I really love some of the cut scenes and movies they play during the campaigns. I even had to replay the end of some missions just so I could watch the cut scene after I won the mission. In one Hitler tries to escape through the, well play the game to find out what happens to him.

The only time I had any low frame rates was when there was a really lot of action going on at one time like when you call in an airdrop of paratroopers. The individual men all look pretty good with each holding different weapons or wearing different uniforms for easy identification.

Things like adding dogs in some units for the Germans or wounded soldiers with bandages on their heads adds to the detail of the game. All the various aspects that they paid attention to have combined for a good simulation game.

There were no problems with any of the sounds or background music in the game and the surround sound works well.

Rush For Berlin single player missions will take well over twenty hours just to make it through the campaign. Sometimes you find out that you started with the wrong unit types for this particular mission and it is a good idea to start over. Other times you will try different strategies to accomplish the missions and find they do not work so you must use the in game saves to retry your tactics.

During gameplay the missions are quite different and unique and the AI responds differently even when you go back using saved games. The gameplay is very different every time you play and unique enough to make the entire campaign fun to play through to the end.

With the campaigns as well as the RISK and RUSH single player game Rush For Berlin will keep you busy for more than twenty hours of gameplay. You also have the five multiplayer modes including the unique RUSH and RISK game types for added fun and challenge.