Video Game

Dune Awakening

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

A game that pulls you in, just to tell a forgettable story and make you spend 20 hours to gather enough materials to make the game truly playable.

The Actual Review

Gameplay

For a simple gameplay loop, this was fun. This is one of the weirder MMO, Massive Multiplayer Online, games that I have played. I am not sure if there was really an RPG element that made a difference in the game. The caveat to that statement is that I did very little PvP as it just didn't interest me. Especially in a system where people levels and gear are not taken into account. So me, not fully leveled, running against people who are maxed out and have all the good weapons because they haven't touched grass in a week and grounded the collection of everything, isn't going to go well. In fact, it is my same complaint about ARC Raiders which is intended to be that way as an extraction shooter. However, this is about Dune.

There is a huge grind portion of this game for materials. However, the end result, building your base is the best part. The hosts and our friends had a pretty decent base. The issue with the base, taxes. Oh and power. If you don't log in for a couple of days, the power goes out, the shields go down, and your entire haul is available to the public. Well I guess when the taxes aren't paid. It is a free for all if you base even stands since the giant dust storms can destroy it when you don't have a shield.

This is the huge issue with the game. There is a huge punishment for you not playing the game every day. Take a vacation? Base is gone. Have to have a job? Base is gone. Decide to play a better game? Base is gone.

The Sandworm is cool. A very unique gameplay item that I enjoyed. Especially with the increasing vehicle capabilities, it is fun to see the worm com after you. It doest getting pretty easy pretty quickly, but it was fun early on.

Graphics and Sound

The sound is taken from the movie for the most part and with that in mind, I really don't have an issue with it. The hit makers could be better, but they work. The sound is fine, I just fish there was something deeper to it. Nit picky, but my opinion.

The Game is beautiful. The idea of a roaming sand storm and these other little things make for an ever changing visual. What I didn't like was more of the repetitiveness of the research buildings. I can't remember what they were called, but they were all the same. Go down two floors, kill baddies, and collect chest at the end. The also had sand mounds in the same places. While visually it looked nice, the details got repetitive.

Story and Characters

I have no idea what the story is. Never finished it. There is so much focus and emphasis on base building that a story gets stripped from your head. I have thought about going back twice, but never had as there are better games like Mass Effect 2 that I was playing and Clair Obscur Expedition 33.

My Rating

The story is completely forgettable, which is in line with most MMOs now that I think about it, but I still find it to be an issue for this game. You get completely side tracked that you lost any interest in the main story. The combat isn't terrible, but I really hated the looting system. It make sense, but there are so many limitations that you constantly have to carry items "just in case" of a thousand things. If you have friends that still play it, it is worth a playthrough. Without that excitement, it isn't my cup of tea. I mean I put 40 hours into this so I had to have had some fun, but it quickly wore off when the game became a straight grind for materials to make one thing that could quickly be blown up. Juice wasn't worth the squeeze for those that didn't pay all the time. I think overall, playing the story and the main loop is fun so I am going to say "Worth a Playthrough" but I have no interest in going back at all.

Parental Rating

Umm the language isn't really there. The violence doesn't show blood other than you carrying it around for water, and there is no sex. I mean it is a hot desert so there isn't even scantily clad women. Knowing that my dad didn't have an issue with me playing World of Warcraft after he read the title correctly and saw that it wasn't World of Witchcraft, I think this would be easier for him to get behind. My mom wouldn't mind it either.