Long live the fighters!

After playing it for about 40 hours, completing an entire campaign and a couple of Kanly duels, I feel ready to say a few words about this strategy game.

So, I’ll start with the things that bothered me the most (in the version I tried, maybe if someone reads this review in a year, these issues will be resolved). The first thing that annoyed me is the not excellent quality of the Italian texts. I found several questionable translations, some misleading and others just wrong. Not to mention that some sentences had words that were left directly in English. These are things that should be avoided.

Then there’s the graphic factor. Honestly, I found the graphics and models a bit underwhelming compared to other representatives of the genre, and not very inspired. The models and textures tend to be quite generic.

The same goes for the sound department. Both in terms of effects and music, in my opinion, they could have dared much more.

Oh yes, I think the tutorials also need to be improved because it’s true that they only introduce you to the main mechanics, but there are really too many important things that they don’t teach you and that you then pay for in the matches. So much so that you are forced to play on easy (at least I am) otherwise you get slapped repeatedly.

Let’s move on to the positives. Setting and gameplay. Here they come together quite well as the former greatly influences some mechanics of the latter.

Maybe it’s because I’m fresh from reading the books (I’ve reached the third one) and watching Villeneuve’s films, but I have Herbert’s setting well in mind and I was surprised to see the fidelity with which it has been reproduced in this strategy game and how it closely intersects with the gameplay. In the sense that many mechanics derive directly from the setting and exist thanks to it. The collection of spice (and the anxiety of the imperial tax), including being careful of the sandworms. The importance of water, also fundamental. The Space Guild. The meetings of the Landsraad and what follows. All this put together really brings you into the universe of Dune and makes you feel truly part of it.

There are also a lot of things I haven’t had a chance to try, including playing with the Harkonnen and Corrino houses. But sooner or later I will definitely do it.

In conclusion, it is a valid game in my opinion, despite its flaws. And I would feel like promoting it. Moreover, I hope they can make a second chapter in which, by refining the things I listed, they can really hit the target.

Un juego que, a los amantes de la estrategia y gestión, les puede gustar e incluso enganchar. El ciclo jugable de "Dune: spice wars" es ciertamente uno con potencial, pero fundamentalmente superficial. No hay demasiado margen para gestionar los recursos libremente, y por ende se convierte en un juego de estrategia demasiado lineal para lo que hemos visto en otros juegos de estrategia y gestión.

Tal vez, lo que más me cuesta acceptar de este juego es que esté ambientado en el mundo de "Dune". Las distintas facciones solo representan superficialmente aquello que se da en novelas y películas, y deja poco margen para sentirse parte de la facción con la que juegas. En definitiva: todas las facciones se juegan de la misma manera con ligeros cambios estadísticos y de tropas.

Si bien el juego es entretenido y puede dar un buen rato a los que disfruten del género, la verdad es que "Dune: spice wars" es un juego sin alma y con poca gracia. Se llama así como podría llamarse "Star wars: Tatooine sand wars".