Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty

80 - Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty / Battle for Arrakis

Year: 1992
Platform(s): PC
Designer(s): Christopher D. Yates, Aaron E. Powell, and Robb Alvey
Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Virgin Games

"For many RTS fans, this is the game that started it all. It was certainly the game that first proved what could be done with the genre. Looking back at the game, it's amazing how firmly Dune II set the model for the entire genre. To begin with, it used a mouse to control units. It sounds bizarre to list that as an innovation, but back in 1992, it was positively revolutionary. Moreover, it set the pattern for resource collection and base building that we still use today. In fact, the Harvesters of Dune II became part of the vocabulary of resource collection from then on. Throw in tech trees, three factions who each had different types of units and structures, and a minimap with fog of war, and you've got all the ingredients that RTS designers have been using for the last twenty years, from Westwood's own follow-up Command & Conquer to Blizzard's recent StarCraft 2. Other titles have taken what Dune II did and done it better, but no title in the entire history of the genre has done as much to establish the overall blueprint." - The Escapist

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