I can still remember the first time I saw and played Dune II. It would have been the early 90's. My parents were invited to a party at a friend's house and due to me being so young and them unable to get a babysitter I had been dragged along as well. International Business Machines (IBM), a leading American computer manufacturer, was one of the main employers in the area we lived, so almost everyone my parents knew worked for IBM. Because of this, tucked away in the corner of the living room of this house was an IBM computer. At home, I had a ZX Spectrum and Sega Mega Drive but this machine sported a 2.5" floppy drive on the front, a large VGA monitor and a fancy 2-button mouse! I eagerly asked if they had any games I could play?! This is when I had my first taste of a game by 'Westwood Studios' called DUNE II.

Its impact on me was profound. The game was unlike anything I had seen before. I had played strategy games like Mega-Lo-Mania, Populous and Lemmings on the Sega systems but this was different.
This game was faster and more fluid than those games. Its universe was fully fleshed out but the objective was simple and I had not seen anything quite like it before.

At this time, my parents had no interest in buying what they saw purely as a fancy typewriter and the thought of getting a PC for games was simply out of the question! I had to settle on the Mega Drive port which while good, you didn't have the control of the mouse, weaker audio and soundtrack and the sprites were less crisp and vibrant.

'Dune II: Battle for Arrakis' (aka 'DUNE II: The Building of a Dynasty', in the USA), was based on the 1965 Frank Herbert epic science fiction novel 'Dune' and the film of the same name by David Lynch released in 1984. Being so young, I was unaware of the book and film before my exposure to the game but the game served as a jumping on point for the 'Dune' universe. Dune II was one of the first games to feature real-time strategy (RTS) elements, such as base building, resource management, and unit control. I believe 'Herzog Zwei' (released on Sega's Mega Drive) was the first. Which debuted in 1990 but this game had completely passed me by.

Some time in late 1995, I was at school and my friend had brought in a manual for a new game he had received to go along with their new family computer. Another Westwood game but this game was called Command and Conquer (C&C)... I looked at the pictures and read the instructions. This was Dune II but better! Not set in the future but set in the present day.I had to play it, at any cost!

After much nagging and the use of the old line "I will use the computer for my homework", my dad bought our first family multimedia computer that Christmas.

Command & Conquer improved on Dune II's formula by adding more units, missions, and story elements as well as a more intuitive quicker interface for moving units around and multiplayer. On top of this the game was released on CD-ROM which allowed for full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes to be played in the form of mission briefings and CGI story telling.

It was with C&C that I had my first experience of playing games over a telephone line. The game came on 2 CDs so I could install the game on my friend's PC, who lived down the road and I could run back home, dial his telephone number and play a very laggy and slow 2 player game for the cost of a local rate telephone call. At the same time denying anyone else in the house of being able to use the telephone line. It was worth every penny! When we eventually got the internet I was able to play online with the 'Westwood Online' and 'Westwood Chat' client, which were the official multiplayer services for Westwood Studios games.

Command & Conquer introduced many features that would become staples of RTS. The game has 4 components: Build a base, harvest resources, produce units and defeat your opponent. The game's story revolves around a global conflict between the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod (NOD) led by a charismatic leader named Kane (played by Joe Kucan). The two factions fight for control over a mysterious and valuable alien substance called Tiberium. At the time, the game was praised for its gameplay, graphics, music, and atmosphere. To this day, the game holds a loyal fan base. The series has spawned several sequels and spin-offs such as C&C Generals, which I regard the best of the series.

In 2020 EA (who own the rights to C&C, following their purchase of Westwood Studios) released a remaster of the original game and its sister series Red Alert, which is set in an alternate history where the Soviet Union invades Europe. The remaster features updated graphics, re-recorded music, enhanced multiplayer, mod support, and bonus content in the form of behind the scenes making of the original game. The remaster preserves the original gameplay and mechanics, while adding some quality of life improvements for modern systems, such as a modern UI, zooming, and hotkeys. The remaster also allows players to switch between the old and new graphics by pressing 'Space Bar'. The remaster was developed by Petroglyph Games, which includes many former Westwood Studios developers.

The remaster allowed me to relive those early days of Command & Conquer. We tend to look back on the past with rose tinted glasses but playing the remaster was probably better than it really was back then in the early days of the internet. A lot less lag in multiplayer games, better graphics and faster load times. Most importantly though, the landline is now available for use by everyone in the house!

The Recommended System Requirements according to Steam are:

OS: Windows 8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Processor: Intel Core i5 4690K or AMD Ryzen 7 1700
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or ATI Radeon HD 7850
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 32 GB available space
Additional Notes: Hard Drive Space: 32 GB on SSD

Command & Conquer: Remastered has a Metacritic user score of

8.7/10

(as of Feb 2024)

Command & Conquer: Remastered was developed by Petroglyph and Lemon Sky Studios and published by Electronic Arts.

You can buy Command & Conquer: Remastered from Steam

    In 1996, ID software, the creators of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, released Quake. The game was groundbreaking as it introduced a real-time 3D polygonal world, immersive level design, set in a dark and atmospheric Gothic horror theme, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and featured a soundtrack by Trent Reznor of the Nine-Inch Nails. It allowed for co-op and deathmatch multiplayer modes over LAN and modem. There was much hype before Quake's release, and it was a massive hit from day one, which continues through to today. Quake is often cited as one of the best video games ever made.

The mid 1990s were a time of increasing progress in multimedia PCs. It is easy to forget in today's world of 3d games. Back then this was not the case. Games were predominantly 2D-sprite based and polygons were still a relatively new concept in home video games. I personally believe championed by the PlayStation but others may argue.

Before 3D graphics cards, most PC games relied on software rendering, which used the CPU to perform all the calculations and operations needed to display 3D graphics. This was slow, inefficient, and limited the quality and complexity of the graphics. Quake was released alongside the very first batch of 3D graphics cards, such as the S3 ViRGE which sported a massive 4 MB of memory and a 66 MHz core clock speed. However the real game changer came in 1996 with the release of the '3dfx Voodoo'. This card had its own proprietary 3D graphics 'Application Programming Interface' (API), called Glide, which was optimised for its hardware and offered superior performance and compatibility than other APIs.Quake was one of the first games to support Glide. OpenGL was also supported by Quake which was a cross-platform API but required more powerful hardware.

Surprisingly, only one year after Quake's release and in line with the release of the Voodoo and Glide, id software released Quake II.

It has been suggested that Quake II was supposed to be named something different but the developers later decided that they would use the Quake name to boost brand recognition. Maybe they felt that the game would not sell so well if it was in competition with the original Quake?

Quake II uses a modified version of the engine used in Quake but has a different setting and story. No longer set in a Lovecraftian world, this game is set in a future; best described as Military Sci-fi. In Quake II, the player assumes the role of a marine named Bitterman, who is sent to the planet Stroggos to stop an alien invasion by creatures called the Strogg. The Strogg are cybernetic warriors. The Strogg take captured humans and enslave them as half mechanical half biological monstrosities, much like the 'Borg' in Star Trek.

Quake II features a non-linear campaign with multiple objectives and branching paths, as well as a multiplayer mode with various modes and maps.These include 'Deathmatch' and 'Capture the Flag' which have become staples of modern multiplayer games.

I don't think I had a voodoo card in my PC until late 1998 or possibly early 1999. So, I experienced Quake in software mode and it wasn't until I had started building my own PC's that my computer was powerful enough to really run Quake II with all the 'bells & whistles'. If memory serves me correctly, Quake II looked and ran objectively worse on my PC in software mode than that of software mode in Quake. For me, Quake II was made for 3D cards and until I had one installed in my PC, Quake II was going to have to wait.

In 2023, Nightdive studios, following the success of their Quake Remaster in 2021, 'Quake II Enhanced' was released. This new experience includes everything that originally made Quake II great but also adds features to bring it into the modern age. These are:

• Upscaled graphics up to 4K widescreen.
• The Original Mission Packs: The Reckoning and Ground Zero and an all-new expansion "Call of the Machine".
• The N64 port of Quake II known as 'Quake64' is included for free. This features its own campaign separate to the original Quake II campaign, with its own levels and lighting design.
• Improved Network and internet play.
• Supports 8-player local split-screen multiplayer on PC. Something that wasn't available originally.
• Released on all modern console platforms such as PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and Switch.
• Cross-play between the systems the game is released on. Meaning a large pool of players are available online.
• Controller support on all systems.

The Recommended System Requirements according to steam are:

OS: Win 10 (64-bit Version)
Processor: Intel Core i5-6600k @ 3.5 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 @ 3.2 GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB) or AMD RX Vega 56 (8GB)
Memory: 8GB System RAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: Minimum 2GB free space on hard drive

Quake II has a Metacritic user score of

7.9/10

(as of Feb 2024)

Quake II was developed by id Software, Nightdive Studios and Machine Games. It is published by Bethesda Softworks.

You can buy Quake II: Enhanced from Steam