Dune II

Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (retitled Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe and Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the Mega Drive/Genesis port respectively) is a Dune video game developed by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive on Jan 1, 1992. It is based upon David Lynch's 1984 movie Dune, an adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel of the same name.

While not necessarily the first real-time strategy (RTS) game (elements of which previously appeared in Stonkers, The Ancient Art of War, Nether Earth, Command HQ, and particularly Herzog Zwei), Dune II established the format that would be followed for years to come. As such, Dune II was the archetypal "real-time strategy" game. Striking a balance between complexity and innovation, it was a huge success and laid the foundation for Command & Conquer, Warcraft, StarCraft, and many other RTS games that followed.

Plot

Emperor Frederick IV of House Corrino is desperate for the harvesting of the valuable drug melange (also known as "the spice"), found only on the planet Arrakis, to pay off all of his debt incurred on internecine wars with family members. To achieve this, he now offers the sole governorship of Arrakis to whichever of the three Houses (Atreides, Harkonnen, and Ordos) delivers the most spice for him. War begins as deputations from all three Houses arrive on Arrakis.

Dune II (MUSH)

Dune II was a MUSH, a text-based online role-playing game, that operated from 1994 to 1996. It was founded by John Robertson, known as Duke Leto in the MUSH. It received positive critical response during its lifespan.

Game characteristics

The setting of Dune II was based on Frank Herbert's Dune universe, ten years before the events in the 1965 novel Dune. Most activity took place on the imperial throneworld Kaitain.

Game play was heavily focused on role-playing. Players were able to take on a number of different roles from the Dune setting. A combat system was used in which an abstract judgment as to the victor was obtained, and then players would roleplay the conflict to the determined conclusion.

History

Dune II was a sequel to an earlier DuneMUSH, and was succeeded by another MUSH, Dune III. Its cessation of operation in 1996 came after server hosting mishaps.

Reception

Dune II was critically praised for its attention to detail, role-playing atmosphere, flexibility, and faithfulness to the atmosphere of Herbert's setting.