Product Reviews

Deep Silver's Rush for Berlin is yet another World War II real-time strategy game. While it doesn't offer anything new, it's a slick, well-produced game that will give real-time strategy fans hours of fun.

The game starts with a set of training missions that get you up to speed on how to move your characters, attack and use buildings and vehicles. The voice acting is poor, but it's a quick and simple introduction. The real game has 25 solo missions that are spread over four campaigns where you play as the Americans and British, Russians, Germans and French. Each side has a typical range of units, including standard infantry,

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medics and mortar teams. This is immaterial, though, as the game relies on your strategy rather than superior forces.

Along with basic movement controls, you can choose your squad's position (running or squatting) and their offensive position (passive, defensive or aggressive). Each mission has a set objective and a limited number of resources with which to achieve it, so there's no sitting back and building a huge base to attack from - tactics are key to winning an objective. As well as the usual mix of capturing buildings and eliminating enemy targets, Rush for Berlin incorporates some of the bigger battles of World War II, including Stalingrad and, as the name suggests, the attack on Berlin itself.

The game area is entirely in 3D, so you can pan, zoom and rotate around the action to get the best possible view of what's going on. The 3D landscape means that terrain and position are vital for success. There's the occasional minor gripe, such as it being difficult to select units that are in watchtowers, but these are few and far between.

This game may well be more of the same, but if you're a big real-time strategy fan, Rush for Berlin plays brilliantly and will keep you busy for a long time.