Obvious things firstthe graphics. You'll immediately notice this, unless you are blind. They are more than impressive, but utterly astonishing in detail and workmanship. You can zoom, pan, and rotate to see the different vehicle models, all done in gorgeous 3-D. Aside from the structures and units, combat looks fantastic. I was almost tempted to blast my own base after missions, just to see the fireworks.
The single player campaigns are far more interesting, since you can ally yourself with any of five different sub-houses, each offering tempting units. You can also attack and defend at will, and when you defend, your old bases will be reactivated. It's an interesting touch, and one that makes the campaigns much more fun than any previous Dune or C&C-type game. You'll also get various secondary objectives, some of which can be pretty fun to carry out.
The balance is excellent. Each house has its strengths and weaknesses, as do the sub-houses. I don't think the debate will ever end as to which combination works best, since it's really just a matter of favorites.
Of course, no game is without it's problems, and Emperor is no exception. I found that defending in the campaigns is laughably easy if you just attack your intruder right away. You'll also probably know the map, so you can exploit its advantages to better destroy them.
Path-finding can be a pain at times. Although it does work, it seems they tried to make units have realistic 'space' to take up, which means they don't bump into each other. This is cool to a certain extent, and that limit is when you can't move something from point A to point B.
The acting is a bit forced. I'm not one to complain too much about cinematics and actors, since they're only there to augment the game, but at times it was really quite bad. The Atreides mentat in particular struck me as an evil person, which just doesn't fit the House.
The plot is weird. I can't really explain it otherwise, other than to recommend you read the books (they're great, anyway). I know the folks at Westwood are leaning more towards the movie version of Dune, not the novel. However, the way they have taken the story seems an amalgamation of elements from God Emperor of Dune, the movie, and... well... something. For example, they never really explained how the Atreides recovered from being handily slaughtered by the Harkonnen and Sardaukar. This will probably be of concern only to a Dune purist, though, and should not deter you from playing the game.
All in all, Emperor was a pretty riveting experience. If you were disappointed by Dune 2000 (basically just a remake of Dune 2), then you will want to check this one out. It surely won't disappoint.
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Westwood did a good job with this one. It helps to be familiar with the Herbert Books, as there are many referenses to characters, places, and creatures. The three houses you are able to choose from are unique enough to make playing each one enjoyable and different. The graphics are unmatched. They are so high-end that even though my 16MB memory card should be good enough, I need to upgrade. My only faults with the game are with some of the gameplay itself. I think the Blizzard games (Warcraft and Starcraft) do a better job with upgrades. Units in Dune are as strong as they will ever get once you create them. I like having several ways to improve units. The gameplay in Red Alert II offered far more ways to vary your forces. Its almost as if Westwood sunk most of its effort into plot and not enough on the interface. The story line is rich however, it will imerse you in Herbert's world for hours. Overall, worth the money and time spent playing.Best Deals for Emperor: Battle for Dune - PC
This is a truly awesome game! I have been playing this game since it came out and I wrote this review in 2004! There is so much replayability you can't count how many hours you can play it. Be warned though, this game has the potential to take over your life with it's beautiful graphics, truly awesome music, and great balance between the three houses. The music is good enough for you to buy the game alone, the music is even better than Starcraft music and the game is better than it too! If you enjoy a game that lets you choose where to attack and defend you will love this game. Also, there are several different kinds of missions like defending a subhouse defend against another subhouse or attacking an enemy convoy heading out of the map. Although the difficulty level is very high during the end of the game with the computer opponents simply pouring out high level infantry and heavy artillery and such it is still beatable and you really feel as if you accomplished something. Overall, this is a really good game that any gamer SHOULD NOT MISS!! That is the directive!(I have spent over 500 hours playing this game and am still going!)Honest reviews on Emperor: Battle for Dune - PC
No one ever said that war was simple. The guys at Interplay seem to understand this and they definately understand how Frank Herbert wanted people to understand the world of Arrakis and his wonderfully complex universe. The plot line is excellent, and the developments that keep the game moving rival Herbert's own fiction in strength of tale. Everything that happens before you get to the battlefield is wonderful -the backstory that few of the modern RTS games have and everybody wants.But, once you get thrown into the captain's chair and try to control the combat... Let's just hope that you either wrote the thing or have a P.h.D. with a thesis in "point-click-point-right-click, now run over there and do the same thing over again". RTS is supposed to be exciting, right? It's supposed to keep you moving from place to place, following and directing the battle on every front. It should progress slowly, teaching you the interface and the tools with which you wage war. Dune is all these things -with an enormous, Devastator-sized "but" looming in the foreground.
Your troops are absolutely stupid. Maybe one time in twenty will they make an intelligent decision on their own. Pathfinding is absolutely attrocious. Troops always seem to take the most dangerous route to where they are going -not necessarily the longest mind you, but the way that puts twenty newly minted infantrymen running right by your opponents machine gun emplacements. Machine guns? In Dune? In the world where kinetic energy weapons are obsolete because of personal shielding technology that was one of the highlights of Herbert's "Dune" series? Yeah, machine guns. This is supposed to be how many thousands of years in the future? Next week, Westwood is going to introduce a modern RTS that has your US Marines charging the battlefield with bows-and-arrows and greatswords. But, I digress.
The wonderfully crafted resource-end of the game, built on harvesting and refining the spice melange, is definately an integral part of the plot-line. It would be fine -if the AI that controls your harvesters and carryalls had any real decision-making skills. For instance...
I'm trying to defend my base plateau from an assault of no-less than six Harkonnen Devastators. ...the Devastator is the most powerful Harkonnen unit in the game. It can attack both landand air-borne threats. So, as I'm watching these behemoths coming towards my base. I'm moving my defenses into place, creating interlocking fields of fire with my emplaced machine guns and rocket launchers, deploying my infantry-based rocket launchers, ...! All three of my carry-alls proceed to deposit my three, very expensive harvesters right in the middle of the inbound assault. The sensual female voice proclaims through my speakers in rapid succession "Your harvester is under attack." "Your carryall is under attack." "Unit lost." "Unit lost." "Unit lost." Repeat ad nauseum. There went fifteen minutes worth of development and I couldn't even stop the carryalls from their stupidity. Didn't I tell you? You can't even intervene.
Oh, and by the way, the defense missions -for the unitiated at Westwood that means I'm defending and someone else is attacking -are really just normal missions with a starting base instead of an MCV. You can sit there and build up your defenses to your hearts content, but the game won't end until you go on the offense and destroy the enemy. It isn't even timed. This morning, I built up my defenses until they were literally unbeatable I literally built a maze out of walls and lined the walls with machine guns and rocket launchers. I walked away from the game for three hours, letting my defenses do their job so I could get finished with this stupid mission. And nothing happened.
Well enough of a rant -if you've read this far, I wouldn't recommend ...this game. ....The good things about this game are far outweighed by the bad.
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This game is stunning with its 3D graphics. I have an old piece of junk called a computer that can run this game pretty well considering the system requierments. The units are very well done from Harkonnen Missle tanks to Ordos Chemical troopers.The campaigns are presented on a map which is equally divided into thirds. Depending on the house you choose you must attack,hold,and attack from enemy territories to reach their capitol.
The game is also littered with entertaining cut-scenes between missions.
The building and producing mechanics are very easy----no running around collecting units of food and wood like AOE-----------just build a refinery and the game collects the money for you. You may have to replace a harvester every so often ,but other than that it runs itself.
The game is alot quicker and action oriented than other games like AOE(Age of Empires I or II). Instead of building up a town and collecting a ton of resources. Emperor is able to do that faster. The game's missions are shorter, though much more fun.
Overall this game definately deserves 5 stars and will keep you playing for a long while.
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