Dune

The Good
I guess when this game was just out I was a bit too young to fully understand and appreciate its charms, so I was more turned towards Dune II, a real-time strategy inside the dune universe. Years have passed since I first played this game on my Amiga, if only to enjoy a masterful soundtrack by Stephane Picq ("Ecolove" track is still my most favorite track of all times, the MOD format, that is). And, I switched to PC since, and was lucky enough to find a copy of this game in a local store, almost a decade after it came out. Budget version as is, but it was on CD-ROM and what I saw surprised me as I had no idea they added full voice-acting and 3D flying cinematics on later revision of a game. It sure would be cool to see a remake on this exact game, with same soundtrack and all, hm, longshot, I know, but still, it's a hope.

This game blends a strange mixture of strategy and adventure. At first, all you'll be doing is exploring corridors and finding secret rooms in your father's palace, and visiting fremen sietches to try and persuade them to work for you. As you progress further, your character will be gaining certain abilities due to constant exposure to the spice melange (it's in the air, it's in the food, ...), and you'll be able to issue commands from a far distance and get visions. Naturally, your eyes will turn blue and you'll rise in the eyes of the fremen leaders.

Aside from beautiful soundtrack, amazing 8-bit character motion graphic, and day-night cycles, you'll follow the story of a book and a later on movie, though slightly closer to the movie adaptation since your character Paul Atreides will look exact to Kyle MacLachlan (the actor playing Paul in a movie). Can't say how much does Gurney resemble Jean Luc... err, I mean Patrick Stewart, though. I am not much a of reading fan (except when it comes to comics, lol), but the original Dune book was really great and the game manages to equal it only by the same greatness it carries within. It's a classic alright, no matter movie and a book were already made.

There's that really beautiful woman in the game, in blue stillsuit, think Harrah's her name, but can't say for sure. Always seem to be forgetting it. I dunno why, but big part of nostalgic feelings for this game somehow connects me to picture of her. Guess the developers made her memorable enough, even if she doesn't play any key role in a game.

The Bad
This is somewhat a weird composure of genres so it may take some time until player actually realised what's his goal and how to achieve it. But it's really not something to take on a downside, guess this isn't some game that kids just unplugged from Quake can take on to follow.

The Bottom Line
It's a classic that follows both book and a movie quite neatly, so if you read the book or watched the movie, you'll be acquainted with part of it already. It is no loss if you have floppy over compact disc version, because those older non-3D cinematics have a charm of their own, and Amiga version for example, has the best version of a soundtrack, not only is it all in MOD format, but has different tracks at different times which seems more balanced than PC or Sega CD versions. Either way, it's a classic that deserves your time, even if you're not planning to play it through the end.