A Spicy Strategy-Adventure

What a terrific game. Virgin, one of the more consistently innovative game companies, has produced a wonderful hybrid strategy-adventure in “Dune.”

Based more on the David Lynch film than Frank Herbert’s classic science-fiction novel, “Dune” nicely blends the two gaming genres: It’s a strategy game with a plot and characters; it’s an adventure that relies on good sense and deduction rather than just dumb luck or simple puzzle solving.

The game’s only real fault is a low-rent manual that falls far short of the rest of the game.

For those who don’t know the story of “Dune,” here’s a quick run-through: The barren desert planet Arrakis (a.k.a. Dune) is home to a subjugated native people, the Fremen. Dune, the Universe’s sole source for the valuable, mind-and-space bending spice Melange, is ruled by the evil House of Harkonnen. The Emperor grants the House of Atreides spice mining rights, but they must fight the Harkonnen for them. Young Paul Atreides, the story’s hero, leads the Fremen in a mystical, prophecy-fulfilling rebellion against their hated overlords.

The game captures that basic plot and translates it easily. You, playing the role of Paul, travel the planet searching out Fremen tribes, rally them to your cause and lead them to fight the Harkonnen. It’s a slow, thoughtful strategy game.

Less successful are the game’s use of the story’s unusual supporting characters and the its strong mystical elements. Those are what distinguished the original “Dune” from other science fiction works and--presumably--what attracted a director such as Lynch to the movie.

Those are also elements that might have been addressed with a better manual. With that, the game makers might have gone the limit.

Dune

Rating: ****

IBM and compatibles; 640K, VGA, hard drive required; mouse and sound card recommended. List: $49.99.

Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.