Dune 2000

Reviews / previews

Review: Dune 2000

Its focus was Arrakis, the only planet in the universe where the spice Melange can be acquired. Needless to say, everyone wants it and nobody wants to share. In the game, the Houses-Atreides, Ordos, and Harkonnen-slug it out in a "three man enter, one man leave" style. You play any of the three houses in a series of 13 missions each.

The formula was simple-harvest the spice for money to spend on your army, then send your army out to "protect" the unclaimed spice until you have safely harvested everything and/or killed everyone. Dune 2 brought this formula to life and started a domino line of games such as Command & Conquer, Dark Reign, Total Annihilation, and Starcraft.

Now it's 1998, and Westwood has responded to the clamoring of Dune 2 fans everywhere by bringing the original up to date. Unfortunately, the date it brings it up to is 1995. There have been scores of innovative additions to the RTS genre, most of which have become de facto standards. Waypoints, patrolling, unit guarding, build queues, terrain effects, and many other elements did not find their way into the new incarnation. Although we do get updated SVGA 640-by-480 graphics in 8- or 16-bit color with some moderate lighting and smoke effects, there's less movement control, vehicle variety, and terrain types here than in Westwood's own Red Alert. There are also significant changes from Dune 2 to 2000, such as the melding of light and heavy infantry into just "infantry," the addition of the engineer unit from C&C, and stealth units.

Despite its lack of modern convention, Dune 2000 does have a number of things going for it. Its well-balanced selection of units includes the usual tanks, mobile artillery, and fast-moving machine-gun vehicles, as well as infantry-an oft-forgotten and inexpensive unit that packs quite a punch in large numbers. Computer controlled neutrals either help or hinder your progress during certain missions. The cut-scenes are numerous-one before each and every mission-and well done. Due to its seemingly old engine, Dune 2000 should have no difficulty running on older Pentium machines. Most importantly, the original feel of Dune 2 is there-the spice mining, the special units of each house, and the unit-eating sand worms bring you right back to the glory days. The updated graphics do a marvelous job of wrapping the old style in a beautifully designed body.

Theoretically, up to four players can compete via LAN or over the Internet through Westwood Online's free service (www.westwood.com). The online play was described by Thorpster, the top-ranked player on Westwood Online at the time, as "painfully lagged." It was unplayable with more than two, and even with just two it had 1 to 5 seconds of lag time between mouse-click and corresponding action. Westwood acknowledged the multiplayer problems and said a lag-fixing patch is on the way.

If you are looking for the original flavor and style of Dune 2 with vastly improved graphics, sound, and cut-scenes, this game is your ticket. But if nostalgia hasn't sunk its teeth deeply into you, pass on this aging ride for one of the more modern RTS hotrods.-- 0 / GamePro