Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty

Dune II is a pioneer of real time strategy games. It also pioneers the Dune universe, which was mostly not tapped into in a visual sense beyond the books at the time. Sure, there could have been a bit more effort placed into the storyline and perhaps voice actors could have been employed, but it never the less was certainly an immersive experience.

The story centres on three houses going to battle for the world of Arrakis in the pursuit of the precious substance, spice. It's an addictive hallucinogen believed to give all sorts of beautiful visions. But there are forces on the planet to contend with, including the native Fremen and worms.

Although not entirely true to canon, it pays homage to a lot of the elements (spice blooms, random findings in the desert [abandoned bases &c], politics &c).

Although the game takes a lot of visual cues from Lynch's Dune, there are some unique elements that, I think, fitted the books better than the images from the movie did (ie., ornithopters, Harkonen/Saudukar uniforms).

ALthough fairly basic compared to the newer RTS games, I really wish I could find a copy of the original Dune2 only recoded for modern platforms!

BTW, Dune2000 really wasn't that great; it would have been better if it was only a graphics-updated version of Dune 2.

There is little doubt that this game spawned the hugely successful C&C genre that followed it. Its massive popularity was largely doen pragmatic view of the story. Dune2000 was a disappointment, shame we cant see a Dune total conversion of C&C Tiberian Sun.

The first game I ever bought. Back in the days when a soundcard was a rare luxury, this game blew me away with units responding with speech, if you had enough EMS memory!

Pretty much every RTS convention was established here - over 8 years ago. 3 opposing forces, each worth playing through for their unique strengths and weaknesses. And after hours of addictive play, a static low-res graphic with a captions underneath.

Worth picking up for any one with an interest in 'history'. The original Dune by Cryo was perhaps more emotive, but this one has the gameplay.

This real time strategy game really pioneered the gaming universe of Dune. I liked the addition of the insidious Ordos faction that really add a new layer of warfare on Arrakis. With all the focus on Dune these days, I feel it is important to pay homage to where Dune started- with the original Frank Herbert's Dune, the film and then games like this.

The music, though very basic for its time was quite enjoyable to listen to. I had a great time playing it and will likely revisit it purely to experience that universe once again. This is, of course, while I eagerly await the next Dune film installments!