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Dune, by Cryo Interactive, is one of the Dune computer games. It was the first attempt of making a commercial game based on Frank Herbert's Dune universe.

Dune blended adventure with economic and military strategy, and is considered by many the most immersive Dune computer game. Loosely following the story of the novel, the game casts the player as Paul Atreides, with the ultimate goal of driving the Harkonnen from Dune, while managing spice extraction, military, and later, ecology through the native Fremen tribes. As the player progresses, his troops are equipped with weapons from crysknives to Atomics, tap into Paul's latent psychic powers, and get acquainted with such characters from the book as Chani and Liet Kynes. Available for the Amiga and IBM compatibles, it was one of the first floppy games to be converted to CD format, which included footage of the David Lynch movie, and highly improved, 3D-rendered travelling and location screens. This version (a mix of the Amiga graphics and the extras of the PC-CD version) was also released on Sega's Mega CD format. Also worthy of mention is the audio track created by Stéphane Picq and Philip Ulrich, released by Cryo (formerly Exxos) on the now extremely rare album Dune: Spice Opera.

Overview

The story is mostly based on the novel's story:

The player is Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto Atreides and Lady Jessica. The House Atreides was given an unrefusable offer by the Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV - mine the Spice Melange from the desert planet Arrakis, occupied by their long-time enemies: the House Harkonnen. Duke Leto accepts the offer not only because of the wealth provided by Spice trading, but also to defeat the Harkonnen.

The game, seen always through the eyes of Paul, is a mix between RTS and adventure gaming. While the basis of the game is the strategy component, dialog between characters and a linear plotline give the game more depth than most strategy games.

There must be a balance between military and spice mining power. While having a strong military force will provide fast response to the Harkonnen, if Spice isn't mined fast enough to keep up with the Emperor's demands, the game will be lost. However, if there is too much focus on spice mining, Harkonnen troops can ambush a sietch, capturing all troops inside. They can only be rescued if the sietch is liberated. Since the game is as much resource managing as military conquest, balancing both is the key for successful completion.

Units and items

The Atreides House has no military or spice mining units. Soon in the game, Paul must meet the closest Fremen leaders and convince to work for him. While in the start they will only work as miners, as soon as Paul's charisma rating rises and after he is introduced to Stilgar, some tribes will eventually accept military assignments, and after he is introduced to Liet Kynes, some tribes will work as ecologists. All but the spice prospector tribe can change their occupations, although since they increase in skill if they continue to perform an assignment long enough (military troops increase experience by staying with Gurney Halleck and successful military missions) it's not advisable. However, this may be required in some cases. For example, a large number of military troops training in a sietch got captured by Harkonnen forces, and more military troops need to be raised from the spice or ecology troops to liberate the sietch. Spice prospectors are a unique tribe, and they cannot be reassigned. While the Fremen agree to work for the Atreides in order to depose the Harkonnen, they won't work if there are tribes from both hemispheres in the same sietch. Morale (changing from contacts with Paul, Atreides advance in Arrakis and the progress of ecologists) also affects the speed and capabilities of the tribes.

The Ornithopter (Orni) is the default transport method for Paul until he's able to ride sandworms. With the Fremen, they are used for either moving from one sietch to another or as an early warning against sandworms attacking spice miners and prevent Harvesters from being swallowed. Harvesters increase spice mining speed, and can be either bought from smugglers or found in sietches. Weaponry ranges from Krys knives, laser guns, weirding modules and the powerful atomics, and are usually found on sietches or conquered Harkonnen fortresses.

Mining and economics

Arrakis is split by several areas, each one corresponds to a sietch, a cave where fremen and equipment can be found. The large desert on the southern sietches provide the largest Spice reserves, but all new areas need to be probed by the prospection team. After the amount of spice is calculated, Spice miners can move on to another sietch. However, in the game, Spice is not renewable. After all the reserves are mined, the area is barren, and can only be used for ecologics and military. Spice (not the Solari) is the currency in the game, and serves two purposes: paying the Emperor to continue in Dune and purchase equipment from the smugglers. Duncan Idaho is the character in charge of the economics, and will call Paul's attention when there's a payment to be done, either to the emperor or smugglers.

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Video games - Dune

Overview

Units and items

Mining and economics

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