DUNE 2 II BUILDING OF A DYNASTY +1Clk Macintosh OSX Install

Actual Game

Spice Melange. The most precious substance in the universe, it is only found on one planet. That planet is Arrakis, more commonly known as Dune. Whoever controls Dune, controls the Spice. The Emperor has proposed a challenge; whoever produces the most Spice shall control Dune.

Three houses rise to the challenge; the noble Atreides, the insidious Ordos, and the evil Harkonnen.

Thus sets the background for this game. It is essentially a series of battles, and with each new battle, you are gradually introduced to all the "tools" you get to use in the final 9th battle. DUNE ][ is primarily a tactics game and the conflicts are handled in real time. The focus of each battle is harvesting spice, since that is the only source of the credits you need to build your base as well as your army.

The game begins with a choice between the three houses. Each house has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of the military units it has access to, and thus a different strategy is needed with each house to make the most effective use of these weapons to exploit the weakness in the enemy's army. There is a common pool of military unit types which each house can use; these include trikes and quads (fast wheeled vehicles useful for reconnaissance), three different types of tanks (combat tanks which are faster than siege tanks which have better armor and more powerful weapons, as well as missile tanks that have longest range of these three tanks), some form of infantry and ornithopters to harass your enemy from the air. But each house also has its own special weapons which no other house can use. Atreides have Sonic Tanks which are deadly against infantry and can cause massive destruction to buildings. Harkonnens have the Devastator; it is the most powerful tank in the game. The Ordos can use the Deviator, which fires a nerve gas that changes the allegiance of the enemy troops it hits. Winning the game involves combining these different weapons so that they cover each others weaknesses and eventually destroy your opponent. Your opponent isn't the only danger you face. Gigantic sandworms creep beneath the surface of the planet, and will arise and swallow tanks and harvesters whole. The only way to escape sandworms is to stay on rocky areas which the sandworm can't reach.

But the game is not limited to the maneuvering of armies. Victory or defeat also depends on your ability to harvest spice and build a base which can support your war effort. In this area, all the houses are equal in that they can all use the same type of buildings. One of the first buildings you construct is the spice refinery, which gives you a harvester with which to gather the spice, as well as a refinery to convert the gathered spice into credits. You can build spice silos to store more spice and save more credits. Light and Heavy factories are necessary to build the nucleus of your army, the quads as well as the tanks. Hi-tech factories let you build ornithopters as well as carry-alls (large flying machines which can rapidly transport your harvester to and from the spice fields to the refinery and rescue damaged vehicles) Repair facilities can be built to fix those damaged vehicles. If you need military units quickly, you can always use your spaceport to make a bulk order and rapidly increase the size of your army. Walls, Cannon Turrets and Rocket Turrets are useful for the defense of your base. All this takes power, requiring the building of Wind Traps.

Another excellent feature of the game was the ability to play around with the "timing" of the game. This way, you can accelerate time during boring parts of the game, i.e. when you are just gathering spice and defending yourself against those suicidal frontal attacks by the enemy when reactions aren't that crucial. Yet later on, when you want to move in 10 units at the same time on enemy positions, you can slow down the time and ensure that your units all arrive at the same time.

Finally, this game is great for those people who hate reading manuals and like to just jump in and play the game. There is an online help which tells you pertinent information about the different structures and military units involved in the scenario. Furthermore, the scenarios are also set up apparently with that goal (instant playability) in mind. Your first mission is limited to gathering spice, and each mission following makes it easy to learn the capabilities of each structure and of the different military units.

In general, I considered Dune II to be the best game of 1992. Back then I spent 9 days playing this game continuously, and I was glad it was released during winter break. The spectacular graphics, the addicting gameplay, as well as the euphoric feeling of triumph at the end of the last several missions kept making me come back to play it repeatedly.