The Emperor’s Old Groove: Oldies But Goldies

Introduction

One of the most well known Sci-Fi universes, Dune is a series of books, focused mainly around the desert planet Arakis, where a substance known only as "The Spice melange" can be harvested. Now, the tricky part is that that spice makes space travel possible, so technically, whoever controls Arakis, controls the galaxy. Naturally, The emperor has not the time to care for the harvest of it, so he always puts one of the noble houses on Arakis to take care of shit there.

The idea is, that being given the planet is both a great sign of favor but also a huge responsibility, because you basically put a large target on your...well, everything, not to mention the fact that the local denizens of the planet, the Fremen, are not really happy that you are there, considering you are an imperialistic pig/dog there to brutally harvest their resources at the expense of their lives.

Today we are going to discuss my favorite strategy game that was born from this universe of politics, Machiavellian machinations and warfare: Emperor: Battle For Dune

Welcome Mentat!

The game is a standard real time strategy game, in which you become the mentat of one of the three major houses, fighting for control of the planet
The noble house Atreides (the good guys from the book)
The evil house Harkonnen (The bad guys from the book)
The devious and totally not made for the series of games only, house Ordos (100% from the books for real)

All of them have different ways of motivating you to be loyal to their house, the game follows it's own narrative in the universe.

Presented to you through some typical Westwood live action cutscenes the game manages to be immersive, engaging and the story it tells, though with some unique variations depending on your chosen house, eventually ends up around the same conclusion.

Will you win the planet for your house, and ensure their place in galactic dominance, or will you be eaten by sandworms?

Gameplay: Putting the (uni)verse back into Diverse

Following the standard RTS (real time strategy) formula as seen in many westwood strategy games, like Command and Conquer.

You will have to build your base, harvest spice (for money) which you will use to purchase new buildings and units, and eventually eliminate your opponents. However, in this game there are a few distinct deviations from norm.

Each faction was completely different from the rest in terms of, well, everything really. From architecture, gameplay, units, playstyle to even the soundtrack being completely different, with only vague similarities between units. For example, all three units have some form of air unit. Some form of long range "siege" unit etc.

This simple fact, proved to me to be the most important aspect of the game, as each faction would open different playstyles. For example, the Atreides favor a very defencive playstyle. They have the best air based units, very solid defenses, and their long range "siege" unit, basically fires four missiles. Have a solid line of those bad boys, your base is virtually impenetrable.

On the other side, the Ordos favor a more devious and sneaky gameplay, employing saboteurs, stealth and rapid units, they excel at surprise. From having suicide stealth bombers, explode over the base, to rain down explosive shrapnel -and- the gift of a suicide bomber (saboteur) to at the very least, put a heavy load on the player's economy as he will now have to repair his base etc

The Harkonnen are evil guys who smell, so we wont talk about them much. But, it is worth mentioning that they boast -all- the firepower. Flamethrowers, missile tanks, heavy devastators, oh and uh, actual literal nuclear bombs.

Gameplay: Arakis Weather Report

Arakis is a hostile planet. Within the universe, it is a planet who's harshness is only rivaled by the prison planet Salusa Secundus (Home of the Imperial elite soldiers). So naturally, this means four things.

1) The Fremen are no pansies. Equal to the Sardaukar (the previously mentioned Imperial Elite), their knowledge of how the winds and the sands move, they can move unseen without leaving a trace. This means that you will not see the Fremen until they strike. And they strike -hard-

2) Sandstorms. The second worst thing about Arakis, is the vicious sandstorms that can destroy any modern craft with absolute ease. Straying into one is suicide, and in the game they appear as sand tornadoes, that will sweep up your infantry, and damage buildings and vehicles alike. Nothing can screw you over harder than a sandstorm sweeping over your carefully placed infantry's zone of defense.

3) The famous sandworms. The worst thing to happen since snakes, sandworms are stupidly large worms that are capable of devouring entire groups of soldiers and units with a single attack. To make things even worse, you cannot actually kill them, only chase them away. Traveling through the sands of Dune is -always- a risky thing to do.

The way the game implemented the above is brilliant, with sandworms being from a nuisance to a game changer, I have laughed at the enemy as their elite groups were locked in a Sandworm's attack, and cried, when a sandworm decided to swallow a quarter of my attacking siege, just because it decided to have a snack.

Finally, the final interesting aspect of gameplay worth mentioning, is the two minor houses you can pick. Each of them offers two unique units to further customize your gameplay. Will it be the stealthy Fremen? The technocratic Ixians? The Imperial Sardaukar? Pick two, mix and match, go nuts! The possibilities are finite, but still plenty

So yeah, in case people did not notice, I enjoy the gameplay immensely! With all the options and threats in the game, having your units grow from rookies to veterans and then use them to destroy your enemy is always a blast.

Music

This is an odd subject for this game.

One one hand, its bland, generic, and uninteresting as all hell. On the other however, each faction has its own set of faction music:
- The classic instrumental "epic" music for the Atreides
- The awesome electronic rhythms for the Ordos
- The sort of cheesy but borderline awesome hard rock/metal parts for the Harkonnen.

So, here is why I am torn. The Atreides music is the most boring aspect of the game, and unfortunately as it is the "good guy" faction and possibly one of the top 3 factions of the game, you will spent a lot of time listening to their music.

The other two factions however, oh boy, are they worth listening to the music! Personally I think the music is average. The sound design is good, the voice acting is the perfect border of ridiculous and god damn majestic, something every Westwood studios fan should be accustomed to by now.

Overall, I would say that its a silent strength of the game. It will not grip your attention like other soundtracks and sounds, but you will find yourself humming a tune, or repeating a line from the game every now and then.

Final Thoughts

Interesting design, engaging gameplay, sneaky-awesome music.

The only reason why I am not playing this game anymore, is because I have spent so many hours on it, the game has literally nothing more to offer me. That said, I would gladly jump back at this game with a couple of friends, if they ever decide to try it.

Story was fun, the campaign was properly long, with enough variety and unique faction missions that would play to their strengths and weaknesses, with three factions there is enough replay ability there for a lot of hours spent.

My final verdict for this game is: "A must try game for any RTS enthusiast and a -must own- game for any Dune and/or Westwood studios fan"

Instead of a gameplay video, I will leave you with the soundtrack, so you can make your own opinion of it. My suggestion: skip the Atraides soundtrack after "Ride The Worm".
Until next week!