History VideoGame / DuneII

* AscendedExtra: House Ordos only appears in non-canon ''Dune'' literature.

* InNameOnly: Dune II has little to do with Dune I, an AdventureGame by Cryo with some RTS aspects. Both games were developed simultaneously and Cryo apparently rushed it in order to beat Westwood to the punch.

Very loosely inspired by the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' books, of course. The first ''VideoGame/{{Dune}}'' game was an AdventureGame with RTS elements that followed the plot of the [[Film/{{Dune}} 1984 film]], and that was actually developed in the same time as Dune II, making it largely a sequel InNameOnly, retaining the basic setting elements but presenting a new story about war and political control [[AlternateUniverse distinct from the novels.]] The game engine for ''Dune II'' would later be refined and used for a game set in an original universe - ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer.'' The inverse would happen for the sequels, ''2000'' using the same engine as ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert]],'' and the follow-up ''Emperor'' using the same engine as ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' (an FPS, of all things) and ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals''.

''Dune 2000'', a remake released in 1998, took advantage of the numerous advancements made to the RTS genre within the previous six years (you could now control multiple units at once, use the right and middle mouse buttons for easier movement, etc.), and replaced the drawn cutscenes of the original with Westwood Studios' near-trademark {{Live Action Cutscene}}s. It also featured slightly more tactical objectives (Rather than "Kill the Harkonnen" you get to "Protect the Fremen from the Harkonnen" ''then'' "kill the Harkonnen") and Frank Klepacki ([[AwesomeMusic/CommandAndConquer you may have heard of him]]), one the original composers for Dune 2, returns to score the new music and remix some of the old ones. While the game received mostly lackluster reviews upon release and sold rather poorly compared to other Westwood games, it has since developed a bit of a cult following for being a mostly faithful remake of the original with a number of serious improvements and far better presentation.

''Dune 2000'', a remake released in 1998, took advantage of the advancements made to the RTS genre (you could now control multiple units at once, use the right and middle mouse buttons for easier movement, etc.), and replaced the drawn cutscenes of the original with Westwood Studios' near-trademark {{Live Action Cutscene}}s. It also featured slightly more tactical objectives (Rather than "Kill the Harkonnen" you get to "Protect the Fremen from the Harkonnen" ''then'' "kill the Harkonnen") and Frank Klepacki ([[AwesomeMusic/CommandAndConquer you may have heard of him]]), one the original composers for Dune 2, returns to score the new music and remix some of the old ones. While the game received mostly lackluster reviews upon release and sold rather poorly compared to other Westwood games, it has since developed a bit of a cult following for being a mostly faithful remake of the original with a number of serious improvements and far better presentation.

''Dune 2000'', a remake released in 1998, took good use of the advancement of computers, and replaced the drawn cutscenes of the original with Westwood Studios' near-trademark {{Live Action Cutscene}}s, slightly more tactical objectives (Rather than "Kill the Harkonnen" you get to "Protect the Fremen from the Harkonnen" ''then'' "kill the Harkonnen") and Frank Klepacki ([[AwesomeMusic/CommandAndConquer you may have heard of him]]), one the original composers for Dune 2, returns to score the new music and remix some of the old ones. While the game received mostly lackluster reviews upon release and sold rather poorly compared to other Westwood games, it has since developed a bit of a cult following.

''Dune 2000'', a remake released in 1998, took good use of the advancement of computers, and replaced the drawn cutscenes of the original with Westwood Studios' near-trademark {{Live Action Cutscene}}s, slightly more tactical objectives (Rather than "Kill the Harkonnen" you get to "Protect the Fremen from the Harkonnen" ''then'' "kill the Harkonnen") and Frank Klepacki ([[AwesomeMusic/CommandAndConquer you may have heard of him]]), one the original composers for Dune 2, returns to score the new music and remix some of the old ones.

* LuckBasedMission: ''Dune II'' becomes this whenever a Harkonnen player launches a Death Hand - for either side - since you never know where the missile is going to hit. It leads to SaveScumming on a regular basis, because if it destroys your Construction Yard, you've probably lost the game.

** ''Dune 2000'' has TheEngineer, who can capture buildings, allowing to build even enemy's unique units too. In the original ''Dune II'' building were captured by sending regular infantry into it. However, capturing a fully repaired building required a lot of light infantry, and only Harkonnen and emperor could produce heavies. Plus, the infantry, especially the light ones, was very slow, no match for tanks and subject for ArbitraryHeadcountLimit of 25. A common tactics involved "softening" a building with quads or tanks before capturing.

*** The enemy structures need to be weaken first and soldiers have mediocre firepower. The captured structures need to be repaired, costing you resources.

** The Harkonnen's Devastator tank. It's impervious to all weapons, but it's as fast as a turtle without legs. It's expensiveness (800 credits) means it's hard to amass a large group of them. If it's destroyed, it will cause collateral damage to units closed-by including yours.

* {{Trope2000}}: ''Dune 2000''

''Dune 2000'', a remake released in 1998, took good use of the advancement of computers, and replaced the drawn cutscenes of the original with Westwood Studios' near-trademark FullMotionVideo cutscenes, slightly more tactical objectives (Rather than "Kill the Harkonnen" you get to "Protect the Fremen from the Harkonnen" ''then'' "kill the Harkonnen") and Frank Klepacki ([[AwesomeMusic/CommandAndConquer you may have heard of him]]), one the original composers for Dune 2, returns to score the new music and remix some of the old ones.

* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: Zigzagged with all three Mentats serving as your advisers. While some of their hints are useful, some other information are worthless. Ammon's opinion on missile tanks being useless? Don't listen to him, order them through the starport as soon as you can! They can outgun enemy turrets. Cyril advise you to train light infantries because they are more than adequate for the task? They're actually really slow, terrible shots and die easily. Radnor tells you the Ordos' raiders are pitiful? He's right, but they actually make excellent counters for missile tanks.

* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: Zigzagged with all three Mentats serving as your advisers. While some of their hints are useful, some other information are worthless. Ammon's opinion on missile tanks being useless? Don't listen to him, order them through the starport as soon as you can! They can outgun enemy turrets. Cyril advise you to train light infantries because they are more adequate for the task? They're actually really slow, terrible shots and die easily. Radnor tells you the Ordos' raiders are pitiful? He's right, but they actually make excellent counters for missile tanks.

Developed by Creator/WestwoodStudios and released in 1992, ''Dune II'' is the TropeCodifier for the RealTimeStrategy genre, as well as the TropeMaker for numerous gameplay conventions.

* RiskStyleMap: but with little or no role in the game (see that page for details).

!!''Dune II'' and ''Dune 2000''' provide examples of:

* InNameOnly / SequelDisplacement:
** Out of continuity with the book and the first game. ''Dune 2000'' and ''Emperor, Battle for Dune'' both try very hard to link themselves as prequels to the David Lynch film. It could be considered an AlternateUniverse.
** Dune II has little to do with Dune I, an AdventureGame by Cryo with some RTS aspects. Both games were developed simultaneously and Cryo apparently rushed it in order to beat Westwood to the punch.

* NonEntityGeneral

* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Executrix, leaders of House Ordos. In Dune 2000, the Ordo's leadership is so secretive, they're never directly seen.

* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil with ChromaticArrangement: Atreides are blue, Harkonnens are red and Ordos are green. Even though the original book specifically states that the Harkonnens are blue and the Atreides are green or red. But then we can't have blue bad guys and red good guys, can we? [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience That's not allowed]]. The Harkonnen's griffin emblem is replaced by a snarling bull for the same reason.

* ArbitraryMinimumRange: Missile tanks could not hit a target 2 hexes or less away. If they tried, the missiles went wild and hit random locations other than the target hex.