Dune

The Good
"A beginning is a very delicate time"...

The Bad
I didn't want this game to end!

The Bottom Line
Based on Frank Herbert’s masterpiece and influenced by David Lynch’s unfortunate film, this strategy-adventure lands us on the surface of Dune. This desert planet has a unique asset, Spice. The Spice is a substance with extraordinary qualities. It is essential for space travel. It is also a powerful narcotic that prolongs life and expands consciousness. The honorable House Atreides, has just accepted the Emperor’s offer and arrived on Dune to mine Spice for him. The savage House Harkonnen, the long time rivals of the Atreides, are also on the planet. They are already in the process of mining. Dune has also an indigenous people, the Fremen. They are a mysterious nation that lives under the Harkonnen’s ruthless rule. We take the role of young Paul Atreides. He is the son of Duke Leto who is the head of the House. Our goal will be to ensure the steady flow of the Spice and to force the Harkonnen away from Dune, with the help of the Fremen.

The game features sensational graphics. They are of superior design quality and very generous in color. The expressive character portraits and the atmospheric decorations are their most good-looking elements. The circle of the day is also nicely represented, with the beautiful sunsets as highlight. Travelling, shown from first person perspective, soon gets repetitive but it is still a nice touch. The game’s high technical status is also proven by the sound quality. Complex and seductive themes increase the feeling of authenticity and give a certain depth in the playing experience.

“Dune” is a unique blend of adventure and strategy. The first moves the scenario forward and the second determines the future’s safety. Through the game’s adventure nature, we will follow a rather linear course. We will meet several people and visit many places on the planet. We will not encounter any difficult situations, as we are always appropriately hinted. It is all about talking to the right people and being to the correct locations. Now, the story unfolds in an enchanting way. Superb spoken lines, sudden events and twists make a very addictive environment. We keep playing “just a little more” in order to see what is next.

We enter the strategy area of the game every time we look at Dune’s map. There we give orders to our troops and inspect their attributes. Early in the game, our main task will be to meet the Emperor’s increasing demands in Spice. Later on, we will start fighting the Harkonnen and finally attempt to change the planet’s ecology. We will have to make important decisions such us on where our men harvest for Spice, the training they receive, the equipment they use and the attacks they make. Through statistics we are informed on the areas the two Houses control, the Spice they mine and the number of men they have. Attentive reading of the manual is necessary, there are some very interesting tactical elements, not easily apparent.

Some times, adventure and strategy come very closely together. Adventure actions affect strategy ones and the opposite. It is then that the gameplay simply takes off. Some other times we are overwhelmed with events and swift determination of priorities is needed. Without being that difficult, the game requires several hours of solid and methodical playing to come to its end.

With its powerful simplicity and high production quality, the game reaches an entertaining level that we do not see very often, even today. With ease, it carries us in its world and binds us with it. If someone decides to engage with this game, undoubtedly a beneficial choice, I humbly advise him to prefer the CD version. This one offers several new characteristics, such as sequences from the film and an impressive travel depiction. But above all, it contains full speech support for every character of the game. The voices are extremely well selected and convincing, they express different emotions and mentalities brilliantly. It is no exaggeration to suggest replaying the game just to hear them.

“Dune” is a triumph of elegance and style, a real classic strongly recommended for everyone.

The Good
This pre-RTS game shows that the strategy genre can offer plenty of depth and variety, without compromising exciting gameplay.

It offers some depth as it mixes RPG elements with the strategic management of the areas you control, and the fremen that you've rallied. Finding a balance between harvesting spice for the greedy Emperor, training an army to protect against the Harkonnen and seed vegetation on Arrakis is a complex task indeed - and you'll find yourself hooked at it.

Also, the universe it is based on is so rich and its characters so powerful that you can hardly go wrong with it - and the games makes use of the novel's characters to a great extent to try to create a compelling experience.

The Bad
Yet, it really fails to capture the most important aspects of the original story. Loosely based on the movie as well, the game uses elements from both sources superficially, and has some creative input of its own, and ends up with a story that doesn't touch you like the novel or movie do: dialogues are either vague or rushed; Paul's relationships with his parents, advisers, Stilgar or even Chani are completely superficial; the Harkonnens do not inspire the hatred or despise that the story really carries; the Fremen rituals are totally stripped down to the basic.

The story is also tremendously linear, and that can often frustrate the feeling of open-endedness that the strategic aspects tend to create.

Finally, although the action is quite exciting when the battle heats up, you'll often find that you're stuck with quite repetitive gameplay. Fun but repetitive - something that they could have avoided with the story or RPG bits, but failed miserably.

The Bottom Line
Fans of strategy looking for a game that offers something different from the real-time titles, and are willing to cope with this "entry-level" Dune setting. Fans of the movie or book shouldn't seek it for anything other than the strategic elements.

The Good
There are two things that come right to mind when talking about the game. First, the gorgeous graphics, which turn the otherwise sterile looks of Arrakis into a beautiful, dry planet, with a day-night cycle, populated by well designed characters and some impressive locations. The CD version earns, along clips directly from the 1984 movie and voice overs, new FMV travel screens which change seamlessly according to the terrain - rocks or sand - which is much better than the sprites in the floppy version. The second part, the music by the honorable Stéphane Picq is perhaps the best music ever put together for a videogame. Honestly. As mentioned before, the CD version includes voice-overs, and lip-synching is incredibly accurate. and it was one of the first games to feature them. Compare with some 3D titles released not so long ago, and it makes the whole process even more impressive.

Finally, a mention goes to the game mechanics. Balancing spice production (extraction and prospection), military advance (training and conquering territories from the Harkonnen) and ecology quickly becomes the main aspect of the game, with some adventuring section that lead to plot advancements.

The Bad
It isn't an adventure game, but it resembles one. It isn't a RTS, although you command troops. It isn't one RPG, but your character actually influences the game world and gains abilities. However, while trying to do all these things, it gets too light on all of them - which ends up being quite ironic, as most newcomers find the game to be too overwhelming. The game also lacks a bit of replay value, unless you've played first the floppy version and then the CD version to check the movie clips or voiceovers, or just to mess around with the effects of ecologics.

The variation between the book and movie plots, combined with some changes by the developing team can also be a let down for purists, but let's face it: no other game has come closer than this one.

The Bottom Line
For those who have not read it, Dune is a massive space-opera, and any attempt to capture the socio-political environment of the original novel usually falls short by limitations of the medium. However, the game presents some interesting twists: larger Fremen groups will only work after Paul's charisma (which changes according to successful attacks on the Harkonnen and ecology progression) and there's some animosity between Northern and Southern Fremen, and they cannot work side by side for long.

In brief, Dune is a fantastic experience for the book/movie fan, and a lot more faithful than the RTS series which other than the visual stuff have nothing to do with the original work. The mentioned shortcomings don't damage the value of the game at all, which results in a great gaming experience, including visuals, sound and gameplay. A must see, like the book or not.