Space Quest IV Retrospective

[Emabulator]

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Eurogamer's series of retrospectives continues with John Walker taking a look back (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/retrospective-space-quest-iv) at Sierra's adventure game, Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers.

This explains a great deal about the resulting game. Space Quest III: The Pirates Of Pestulon had been about as self-indulgent as a game could be, the creators writing themselves into the story, with series antihero Roger Wilco rescuing them and eventually getting them jobs at Sierra. The fourth episode took the meta in another direction, with a literalisation of its being a series, Wilco able to time travel between the editions. Beginning in Space Quest IV, sat in a bar regaling aliens with exaggerated versions of his previous adventures (preceded by the cutest animation of a little creature dissolving in a puddle of his own vomit), he's attacked by the Sequel Police, rescued by a mysterious stranger, and sent through a rip in time into Space Quest XII: Vohaul's Revenge.

[felix]

I played this again just recently as well as part 3. Those were some fun games, but I never realized how short they were until now.

[JazGalaxy]

Yeah, absolutely. I think the trick was that they were so difficult that you spent hours and hours on the same two screens so the length SEEMED much longer than it actually was.

I mean, that's the way I felt with SpaceQuest 5 at least. Figuring out how to get past the part with the robot assasin took my brother and I DAYS

[lockwoodx]

best games ever

[gzsfrk]

Some great times playing these. All you kiddies bear in mind, the first 3 Space Quest games (and possibly the 4th) were well before Internet access became ubiquitous and GameFAQs existed. If you got stuck in a puzzle or adventure game and wouldn't or couldn't buy the strategy guide, you were STUCK (access to walkthroughs on BBS's notwithstanding). In some ways this was frustrating, since their were several games I never did actually get around to finishing because of this ("Gold Rush" comes to mind). However, I think it also made the games rewarding on some level, because when you DID actually pass one without having reference to a walk-through or cheat guide, the sense of accomplishment was much greater than beating a game like, say, Mass Effect. Sure, modern games are great. But you will seldom, if ever, be stuck on a single portion of the game for days, weeks, or even months on end like you used to. (E.g. It took me nearly half a year being stuck in Star Control II to figure out that I had to invade the Mycon homeworld to get the Sun Generator device so that the Chenjesu and Mrrnmrrm could complete their "process" and advance the plot of the game.)

All that being said, I think Space Quest II was my favorite in the series, probably followed by the VGA remake of the first game. IV was OK--the novelty of visiting past (and presumably future) Space Quest games was neat at first. But overall, I found it be the weakest of the first 5 (never did play the 6th), in no small part because the voice-acting was by and large atrocious.

("Epi-whip".... thinking about that scene still cracks me up. :) )

[Trencher]

My favorite adventure game series. The CD version of 4 and the VGA remake of 1 are probably my personal favorites.

[revelation]

Used to love playing all the LucasArts/Sierra adventure games, especially the Space Quest games.

The article linked was pointless, but there's a fairly interesting interview linked in it with Scott Murphy (co-creator of Space Quest) (http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/234/).

I also agree about how short these games are. Playing through the remake of Monkey Island, I was amazed how quick my friend and I got through it. Yet, I enjoyed it more than quite a few games I've completed recently.

[dr_wily]

hell yeah! Space Quest is my favorite series of all time.

4's CD vocalizations were awesome.. i can still hear the narrator say "mmnn! tastes like raspberries!"

nice pull on starcon 2.. took me forever to figure out how to win that game.. i just tooted around until I realized that there was a timer for the urquan killing everything (watching those circles of influence move and see the races dissappear)