Dune II cannot be called a Warcraft-style game, and maybe the other way around - Dune II was a precursor to Warcraft, simply since Warcraft came out a year after. Dune II was a sequel to Westwood's Dune, which was an adventure game and nothing like the sequel.

The story is based on the book "Dune". As the game starts, you can pick one of three houses - the noble House of Atreides, the secretive House of Ordos and the evil House of Harkonnen.

The basic structures were the same for all houses (IIRC), but the graphics and the readers' voice were different to suit the houses' stereotypes. For example, the Atreides voice effects were performed by a pleasant female voice, the Ordos - by a pleasant male voice, and the Harkonnen - by an aggresive male voice.

Dune II is the grandfather of all modern RTS games. While there have been many improvements of specific things (like the controls), the overall gameplay of the modern games is still the same. Unit/Structure Trees, Houses, Bases and many other familiar elements were present in this first RTS. Unit control is the most improved upon element (Dune II units could only be selected one at a time and commmands like attack were selected from a menu). This game was truly revolutionary at the time.

Dune II, over the period of three years, was released in multiple versions. The game was developed for the PC by Westwood Studios and distributed by Virgin Games. Originally, the game found its home on DOS in 1992, and was later released in 1993 for the Amiga. The US was greeted by a version entitled Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. The European version was given the title Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis. The name difference was merely cosmetic, and the only accompanying variance was the box art.

In 1994, the game was licensed by Sega and released for both the Sega Genesis and The Sega Mega Drive. This time around, the game's title was changed again. Console gamers were met with Dune: The Battle for Arrakis. The differences between the Genesis and the Mega Drive versions were merely a difference in box art. The developing and distribution of the Sega versions were the same as for the PC; however Virgin was now listed as Virgin Interactive Entertainment rather than Virgin Games. The game mechanics remained the same.

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