Overdue Reviews is an occasional series in which I pretend to be a videogame journalist. This week: Dune II Battle for Arrakis on PC.
Dune 2 is often unfairly overlooked as the father of the modern RTS, obscured as it is by its younger and more successful offspring, Command and Conquer. I say this not only in a metaphorical sense but also in a quite literal one; my copy came bundled for free at the bottom of my Command and Conquer box.
I did play it once or twice, out of sheer curiosity. I found it interesting but clunky; moving around the map was hard, the graphics were a bit on the chunky side and base construction was slightly laborious - I remember building a concrete plate to go underneath every building. Whether that was necessary or not I still don't know for sure.
Sadly, my copy seems to have disappeared somewhere in the intervening years, perhaps lost down the back of a cupboard or given away to charity in a moment of ruthless clearing out. I feel a twinge of disappointment about that, particularly since it doesn't seem to exist on either Steam or GoG. While it was never going to appeal to me as much as C&C's slicker, modern format, I wouldn't mind giving it a go one more time.