Subject: MINI-REVIEW: Dune
From: [email-masked] (Michael Robert Bromery)
Date: 11 May 1993 17:15:34 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	Dune

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	A unique strategy game with great graphics and sound.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		CRYO.  Distributed by Virgin Games.
	Address:	Virgin Games
			18061 Fitch Ave.
			Irvine, CA  92714
			USA

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	Reportedly runs under AmigaDOS 1.3 and up.

	People with only 512K Chip RAM will either have to boot from floppy,
or they will have to USE the boot menu to disable the startup-sequence and
then run the program from the CLI.  Otherwise, the game will have no sound.
Anyone with at least ROMS 2.04 has a boot menu. Just hold down both mouse
buttons when you reboot or power up.  Keep them held down until the boot menu
pops up.

COPY PROTECTION

	"Look up in the manual" copy protection.  Installs on hard drive.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	The systems that this has been tested on is an A500 with 2.04 ROMs,
512K chip, 2.5 Megs fast. The system also has a GVP HD8+ 50Meg Hard drive
and a second floppy drive from Roctec. 1 Meg Agnus chip (only 512K enabled
so far), EHB Denise.

	A friend of mine says it works just fine on an A1200.

MINI REVIEW

	I'm surprised that hardly anybody on this net ever mentioned the
game called Dune.  This game is absolutely superb.  You need OS 2.04 or
greater to run it.  (Probably because they needed OS 2.04 in order to do what
looks like 3-4 Megs of graphics and special effects that you would only see
in euro-demos previously and fit it in 3-disks with no compression).

	I could easily give a 9.5 for graphics and sound on this one.  There
are reasons though.  The original artist did the Amiga graphics, and he used
color cycling and what looks like copperlists really well.  The game runs
fast with or without acceleration.  The only time where I could see the game
slow down a bit from the otherwise speedy motion is at only one part in the
game.  (I wont tell you what it is... it'll spoil the fun).  

	Don't let the really nice graphics and sound make you think this game
has no playability.  Dune has tons of playability and, unlike any other game,
the playability enhances as you progress in the game.  I can not compare this
game to anything else; it uses a unique playing system that alters for the
better when you get better.  Technically, this is a strategy game, but of a
kind that some people who don't like strategy would gladly get into.  It's
weird:  you play it saying, "What kind of game is this?"  The game then
surprises you every few minutes, and you're hooked.  

	The music in the game is done really well:  lots of nice quality
samples which I would love to get my hands on.  The music suggests our modern
style of popular tunes, but with some interstellar twists and some pretty
interesting new groupings of instruments.  The instruments they choose make
for the uniqueness of the style.  The write-up in the book about the composer
seems to tell the truth in every way.  I could give you a long analysis on
the music style, but I won't :).  The music is also available on CD.  All I
can say is, think of our modern popular music (American), mix it with a bit
of Latin rhythm, think of the Alien soundtrack for a couple of the
instruments, add a bit of the style from Endor (Ewok instrumentation and
rhythm from Star Wars), mix them together, and that's as close as I could
come to a picture of what it may sound like.  It's a very nice buy.  I'm
already looking forward for the release of Dune II even though I haven't
nearly come close to finishing this game.

   --- Mike Bromery.
    Email: [email-masked]

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