He's out to clean up the universe... ...But he doesn't do windows. Strap into your computer station and prepare for blast-off. If the thrilling graphics don't blow you off your chair, the laughs will have you rolling on the floor. If you can help Roger Wilco he could use it. Hey, wake up! Roger Wilco's the chief sanitation engineer (a.k.a. Janitor) on the starship Arcada. His mission: to scrub dirty decks... to replace burned-out lightbulbs... to boldly go where no man has swept the floor! But while he was napping in the broom closet, his starship was hijacked by the Sarien Stormtroopers. Now the top-secret Star Generator's been stolen. And if Roger doesn't get it back, the universe as we know it is toast! Kaboom! The Two Guys from Andromeda often travel the cosmos under the aliases of Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe. They're best known for their award-winning Space Quest series and their frequent sightings with Elvis.
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Played with my Dad, would be obtuse and I would never beat it if I actually tried to do it alone.
I know that calling it King's Quest in space is reductive, but since it came out after three titles in the aforementioned games series had already released and claimed all the innovative glory, there's really not much more that Space Quest does to push the genre forward, and the story alone really isn't enough to carry it to higher praise.
Space Quest offers an interesting stylistic counterpoint to King’s Quest. Designed by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe, guys who have prior Sierra credits as a programmer and an artist respectively, with Crowe in particular being something of a superstar who seems to have done sprite work for essentially every major Sierra franchise release for like a full decade.
Both series sit in a kind of moderately successful space between serious homage to their chosen genres and loving parody with that 80s style of MST3K-esque attitude that is inescapable in works from a certain flavor of 80s nerd culture, but Space Quest feels moderately more sober much of the time. The narrator may be as sardonic as ever, the joke may be that you’re a janitor tasked with saving the galaxy, but there’s still a great deal more mundane death and terror here than is typical of its contemporary Sierra stuff, the villains really straight laced and scary, the danger imminent and prowling. Maybe it was a conscious decision around the time - King’s Quest III would see a similar tonal shift with its slave narrative and wizard villain only a month after this game’s release.
That’s not to say there’s no humor - there’s quite a lot of it, but outside of the diner set piece and a couple of interactions with NPCs that play more like easter eggs than meaningful bits of story, it’s mostly limited to narration and fail screens. My understanding is that this becomes The Comedy Series much more explicitly than King’s Quest does so this was a bit of a surprise for me.
Space Quest feels like it carries an ambition to genuinely thrill the player, to push the limits of visual interactivity in adventure games. There are so many cutscenes in this game, so many sound effects and cinematic screens and animations. Stuff that’s genuinely breathtaking on the hardware this shit runs on, in the year it came out. This would have been thrillingly realistic stuff. It’s still cool today.
I wish it was all in service of a game that was a little less dull. Space Quest is a much more linear affair than any of the three King’s Quests I’ve played, or Colonel’s Bequest, which is fine, good even. But it did also mean that it was rare for me to find myself in a situation where I was genuinely teasing my brain, too. Environments being so closed, with so few characters to interact with and so few ways to investigate problems meant that solutions were usually immediately clear, or revealed after a relatively quick moina of the available space. This does, interestingly, mean that there’s a greater reliance on player dexterity - limiting your movement by having you be pursued by a killer robot for a quarter of the game, or a bridge that comes closer to collapsing every time you cross back and forth over it, or asking the player to avoid physical death obstacles via character movement rather than puzzle solving. These things feel somewhat artificial in the way they impede the player’s ability to progress what might otherwise be a too-simple series of puzzles, but if I were to look at it more generously, which I am always inclined to do, I would say they also feel like a young company trying to figure out fresh ways to stretch the legs of a still pretty new genre. Adventure games certainly weren’t new, but ones with GRAPHICS were, and the idea of the player character’s little avatar really having a presence beyond picking things up and putting them down properly was news! Which sounds wild but norms have to be established! This game is interacted with via a text parser.
And to its credit also I would rather a game be too easy than too hard. I think there is only one truly, genuinely evil moment where this game makes itself unfinishable, where you need to pick a piece of invisible glass up off the ground like an hour before you need it and you don’t need it until after crossing a threshold you can’t return from. This piece of glass is located somewhere I would say is only moderately intuitive to investigate, and if you don’t grab it in a very specific timeframe it becomes basically impossible to retrieve even before you can’t return to that screen.
But that’s the only one. There are other ways to fuck yourself but I think they’re much more player-faulty. It’s fine to let the player dig their own grave, I think, and these games encourage keeping like nine saves to a degree that I don’t think having these kinds of situations is really all that big of a deal - recovering progress goes quickly once you know the tricks.
I think writing about this has made me like it more, which is always a nice feeling to have, but I’m still kind of taken by a feeling of apathy, mostly. Now that I’ve tasted how much Sierra will be pushing the envelope only a couple years from now, I can’t help but go to sleep thinking of Roger Wilco, and dream of Laura Bow.
Both series sit in a kind of moderately successful space between serious homage to their chosen genres and loving parody with that 80s style of MST3K-esque attitude that is inescapable in works from a certain flavor of 80s nerd culture, but Space Quest feels moderately more sober much of the time. The narrator may be as sardonic as ever, the joke may be that you’re a janitor tasked with saving the galaxy, but there’s still a great deal more mundane death and terror here than is typical of its contemporary Sierra stuff, the villains really straight laced and scary, the danger imminent and prowling. Maybe it was a conscious decision around the time - King’s Quest III would see a similar tonal shift with its slave narrative and wizard villain only a month after this game’s release.
That’s not to say there’s no humor - there’s quite a lot of it, but outside of the diner set piece and a couple of interactions with NPCs that play more like easter eggs than meaningful bits of story, it’s mostly limited to narration and fail screens. My understanding is that this becomes The Comedy Series much more explicitly than King’s Quest does so this was a bit of a surprise for me.
Space Quest feels like it carries an ambition to genuinely thrill the player, to push the limits of visual interactivity in adventure games. There are so many cutscenes in this game, so many sound effects and cinematic screens and animations. Stuff that’s genuinely breathtaking on the hardware this shit runs on, in the year it came out. This would have been thrillingly realistic stuff. It’s still cool today.
I wish it was all in service of a game that was a little less dull. Space Quest is a much more linear affair than any of the three King’s Quests I’ve played, or Colonel’s Bequest, which is fine, good even. But it did also mean that it was rare for me to find myself in a situation where I was genuinely teasing my brain, too. Environments being so closed, with so few characters to interact with and so few ways to investigate problems meant that solutions were usually immediately clear, or revealed after a relatively quick moina of the available space. This does, interestingly, mean that there’s a greater reliance on player dexterity - limiting your movement by having you be pursued by a killer robot for a quarter of the game, or a bridge that comes closer to collapsing every time you cross back and forth over it, or asking the player to avoid physical death obstacles via character movement rather than puzzle solving. These things feel somewhat artificial in the way they impede the player’s ability to progress what might otherwise be a too-simple series of puzzles, but if I were to look at it more generously, which I am always inclined to do, I would say they also feel like a young company trying to figure out fresh ways to stretch the legs of a still pretty new genre. Adventure games certainly weren’t new, but ones with GRAPHICS were, and the idea of the player character’s little avatar really having a presence beyond picking things up and putting them down properly was news! Which sounds wild but norms have to be established! This game is interacted with via a text parser.
And to its credit also I would rather a game be too easy than too hard. I think there is only one truly, genuinely evil moment where this game makes itself unfinishable, where you need to pick a piece of invisible glass up off the ground like an hour before you need it and you don’t need it until after crossing a threshold you can’t return from. This piece of glass is located somewhere I would say is only moderately intuitive to investigate, and if you don’t grab it in a very specific timeframe it becomes basically impossible to retrieve even before you can’t return to that screen.
But that’s the only one. There are other ways to fuck yourself but I think they’re much more player-faulty. It’s fine to let the player dig their own grave, I think, and these games encourage keeping like nine saves to a degree that I don’t think having these kinds of situations is really all that big of a deal - recovering progress goes quickly once you know the tricks.
I think writing about this has made me like it more, which is always a nice feeling to have, but I’m still kind of taken by a feeling of apathy, mostly. Now that I’ve tasted how much Sierra will be pushing the envelope only a couple years from now, I can’t help but go to sleep thinking of Roger Wilco, and dream of Laura Bow.
I honestly like this first Space Quest game, but I imagine it’ll be a much harder sell for players new to the series, due to its age, and generally frustrating puzzles and lack of any real sound effects and music. Still, I like the game for what it is, and would recommend it if you’re as into old school point and click adventures as I am.
When it comes to the various series of adventure games that Sierra made back in the day, on a surface level, the only thing that separates all of them from each other is the theme/genre that each series takes on. King’s Quest and Quest for Glory would take on medieval fantasy, Gabriel Knight would take on supernatural mystery, Police Quest would take on crime investigations, and Leisure Suit Larry would take on the concept of being a man-whore. Aside from that though, you would most likely expect most of the games to play the exact same as each other, and for the most part, you would be right, but upon actually playing these games, you would then see that each one has their own little differences that would separate them from each other. Not only that, there would also be games that do innovate on the genre bit by bit, while also adding in their own quirks to make them more likable. Take, for example, the first installment in a series that would take the adventure game genre beyond the stars, Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter.
On its surface level, you would expect Space Quest to be exactly like every other Sierra adventure game, but this time, it takes place in space. At least, that’s what I was expecting, as I had never played any Space Quest game before this. But, I had seen the entirety of Space Quest IV for a video that I had made a while back, and based on what I had seen, it looked like it played exactly as I expected it to, so it didn’t make me wanna get to it any sooner. But, eventually, when I decided that I was tired of playing LSL games for now, I wanted to check out what Space Quest had to offer, and after playing it… yeah, it is mostly your typical adventure game from Sierra’s library, but it does have several little features and new additions that do make it stand out, especially when compared to the two King’s Quest games that were already out, making this better then those games in my eyes.
The story consists of a powerful Star Generator being stolen by a powerful alien race to destroy the galaxy, and it is up to Roger Wilco, a lowly, pathetic janitor, to travel the stars to destroy the generator to stop them, which is a pretty simple story that is given plenty of depth thrown in text boxes, so it is a pretty good story for 1986, the graphics are basically exactly the same as other Sierra games beforehand, but this time with a more sci-fi feel, while also making sure to “borrow” plenty from Star Wars along the way, the music, as per usual, is basically non-existent, with the only audio being from brief sound effects and some rare music tracks, and they grate my ears whenever they pop up, so not a big fan of them, the control is also exactly the same as other Sierra games at the time, so nothing more to add there, and the gameplay is a generic Sierra adventure romp, but with some new additions that make it a little more charming and “fun”.
The gameplay is your typical adventure game affair, where you take control of Roger Wilco, or Sardines as I named him, travel through plenty of different spaceships, planets, and buildings/caverns throughout the land, look around at everything you can find and type in text commands to hope to make some progress or interact further with whatever you are looking at, gather plenty of different, useful items that will be essential with helping you proceed further to stop the Sarien threat, and die over… and over… and over… and OVER again, because these games are extremely specific with commands, making you salty in the process. I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that this game is just like every other Sierra game out there at that time, because for the most part, it is, but there are some features that do add some variety, along with some charm the other games didn’t have.
Out of all of the Sierra games that I have played so far, I think this one may have my favorite world and characters out of all of them, for no particular reason other than I just prefer sci-fi settings and themes a lot more. There is only so much charm to be found in a real world setting, and the medieval setting is one that has its quirks and charming elements, but it is one that I don’t typically gravitate towards that often. So, despite how barebones that this sci-fi world was, I was able to appreciate it and like it more, and the stuff they do with it in this installment is pretty charming. What helps this charm carry throughout the game is with the dialogue that is present, which, for the most part, is pretty straightforward, but there are several lines and moments in the game that are actually pretty funny. There is one part of the game where you are flying in a pod, and there is a button in it that says “Do Not Push”, so obviously, I pushed it immediately, and I ended up crashing straight into the world of King’s Quest. It may not be that much of an easter egg, but it is one that is very cute and funny to find.
Alongside that, the main gameplay does feature some sections that do branch out from the typical adventure gameplay… or at least, as much as Sierra would allow it to branch out. Near the end of the game, you gain a ray gun that you can actually use to fire at enemies, which does add an aspect of combat into the game, so that is pretty neat to see in a point ‘n click adventure game from 1986. However, as expected, it is completely barebones, where you have to fire it immediately upon seeing an enemy, or else they kill you. And even then, I only had to use it once or twice throughout the entire section. That kinda sucks, but hey, at least they tried something new for once? Alongside this, this is also the first game from Sierra to have a minigame in it, where you are piloting a skimmer that you have to ride all the way to this town to continue your quest, while avoiding all of these boulders along the way. This is pretty cool to see, but there is one major problem with it……….. it is easily the worst part of the game.
You remember how, in the Leisure Suit Larry III review, I complained about that one minigame where you ride down the rapids and have to avoid all those rocks to avoid death, and it was extremely difficult due to you getting very little time to react to these rocks before you slammed right into them? This minigame has essentially the exact same issue, and it still completely sucks. I can’t believe they did this shit twice, and apparently didn’t learn their lesson the first time. I will say though, it isn’t as bad here, as you are allowed to take multiple hits before you end up dying, but given how likely it is you will hit these boulders, it probably won’t take too long before you do end up dying. Aside from that though, the other problems that this game would have would be the ones you would expect from this type of game, that being the text commands being extremely precise sometimes, and how it is definitely a guide game.
Overall, despite a shitty minigame and the other problems you have come to expect from this game, Space Quest, for me at least, is a step up from other Sierra adventure games like the first two King’s Quest titles, and I found it charming enough to where I ended up having a good enough time with it. I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of this series has to offer from here on out, as these games usually get better and better with each installment, and I would recommend it for anyone else who is a big fan of Sierra’s classic adventure games, as it should give you everything you could want and expect from it. Although, it does kinda suck that at the end of my entire adventure, I ended up being awarded with… a golden mop. I saved the entire galaxy, and I am still recognized as a janitor? Life really is unfair…
Game #388
On its surface level, you would expect Space Quest to be exactly like every other Sierra adventure game, but this time, it takes place in space. At least, that’s what I was expecting, as I had never played any Space Quest game before this. But, I had seen the entirety of Space Quest IV for a video that I had made a while back, and based on what I had seen, it looked like it played exactly as I expected it to, so it didn’t make me wanna get to it any sooner. But, eventually, when I decided that I was tired of playing LSL games for now, I wanted to check out what Space Quest had to offer, and after playing it… yeah, it is mostly your typical adventure game from Sierra’s library, but it does have several little features and new additions that do make it stand out, especially when compared to the two King’s Quest games that were already out, making this better then those games in my eyes.
The story consists of a powerful Star Generator being stolen by a powerful alien race to destroy the galaxy, and it is up to Roger Wilco, a lowly, pathetic janitor, to travel the stars to destroy the generator to stop them, which is a pretty simple story that is given plenty of depth thrown in text boxes, so it is a pretty good story for 1986, the graphics are basically exactly the same as other Sierra games beforehand, but this time with a more sci-fi feel, while also making sure to “borrow” plenty from Star Wars along the way, the music, as per usual, is basically non-existent, with the only audio being from brief sound effects and some rare music tracks, and they grate my ears whenever they pop up, so not a big fan of them, the control is also exactly the same as other Sierra games at the time, so nothing more to add there, and the gameplay is a generic Sierra adventure romp, but with some new additions that make it a little more charming and “fun”.
The gameplay is your typical adventure game affair, where you take control of Roger Wilco, or Sardines as I named him, travel through plenty of different spaceships, planets, and buildings/caverns throughout the land, look around at everything you can find and type in text commands to hope to make some progress or interact further with whatever you are looking at, gather plenty of different, useful items that will be essential with helping you proceed further to stop the Sarien threat, and die over… and over… and over… and OVER again, because these games are extremely specific with commands, making you salty in the process. I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that this game is just like every other Sierra game out there at that time, because for the most part, it is, but there are some features that do add some variety, along with some charm the other games didn’t have.
Out of all of the Sierra games that I have played so far, I think this one may have my favorite world and characters out of all of them, for no particular reason other than I just prefer sci-fi settings and themes a lot more. There is only so much charm to be found in a real world setting, and the medieval setting is one that has its quirks and charming elements, but it is one that I don’t typically gravitate towards that often. So, despite how barebones that this sci-fi world was, I was able to appreciate it and like it more, and the stuff they do with it in this installment is pretty charming. What helps this charm carry throughout the game is with the dialogue that is present, which, for the most part, is pretty straightforward, but there are several lines and moments in the game that are actually pretty funny. There is one part of the game where you are flying in a pod, and there is a button in it that says “Do Not Push”, so obviously, I pushed it immediately, and I ended up crashing straight into the world of King’s Quest. It may not be that much of an easter egg, but it is one that is very cute and funny to find.
Alongside that, the main gameplay does feature some sections that do branch out from the typical adventure gameplay… or at least, as much as Sierra would allow it to branch out. Near the end of the game, you gain a ray gun that you can actually use to fire at enemies, which does add an aspect of combat into the game, so that is pretty neat to see in a point ‘n click adventure game from 1986. However, as expected, it is completely barebones, where you have to fire it immediately upon seeing an enemy, or else they kill you. And even then, I only had to use it once or twice throughout the entire section. That kinda sucks, but hey, at least they tried something new for once? Alongside this, this is also the first game from Sierra to have a minigame in it, where you are piloting a skimmer that you have to ride all the way to this town to continue your quest, while avoiding all of these boulders along the way. This is pretty cool to see, but there is one major problem with it……….. it is easily the worst part of the game.
You remember how, in the Leisure Suit Larry III review, I complained about that one minigame where you ride down the rapids and have to avoid all those rocks to avoid death, and it was extremely difficult due to you getting very little time to react to these rocks before you slammed right into them? This minigame has essentially the exact same issue, and it still completely sucks. I can’t believe they did this shit twice, and apparently didn’t learn their lesson the first time. I will say though, it isn’t as bad here, as you are allowed to take multiple hits before you end up dying, but given how likely it is you will hit these boulders, it probably won’t take too long before you do end up dying. Aside from that though, the other problems that this game would have would be the ones you would expect from this type of game, that being the text commands being extremely precise sometimes, and how it is definitely a guide game.
Overall, despite a shitty minigame and the other problems you have come to expect from this game, Space Quest, for me at least, is a step up from other Sierra adventure games like the first two King’s Quest titles, and I found it charming enough to where I ended up having a good enough time with it. I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of this series has to offer from here on out, as these games usually get better and better with each installment, and I would recommend it for anyone else who is a big fan of Sierra’s classic adventure games, as it should give you everything you could want and expect from it. Although, it does kinda suck that at the end of my entire adventure, I ended up being awarded with… a golden mop. I saved the entire galaxy, and I am still recognized as a janitor? Life really is unfair…
Game #388
Pazzesco dito in culo