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Friday Flashback: Dune 2

Starcraft 2 has been on a lot of gamers' minds lately. It's certainly been eating up my attention and time for a good part of the past week. To commemorate the game we've been waiting a decade for, this week we're going back to the origins of the game, and indeed the very genre itself. No, not Starcraft. No, not Warcraft, but that's a good guess. No, this week's flashback is the godfather of all RTS games: Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty (or The Battle For Arrakis, depending on whether you're looking at the game's box or its title screen).

Dune 2 is vaguely based on Frank Herbert's Dune books, though besides two of the three house factions' names and the fact that you're gathering spice on a desert planet with giant worms, there aren't a whole lot of similarities. You choose between House Atriedes, House Harkonnen, or House Ordo, and try to crush the other two houses as you collect spice and build up your forces. It doesn't exactly have the complex political subterfuge or the bizarre religious themes of Herbert's books, but it works as an impetus for base-building and enemy-killing.

The game was developed by Westwood Studios, which went on to create the Command & Conquer series and its beloved Red Alert sub-series. Sadly, Dune 2 doesn't have any hilariously bad FMV cutscenes of Tim Curry or Michael Ironside chewing the scenery like they're teething.

Dune 2 pioneered a lot of the RTS conventions that we take for granted today. Building construction and base expansion, resource collection, technology trees, and multiple factions all got their start in this humble little game.

If you want to play Dune 2, you'll have to make due with remakes. Sadly, the game hasn't been re-released on Steam, GOG.com, or any of the other digital distribution sites. However, remakes like Dune 2: The Golden Path and Dune Legacy give you a free option to try a version of this historic game.