Overview

Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Emperor official page: http://westwood.ea.com/games/emperor/english/home.shtml

Finally, a sequel

You've probably heard that Westwood's 1992 release Dune II (not a real sequel, but it was called II as a sequel to the movie) was the first real-time strategy game. That fact is debatable since games like The Art of War featured real-time combat back in 1984. If anything, Dune II is definitely the granddaddy of all modern RTS games. I played Dune II to death when it first came out - I was hooked on the speed and necessity to make battle decisions on the fly. This was a big change of pace from turn-based games like XCOM: UFO Defense.

When I heard that Dune 2000 was in the works I was excited. Westwood was going to update one of my favorite games in one of the coolest game universes around. I was appalled to find out that Dune 2000 was merely a graphical update of the 1992 game - that game was pathetic on so many fronts. So when I found out it was up to me to review Emperor: Battle for Dune I was incredibly skeptical - was Westwood going to make another piece of trash in the Dune Universe?

The three houses

The big fuss

That building isn't going to last

No Frank Herbert Tale

Emperor: Battle for Dune has the entire storyline built into its name. That's how poorly any semblance of a plot is portrayed in this game. It does start out promising: a Bene Geserit sister has assassinated the emperor, and a new emperor must be crowned. The three great houses, Atreides, Harkonnen, and Ordos must battle for supremacy on the only planet that seems to matter in this universe, Dune. Dune of course is special because it is the only source for the Spice, a substance that allows space folding, longevity and clairvoyance. As the war progresses, other factions are drawn into the fight - the Theilaxu, Ix, Sardukar, Fremen, and the Smuggler's Guild.

Now that's Wormsign

Storytime

They need help

It all goes downhill from here. We didn't mind the over acted clips (featuring Michal Dorn, aka Worf) or the poor blue screen effects (this is a video game after all), but the storytelling…well it just plain sucked. During the first half of a campaign you'll get a few cut scenes that deal with the inner workings of the house you fight for, but there's no story for the second half of the campaign. There is no story about the conflict between the houses, nothing interesting about the Fremen, and you don't pick up anything about the subplot conspiracy until the last mission. Each house also has the same general plot, including the same final mission. Don't get Emperor if you think this game is the next chapter in the Dune quintet.