Dune 2000

aka: D2K
Moby ID: 331
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Description official descriptions

Dune 2000 is a remake of the classic Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, updated for Windows. In this real-time strategy game, you can play one of the three houses: the noble Atreides, the insidious Ordos, or the evil Harkonnen. Each has different sets of units and tactics while maintaining an overall balance. The Atreides have air superiority and rely on their honor and alliance with planet natives, the Fremen. The Ordos rely on guerrilla tactics and superior technology, as well as mercenaries. The Harkonnen just go brutal, with no care for lives of their own troops or destruction, as long as they are victorious.

Unlike the original, the cutscenes happen after every mission, with a live-cast this time, like already seen in Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer franchise. A 16-bit colour mode is the default setting, setting the game's graphics on par with the Command & Conquer games that came before it, while an 8-bit colour mode is available as an option in the game's settings.

Everything from the original is back: sandworms, the spice, the Fremen, the known structures and the map of the planet, and even the intro cinematic is an enhanced live-action/CGI version of the original one.

Spellings

  • חולית 2000 - Hebrew spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

125 People (92 developers, 33 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 69% (based on 28 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 83 ratings with 10 reviews)

A disappointing update to one of my favorate games.

The Good
Okay, before I start the bashing let me say this: Dune II is a great game, and this is basically Dune II. That's also the problem with this game. The game doesn't suck, but when compared to it's ancestor there not much else to say about it.

The Bad
Okay, they spent all of the time updating the sound and graphics and doing nice cut scenes -- why didn't they spend some time fixing the interface and some things like the path finding abilities of the units. It's 1992 AI in a 1998 game. I expected more and got much less.

I found the game very boring and hard to keep with. The missions were exactly the same as the original down to the most minor detail. All the work put into this game was obviously cosmetic. With all the advances in the last 6 years I was hoping for something... more... fun. If I grasp for an analogy, I would say that I wanted the Civ II of Civ and all I got was Dune II.

The Bottom Line
If you have never played Dune II, I recommend that you get this game. It's basically Dune II for Windows. While this game doesn't improve on the original, you're less likely to be disappointed if you've never played the first one.

Windows · by Brian Hirt (10409) · 1999

An unfairly trashed game

The Good
First, I've always liked the Command and Conquer system. Despite its faults, I have consistently enjoyed the games, and this is no exception.

I loved the original game, and after hearing what I did, I prepared to be dissappointed. I was surprised by how much I liked the game.

Now, the graphics. The graphics are pretty damned good, especially the worms.

The briefings are well acted for a computer game.

My favorite part is the length. This a long game, with many different choices. This also increases replay.

The Bad
Well, the pathfinding is bad, but that's it.

The Bottom Line
A criminally trashed game.

Windows · by emerging_lurker (160) · 2000

An excellent must-play for any Dune fan.

The Good
The very feel of command in the Dune world was great. I have never played Dune 2 or Dune, but I am a huge fan of the Dune books (not the movie, of course...) and when I first played the game, I was mesmerized. I got to gather melange spice, buy ornithopters, command my loyal Atreides soldiers to kill those filthy Harkonnen...or vice versa.

The Bad
It's not true to the Dune book storyline, and the battles can be absurd (e.g.: I surrounded an enemy soldier with five soldiers and a battle tank and it still took about two minutes of back-and-forth gunfire to kill him.)

The Bottom Line
A first-rate, though not leading-edge, Real Time Strategy game for the ages. Who doesn't want to slaughter enemies with 'thopters and Fremen? No true Fighter, that's for sure.

Windows · by Jacob Enriquez (17) · 2000

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Trivia

Continuity

There are references to Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, of which Dune 2000 is a remake: the manual says that the mentat Ammon of House Ordos was executed. Ammon was the mentat who assisted the player in the Ordos campaign in Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. This makes Dune 2000 seem like a sequel and not just a remake.

Fremen language

There is some Fremen language heard in the videos. For example in the Atreides campaign, when Noree Moneo gives coffee to Kari, he says "Subakh ul kuhar" (Are you well?). When he mentions the Fremen hostages, Kari says "Tahadi al-burhan! Taqwa!" (Ultimate challenge! Price of freedom!).

Frank Herbert created Fremen words as corrupted versions of modern Arabic, showing how they will evolve in the future. For example "subakh ul kuhar" is from modern Egyptian "Sabah El Kheir".

German version

In the German version, death cries were removed and the blood which shows up after killing an infantryman was colored black.

Online servers

The game's online servers were migrated from the official Westwood Online infrastructure to the community-run XWIS (XCC WOL IRC Server), under approval and sponsorship from EA's German office on 20 October 2005. The Westwood Online domains have acted as a redirect to XWIS services since then, requiring no additional steps from the user to access the servers short of registering an account.

Sequel

The game Emperor: Battle for Dune is a direct sequel to Dune 2000. The beginning of Emperor: Battle for Dune shows the Ordos ending sequence from Dune 2000. This the first game by Westwood Studios in which the victory of the evil side is made part of the canon.

Universe errors

Although the game is based on the Dune universe and follows its background, the scenario doesn't fit in the timeline established by the novels. For example, there was no emperor Frederick IV, and Arrakis was not the place of war between rival powers. The Atreides campaign mentions Duke Leto, indicating that the timeframe is that of the original Dune novel. In Leto's time, the emperor was Shaddam IV.

While the House Ordos is inspired from the Dune Encyclopedia, their insignia seen in the game is not the one shown there, but the insignia of House Wallach.

In the Atreides cutscene where the Fremen Kari is introduced, Noree Moneo tells the player: "She's Naib... Fremen Death Commando". In Herbert's novels however, the Death Commandos are called Fedaykin, not Naib. A Naib is the leader of a sietch and is typically male.

Information also contributed by Boston Low.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Brian Hirt.

Additional contributors: MAT, Jeanne, Henry Aloni, Crawly, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, lilalurl, Plok.

Game added October 28, 1999. Last modified March 19, 2024.