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- Dune 2000
Dune 2000
- November 24, 2000 14:47 PM PST
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Fans of real-time strategy games have Dune 2 to thank. Before you were splatting Zerg or ambushing orcs, the denizens of Arrakis were gunning each other down over Spice. Now EA and Westwood bring Dune 2 into the age of Starcraft with Dune 2000, which is just an update of Dune 2 and not a lot more.
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Spice World
Arrakis is a world blessed with the universe's most essential resource, the super-valuable Spice Melange. The Spice exists on a harsh desert world, where only the strongest survive, and where three houses vie for control of the Spice. Play as the noble House Atreides, the ruthless Harkonnen, or the tricky and stealthy Ordos, as you fight for mastery of Arrakis. You can take on each house's single-player campaign, fight against up to four computer-controlled enemies in Skirmish Mode, or link up with a friend and blast him or her to smithereens. The Spice must flow!
Westwood Studios are the masters of PlayStation real-time strategy games, but it's quite a stretch from an ultra-smooth and popular PC genre to the more 3D and action-oriented PlayStation. Considering that Dune 2000 is slower and much less exciting than StarCraft or Command and Conquer to begin with, only the most hardcore RTS gamers will want to try Dune, and even then they'll be wishing it had more spice.
Dune 2 (Thousand)
Dune 2000 looks a lot like Dune 2 with a few tiny enhancements, and considering Dune 2 is at least six years old, that's not a compliment. If you've played C&C for your PSX, you'll recognize Dune; it looks more like a C&C add-on than a separate game. The landscapes all look alike, thanks to the drab and lifeless environment on Arrakis, and your soldiers and vehicles are tiny and hard to distinguish from each other. The buildings are 2D sprites, and they look very cartoony and low-res.
Dune 2000 isn't so bad in the sound department, with fairly decent music, and voices and sounds that really bring life to the drab visuals. The voices could be a bit crisper, and the effects could sound a bit more real, but overall it's pretty solid.
Real-time strategy games on the PC rely upon the maneuverability and the speed of the mouse, but on the PSX you're generally stuck with the Dual Shock's analog stick. Selecting and ordering units about with anything like precision are very difficult prospects, so consider hunting down a PSX mouse controller if you plan to log a lot of hours on Arrakis. The controls are set up so that you can build things while your guys are on the move, and vice-versa, and this works rather well. Too bad it's so hard to play without a mouse.
The Spice Must Go
Hardcore RTSers may want to give this game a look, just because it's more of the Command and Conquer action you've come to enjoy on the PSX. Others will want to check out Tiberian Sun for the PSX or StarCraft for the N64 for examples of how to do a console RTS the right way.
