movie than in Dune II, and that’s also
true in the FMV sequences. In terms
of mechanics, it’s pretty much
identical to the original Command &
Conquer. You can select and move
multiple groups of vehicles and
assign numerical shortcuts to groups.
Sadly there’s no way to queue unit
production as in Tiberian Sun, but
once the tech tree lets you build a
Starport you can receive dozens of
units at a time, making this real
tank-rush territory. Unlike anything
in early Command & Conquer, the
Starport works almost like a
marketplace, where stock runs dry
and where prices fluctuate.
Much like Dune II, there’s a third
house called Ordos, derived from the
book’s Spacing Guild, in addition to
the Atreides and Harkonnen. Dune
2000 also introduces smugglers and
mercenaries, some of which you’re
allied with and who will abandon you
mid-mission if they become overrun.
The native Fremen warriors make a
return too, living in caves amongst
the rocky outcrops and ambushing
enemies out of the blue. Finally of
course is the Emperor and his
ruthless Sardukar warriors. They’re
really just the same as your chaps, but
dressed in purple beekeeper outfits
for added drama.
Much like Dune II and even
Command & Conquer, around the
fourth mission you’ll find your base
strewn with your own badly
damaged light vehicles—simply
because it’s the last mission before
you’re allowed to build a repair bay.
All you can do is build more.
Playing through the game on‘hard’ actually gets quite tough by the
fourth or fifth mission. You’re often
fighting against more than one house,
plus mercenaries or Fremen. Enemy
AI unforgivably fling wave upon
wave of mixed unit attacks meaning
that you need a good range of
anti-infantry and anti-tank defence.TANKS ALOT
Each house has one specialist unit
that becomes available in the later
missions and each unit either reflects
its house or the original story. There’s
a definite ‘holy shit’ moment the first
time I see the brutal Harkonnen’s
Devastator tank rumbling towards
my base. It’s like C&C’s Mammoth
tank only bigger, and takes a battering
before it’s finally destroyed.
House Ordos are the underhand
sneaks, and their Deviator tank is
based on illegal Ixian technology. It
fires shells filled with mind-altering
gas that temporarily changes any
affected unit’s allegiance, much like
Yuri’s nonsense in Red Alert 2.
Playing as house Atreides means
I can build their unique unit now
too—the Sonic Tank. In the spirit
of the book, the Sonic Tank projects
sound at enemy units withSerious acting is serious.MEE T THE MENTATS
Three of Dune’s cognitive geniuses
NOREE MONEO
HOUSE
ATREIDES
It’s a joy to watch
John Rhys-Davies
play this
red-blooded military
role. He comes
complete with
trademark beard
and rolling ‘Rs’.HAYT DE VRIES
HOUSE
HARKONNEN
True to the book,
Hayt De Vries
brandishes
eyebrows that
would make David
Bellamy blush, and
has the red ‘I just
ate an ice lolly’ lips.EDRIC O
HOUSE ORDOS
Complete with
bizarre voice
synthesizer, Edric of
House Ordos gives a
robotic
performance, with a
syringe hovering
menacingly over his
neck throughout.OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES
REINSTALL
Mercenaries help you out a lot
in the Ordos campaign.This is what happens when you
buy light bulbs at Lidl.