16: Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis

Number 16
(200.2 points)
Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis
1994: 14 (52.2)
1995: 16 (68.0)
1996: 21 (80.0)

Fun fact: Dune II isn't really a sequel at all, it's just that the makers of the other Dune game took so long to finish it that the guys who bought the rights decided to get another company to make another game, and the two games ended up coming out within a short time of each other, the only connection being the IP and the publisher, Virgin. Having said that, it's a damn good thing they decided to get this one done.

Choose your House: Atreides, Harkonnen or Ordos, and try to conquer the planet Arrakis. The game was a landmark event in the real time strategy genre, as the same company went on to create the influential Command & Conquer series, and the basis is very obvious here. Construct buildings, train soldiers and build ever more advanced weaponry, before seeking out your opponent's base and razing it to the ground. It's fast, it's engrossing, and it practically created a new genre. An unarguable classic.

Finally, a strategy game in this list that I've spent countless hours playing - on the PC, that is. The Amiga version is best played on a faster Amiga, as playing on a stock A500 with one disk drive is a real struggle. Constant disk swapping before each game, accompanied by a very slow in-game experience and worse colour than the PC. You're better off playing the PC version, as a result, unless you really dig the music, in which case play the WHDLoad version on a faster Amiga.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Dune II - The Battle for Arrakis v1.0 (1993)(Virgin)(M3)(Disk 1 of 5)[cr PDX]
Dune II - The Battle for Arrakis v1.0 (1993)(Virgin)(M3)(Disk 2 of 5)
Dune II - The Battle for Arrakis v1.0 (1993)(Virgin)(M3)(Disk 3 of 5)
Dune II - The Battle for Arrakis v1.0 (1993)(Virgin)(M3)(Disk 4 of 5)
Dune II - The Battle for Arrakis v1.0 (1993)(Virgin)(M3)(Disk 5 of 5)
Dune II - The Battle for Arrakis v1.0 (1993)(Virgin)(M3)[save disk]