[ Retro Scan ] Dune II
March 14th, 2016 by Benj Edwards
I just got a craving for The Spice
Dune II is to the real-time strategy genre as Wolfenstein 3D is to first-person shooters. Like Wolf-3D, Dune II wasn’t the absolute first example of its genre, but it was the first game to bring together all the distinctive elements of its respective genre into one title — in this case, those elements would later be copied and expanded upon over and over again by games like Command & Conquer and Warcraft.
That being said, I’ve only played Dune II a few times — only many years after its release. I never got into it, but I can see why it is a historically important game. Warcraft was my first modern RTS game.
Discussion Topic: What’s your favorite Real-Time Strategy game of all time?
March 14th, 2016 at 3:24 pm
Warcraft was my first (and only, really) RTS too. My younger brother played a lot of it, so I learned about it from him. I don’t think I got very far; I seem to remember getting too frustrated at some underground level and giving up.
March 14th, 2016 at 3:38 pm
It’s never been my genre, but I played a good bit of Starcraft back in the day(single player story mode whoo).
March 14th, 2016 at 7:15 pm
My first and pretty much only RTS has been StarCraft II. Since I discovered it, I have tried to delve into numerous other RTS games. Every time I start another title, I always think, “Eh, I just feel like playing SC2” and then I do just that.
March 15th, 2016 at 7:22 am
I was pretty hooked on Command and Conquer Generals a few years back and will still fire it up from time to time, great game… Dune II brings back a ton of memories, not necessarily because I played it much but had a college roommate who was an absolute addict and would scream at the sand worms eating his spice harvesters, always cracked me up at how pissed he would get!
March 15th, 2016 at 10:15 am
Dune II wasn’t the absolute first example of its genre, but it was the first game to bring together all the distinctive elements of its respective genre into one title — in this case, those elements would later be copied and expanded upon over and over again by games like Command & Conquer
Apparently they were playing a lot of Herzog Zwei over at the Westwood offices before putting this together. And it’s worth noting that one reason Command & Conquer was well positioned to inherit the RTS crown from Dune II (well, before Cavedog and then Blizzard took it away forever) was that, yes, they were both made by Westwood.
March 15th, 2016 at 10:28 am
Rise of Nations (2003) still holds the top spot for me. Blending Age of Empires with Civilization was the winning formula, while the use of pixel graphics has enabled it to stand the test of time.
Of course in terms of originality and atmosphere Eufloria (2009) is well deserving of an honorable mention.
March 15th, 2016 at 5:14 pm
Before I got into games like Age of Conan and Runescape, I was a big fan of RTS games. My two favorites had to be Age of Empires II and Battlefield Earth. I think Battlefield Earth probably is my overall favorite.
March 17th, 2016 at 11:17 am
I was obsessed with WarCraft II. It also happened to be the first game I played online (actually point-to-point over phone lines, I recently mentioned it in another post). I did enjoy StarCraft, WarCraft III, and StarCraft II, but not nearly as much as WarCraft II (I like the setting much more in the WC games versus SC). Blizzard actually just patched WarCraft III yesterday to make it easier to play on modern hardware (especially by giving it support for widescreen resolutions) so I’ve been thinking of re-buying it (lost my CD for it long ago). Ahh, nostalgia.
March 19th, 2016 at 9:56 pm
Dune 2 rocked when I played it on my IBM PS/2 model 30 286 10 Mhz. 😉 http://aqfl.net/node/10257 for more links and play online!
April 6th, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Aaaaah, Dune 2 (in South Africa it was released as Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis). My first ever RTS, and the second non-educational game my parents bought me. I still play it from time to time, though it’s far too easy now.
I played Warcraft 2 a year later, and loved it for its lore and fantasy setting, but Dune 2 has seen more playtime.
It really birthed the whole concept of the ‘tank rush’, as you couldn’t win a mission without at least one rush!
RIP Westwood.
April 7th, 2016 at 1:23 am
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, hands down is my favorite. I started on the N64 port of the original C&C, then tried Red Alert 1, and the next thing I knew I had my hands on all the staples of the C&C franchise. Makes me sad that Westwood no longer exists to create fun RTS games…