Dune II

Westwood Studios

Real-Time Strategy

Bad Mojo

Every so often, a highly playable, very enjoyable game comes along that provides me with hours of enjoyable play even beyond simply `winning'. Dune II is one of those special games. I won't say it has SUPREME graphics for it does not. Its graphics are simple and its story is even simpler, but in it simplicity I found fun. The interface is fast and excellent for a real-time combat game and the balance and scenarios in the game are perfect. This game is the founding design for Command and Conquer as well as WarCraft One and Two. I recommend Dune II for playing if only to appreciate a good quality game when we see so many horrible DOOM clones and cheesy point and click shoot-em-up Rebel Assault type games.

Quintin Stone

Yes, I'm a fan of Dune. I've read all the books (although I don't consider them very good after the first volume) and I've seen the movie a dozen times. While it's helpful to be familiar with the Dune story line, I don't think it's really all that necessary to enjoy this game.

I played this game addictively. Sometimes, from the moment I got up to the moment I went to bed. Scary, huh? To me, it was just that enjoyable. The earlier missions begin simply: harvest spice, protect against the baddies (or goodies, if you're playing Harkonnen, or everybody, if you're House Ordos). The later missions become much more difficult. Your job is to wipe out the enemy presence, and their weapons become much more powerful. As do your own, but while you must build and develop, the enemy has already constructed its entire fortress and need only worry about producing the tanks and assault vehicles to destroy you.

The play was excellent. Combining keyboard and mouse made for superb handling, in my opinion. While you could choose something from an option list with the mouse, typing the first letter of any choice also worked, and this was how I got things done 90 pecent of the time. The enemy tactics were interesting and often frustrating, as their vehicles sometimes would zoom right around your front line. Often, though, they ran straight into your forces, effectively committing suicide as you pounded them into rubble. Not that that wasn't fun, mind you.

The variety in vehicles, weapons, and buildings was fun. There's nothing like getting a line of rocket launchers blasting away at enemy troops and structures. Major fun. But watch out for those pesky sandworms. They tend to eat things. Everything, in fact, that gets too close.

I loved this game. You must play it. If you can't find it, go to Westwood's Web Site.