|
|
| |
The
eventual videogame adaptation of Dune was bound
to happen sooner or later. Frank Herbert's award-winning
science-fiction masterpiece had captured a whole generation's
imagination; his saga sprawling a massive six volumes,
the original of which was made into a film in 1984.
Directed by David Lynch, the film version of Dune
wasn't exactly what you'd call a commercial success
in industry terms, but the film has since become a bona
fide cult, fondly remembered as a spectacular, unique
and horrendously flawed in its ambition to transcribe
such a vast and detailed literary universe into a coherent
2-hour script.
Can a game succeed where the film did not? |
|
| |
Released
in 1992, the
Dune game is a vast, enchanting and compelling
story-based wargame, developped by Cryo Interactive
Entertainment. It presents itself as a curious, adult-orientated
mix of point-and-click strategy gameplay and progressive
storytelling that remains more or less faithful the
first Dune book, but also refers to the film
in some elements of its design (excerpts from the film
can be watched on the CD-ROM versions).
The game begins as Paul Atreides and his family arrive
on Arrakis, the desert planet also knows as 'Dune',
whose vast deserts are the only known source of the
'Spice', the most precious substance in the universe.
These deserts are also crawling with Fremen - the planet's
native desert nomads.
House Atreides has been contracted to harvest the precious
Spice Melange for the Emperor, all of this whilst their
sworn enemies, the Harkonnens, are also on Dune. Paul
(the player) must locate and recruit as many Fremen
troops as possible, and train them in one of three skills:
spice harvesting, military training, or ecology. Ecological
development depletes Spice reserves, so by creating
a delicate balance of Spice, Army and Ecology, you must
slowly but surely gain control of the entire planet.
By carefully harvesting and stockpiling Spice Melange,
it is possible to buy weaponry from smugglers, and begin
the 'Holy War' against the Atreides' sworn enemies,
the Harkonnens. The familiar storytelling mixes well
with the gameplay - always pointing the player is the
right direction. It's a bit strange that ecological
development is ultimately pointless, though. |
|
| |
Once
the stage has been set, it's all point-and-click from
there on in as you race around the clock recruiting
as many Fremen as you can find, whilst frantically harvesting
Spice to pay off the ever-demanding Emperor. This structure
works remarkably well - the learning curve is perfectly
set, and the game becomes instantly engrossing thanks
to its superb art direction and musically ambient atmosphere.
The interface is smooth and to-the-point - with a mouse
it become a second thought, and you can tell that a
lot of effort has gone into the design. |
|
| |
A
success then? Well it's not particularly that special,
but Dune does have its place in videogame history.
Besides being a reasonably enjoyable wargame, it's also
one of the very first PC games to be specifically developed
for the CD-ROM medium. PC disk and Amiga versions were
also released, but it's the PC CD-ROM version that easily
provides the best package: it benefits from extra animations,
voice acting for every character (in English), video
excerpts from the film, and a slick techno-ambient soundtrack
by Exxos.
A version for the Mega Drive Mega-CD was also released
by Virgin in the US and Europe, but not in Japan. |
|
|
|
'Dune'
(Game) and 'Cryo' are registered trademarks of Cryo Interactive
Entertainment
'Mega Drive', 'Mega-CD' and 'Sega' are registered trademarks of
Sega Corporation
Dune TM & © 1992 Cryo All Rights Reserved
Page content, design & layout © 2008 www.Jap-Sai.com |
|
