Start producing Spice on Dune to meet the Emperor's demands. Build an army to defend against the Harkonnen. Explore.

One planet, of a remote system in an inconsequential galaxy, holds a value inordinate to its size for the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. This ruthless galactic ruler desires the precious mineral, Spice, that lies beneath the sandy surface of this mysterious world, Arrakis. Spice is the key to space travel, and also unlocks more esoteric pathways - the most potent mind-expanding substance in the universe (after guarana gum).

Shaddam has deviously sought to protect his interest by allowing two rival factions within his court to mind Spice on Dune. You are of the honourable House of Atreides, sending spice shipments while repelling the growth of your enemies, the Harkonnen on Dune. You proceed by befriending the natives of Arrakis, the Fremen. As Paul Atreides the duties of Spice production and defence must be balanced against each other.

Dune uses the full audio capability of CD. Every message given by a game character is spoken as well as written in sub-title format. The game text is shown in a round of languages, including American and English! Well, howdy doody!

The Fremen are the natives of Arrakis, easily distinguished by their deep blue eyes (a side-effect of proximity to Spice). You cannot hope to mine Spice without their help. Fremen live in burrows called seitches. They are a resilient people, able to survive on the arid surface of Dune with the aid of stillsuits - clothing which recycles body fluid. The Fremen have profound psychic powers.

Atreides has the highest moral code of any House within the Padishah Empire. Tall, beautiful, intelligent and intuitive, they regard themselves as blessed by birth and have a duty to others less fortunate. With you on Arrakis is Duke Leto Atreides, your father, and Jessica, your mother. Leto is a good source of advice, and Jessica helps unravel some of the mysteries of the Spice.

In addition, there is help from Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho, two stewards of Atreides. Gurney is an expert at weaponry and realing with the Fremen. Duncan knows all about Spice harvesting, and holds statistics about stocks.

You have mobility on Dune with your ornithopter. This advanced flying machine takes you to any marked seitches you have on the Dune map. Sometimes vague directioons to new seitches are given by Fremen. In these cases, you free-fly over Arrakis (shown in a remarkable 3D sequence) with a sharp-eyed passenger, like Gurney.

Later, an entirely new form of transport appears with the worms. Dune worms are huge creatures who burrow just below the surface. Initially they are a nuisance - attacking harvesters because of their rhythmic vibrations. But once their secret is known, Paul Atreides calls the worms and becomes their rider. They are as fast as an ornithopter.

You will come to fear the Padishah Emperor. He regularly calls the Palace to demand Spice. You must be there to dispatch a shipment at the allotted time, and keep up production to meet his stiff targets. Only Duncan can send a shipment. Failure has terrible consequences...

This was a computer game, and it does still play in that way. Console owners may be disturbed by the lack of action, but Dune has an atmosphere all of its own. Using a lot of material from the movie of the same name, the game really comes alive with the speech, the animated portraits and the complex and stimulating plot.

In terms of gameplay, it takes a long time to get beyond mere conversation and into the strategic element, but finishing the game takes a long time. One nice feature is the detective element. Mysteries take some time to illuminate themselves, but once solved, a real feeling of progress is perceived. I'd actually advise strategy fans to go for the Dune II Megadrive cart, but this is recommended to Dune fans and budding 'tecs.

I agree entirely with Gus - Dune CD is a vast, highly atmospheric quest, oozing polish and originality. The graphics and sound are superb - the full-motion video employed when traversing the world of Arrakis is simply astounding - easily the best FMV on the Mega-CD to date.

The game itself is remarkably involving, playing at one moment like a Lucasfilm adventure, and then just like a strategy game as you decide what to do with your fremen forces.

Be warned though. If you've after arcade excitement, you're going to be disappointed with this. Paul wasn't too keen on this at all. However, if it's a unique adventuring experience you require, Dune CD can't be beaten.

Presentation 91%
P. Wonderful in-game atmosphere and presentation. Good control system. Great FMV trickery.
N. Quite a slow response on some disc access.

Graphics 80%
P. The flying sequence in the orni is magnificent, if redundant. The characters' faces look very lifelike.
N. The location and map graphics look pretty poor.

Sound 87%
P. What can be said? The speech is perfect: well pronounced and nicely echoed.
N. The music is mostly awful and is quickly turned off.

Playability 82%
P. The game has a broad strategy appeal - with detective and board-game type sections.
N. There's not much action. Some sections are spent listening to vast tracts of story.

Lastability 71%
P. The game is big. Dozens of seitches have to be controlled to win the game.
N. Once the game has been 'seen', there's no point in doing it again.

Overall 82%
A strikingly original and well-produced game for the Mega-CD, but a bit sedate as a piece of console entertainment.