Game 15: Space Quest II - Final Rating

Well this should be interesting. My prediction is that Space Quest II will fall just short of the first game, but will still remain in the same ballpark for the simple reason that the majority of categories will rate pretty similar. It's not as nasty when it comes to dead ends, but the story and the environments are not quite up to the standard set in Space Quest I. Here goes...

Puzzles and Solvability
The puzzles in Space Quest II are a mixed bag. Pretty much every type of puzzle that had appeared in previous Sierra games makes an appearance here in some form. On the positive side, there are some pretty cool scenarios that require logical (and at times quick) thinking, such as the swinging rope in the ravine and the acid pool trap on the asteroid, and there’s only really one puzzle that stands out as being more on the “too difficult” end of the spectrum, which is the retrieval of the glowing gem in the swamp. It’s bad enough that the player has to “take a breath” before swimming through the underwater tunnel, but some players might never cross over the deep part of the swamp in the first place and therefore have no idea of its existence.  There are also some pretty illogical solutions, particularly when it comes to the Labion Terror Beast, and others are just downright annoying, like the vine and tunnel mazes. Finally, while I heard talk of multiple solutions to puzzles prior to playing, the second solution to these puzzles in every case seems to be to just avoid them altogether. Still, at least the dead ends in the sequel are nowhere near as painful as in the first one.
Rating: 5

Oh of course! I have to blow this whistle so that the Labion Terror Beast I know nothing about will drill a hole in the wall!

Interface and Inventory
I’m not going to spend much time on this category. The interface and inventory hasn’t changed from the previous Sierra games, so the only thing to talk about is how the game makes use of it. Space Quest II does tend to bring out the worst of the movement issues found in the engine, but it actually seems that was intentional to give the player a challenge. Getting through the vine maze is stupidly hard at the faster speeds, as is opening and entering doors while being chased by droids and aliens. Having to type anything during time restricted scenes relies on the player being able to type exactly the right words at the right time (quickly) and then going back to the movement keys before whatever it is that’s chasing you makes contact. I saw no option but the slow the game down, which certainly took away from the intended urgency. On a more positive note, I don’t recall struggling with the parser once during the whole game (unlike Police Quest), but I’m not certain whether that has anything to do with me having played through the game before. I’m afraid I have to stick with the Sierra 5 for this category.
Rating: 5

The majority of the second half of the game seems to involve something chasing you through corridors.

Story and Setting
Space Quest II is pretty light on story to be honest. If I tell you what it’s about in a couple of sentences, it’s pretty obvious the thing doesn’t have much in the way of depth. “Roger is kidnapped by Vohaul’s goons while working on a space station and transported to his asteroid fortress. Instead of killing Roger, Vohaul sends him to the mines on Labion, where Roger escapes, avoids a couple of environmental obstacles, and finds a shuttle. His attempt to escape is halted by Vohaul, who transports him back to the asteroid fortress, where Roger is strangely allowed to roam free until he can find a way to the defeat the villain and stop his evil plan.” The whole thing feels pretty contrived and while Vohaul’s stupidity is part of the parody, his laughable attempts at villainy take any plot interest out of the whole thing. Thankfully, Space Quest II is genuinely, and consistently, very funny. It seems that any efforts put into the story were done so to allow constantly hilarious and often self referential bouts of humorous narration. Taken as a light-hearted adventure, I guess Space Quest II succeeds, but there’s so much potential in the series to go the extra mile and have both story and humour. Oh, and while I did come across two endings to the game, one of them was clearly not ideal, and should probably be considered a cherry topped game over.
Rating: 5

You can indeed stay as long as you like, but there's nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Sound and Graphics
Space Quest II pretty much reuses music and sound effects from previous Sierra releases. The theme music is exactly the same as the first game and the rare effects that pop up throughout the game will be pretty familiar to anyone that’s played any of the other Quest games on offer. As for the graphics, well they’re also similar to what has gone before them. The game switches between the greens, blues and yellows of the King’s Quest series (when Roger is on Labion) and the blues and pinks you would expect to see in a Space Quest game (when on Vohaul’s asteroid). None of it stands out as being really impressive (although the underwater cavern looks pretty cool) and the game lacks the variety seen in others such as Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. One new feature is the light effects in the tunnels which is caused by the glowing gem, but that’s achieved in the most simplistic of ways and nothing to write home about. All up I have to give Space Quest II the same as I did for the first one, which is yet another 5.
Rating: 5

King Graham was searching for a princess to rescue when he saw a bright light in the sky

Environment and Atmosphere

As mentioned above, Space Quest II takes place almost entirely in two environments, Labion and Vohaul’s asteroid compound. Labion does have a pretty organic and open feel to it and it’s actually refreshing that it’s not handled in the repeating grid format that made some of the King’s Quest games seem like they occurred on a planet the size of a football field. The same can’t be said for the asteroid, which is limited to five levels, with only a storage room or a bathroom found on each. There’s also a real lack of personalities in the game, which doesn’t make for particularly thriving environments. The only time you see anyone that isn’t a droid on the asteroid is when you go to the bathroom, and even then you can only see legs coming out of the bottom of cubicles. After the likes of Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry (and even the first Space Quest) had numerous people (or at least lifeforms) that interacted with you, Space Quest feels a bit lacking in character. At least the atmosphere is given a boost by all the scenarios Roger finds himself in, many of which require action rather than dialogue or item application to solve. The atmosphere is given a boost by regular action based threats. It’s a mixed bag, so I’m going with yet another 5.
Rating: 5

After you leave the orbital station, all rational life seems to go off the radar

Dialogue and Acting
This is where Space Quest II shines! The game really is very funny, and once again showcases how talented the Two Guys from Andromeda were at making the player laugh while killing them in a plethora of horrible ways, and then mocking them for it. They also proved once again that they can shamelessly plug other Sierra games from within the game itself without coming across as greedy attention seekers, with Roger dreaming of being Leisure Suit Larry while unconscious and held captive by the hunter on Labion. They’re also often self referential, poking fun at their game’s limitations and their own efforts at producing a quality product. The game was short, and not hugely satisfying, but it was entertaining enough to recommend. Despite all this, there’s no improvement in the way dialogue is delivered, and it’s still all just description and narration, so I can’t go higher than 6.
Rating: 6

This message is also dripping with self-referential piss-taking and an over-abundance of descriptive narrative.

Space Quest II is the fourth game to get a score of 52 after Below the Root, King's Quest III and Police Quest. I enjoyed Police Quest more to be honest, but that game's rating suffered for the over-emphasis on merely following procedures. I feel having the game on par with King's Quest II is about right. OK, it's time for something a little different! I have no idea what to expect with Captain Blood, but it's time to find out what it's all about. It's French, so it's likely to push the boundaries and break the rules.

Game 15: Space Quest II - Won!

Roger Wilco Journal Entry 2: “Once again I’ve had to save Xenon from certain destruction, but this time i fear I may never be in a position to be rewarded for my efforts. After figuring out how to fly the shuttle and attempt my escape from Labion, I inadvertently ended up straight back in the grasp of Vohaul, drawn into his asteroid by tractor beams. I managed to avoid the numerous droids and traps within his base, and eventually found myself standing before the horrendous man (if you can call him that) himself. Before I could do anything to stop him from unleashing his salesman clones upon an unsuspecting Xenon population, he used some sort of beam to shrink me down to the size of a mouse. Thankfully I’d earlier picked up a glass cutter, which allowed me to escape the glass casing he placed me in, and I then shut down his life support system, ending his miserable existence. I was fortunate enough to find the code to deactivate the launch of the salesmen, then escaped in a pod before the whole place went into meltdown. Xenon is safe, but with no oxygen left in this pod, I’ve been forced to enter the sleep chamber to survive. I write in this journal with little hope of ever being found, and will likely never.......zzzzzzz”

At the end of last post I was about to escape Labion. That didn't exactly work out...

As expected, it only took me another hour to finish Space Quest II. As soon as I arrived on Vohaul’s asteroid, it all came flooding back to me and the rest of the game was fairly straight forward (well, I stuffed up one bit, but more on that later). It’s pretty strange that Vohaul would pull your ship into his lair and then allow you to get out and walk around unopposed, but I guess that’s just part of the parodying fun that is Space Quest. Not only does he continually tell you what his plans are, he also leaves you pretty much unguarded on more than one occasion so you can make your escape. It all reminds me of Dr Evil: “I have an even better idea. I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death.”

Escapable situation...check!

Speaking of an overly-elaborate and exotic death, the majority of the remainder of the game is collecting items from the four available levels (strangely there’s no level two, only one, three, four and five) to be able to get past a couple of traps to reach Vohaul himself. The first is actually quite cool! At the bottom of a stairway, I suddenly found myself trapped by walls on all sides, with the ground slowly opening up to reveal a pool of acid. If you haven’t got the plunger from one of the janitor storerooms (I can’t remember which level held which items), you’re in for a nasty, painful death. If you do have it, using the plunger on the wall allows Roger to pull himself up, and can then wait for the floor to move back into position. I really like this puzzle as it temporarily raises the urgency while demanding some logic to resolve.

Elaborate and exotic death...check!

The second trap was also quite neat. At either end of a corridor were robots that became active as soon as I approached them, qickly pursuing and terminating me. The items I had remaining in my inventory reminded me of the solution, but I do recall solving it unassisted when I first played through the game. I noticed that the corridor had one thing that differentiated it from all the others I’d negotiated to this point. It had smoke detectors along the ceiling! Given that I had a lighter and a basket in my inventory, I suddenly remembered that the way to proceed was to burn some paper in the basket underneath one of the detectors, which causes water to spray down and fry the robots at both ends of the corridor. I didn’t have any paper on me though, and suddenly it clicked what the bathroom was for on level four. I’d spent some time there earlier but hadn’t found anything of use. I went back up, got some paper, then went back down and lit the fire.

I knew the bathroom had to be good for something!

I’ve previously criticised Space Quest II for the alien kissing scene and the consequences to the player down the track. For those who haven’t played the game, on level five on the asteroid, an alien (just like in the movie Alien) comes out of a doorway and chases you. If it catches you, rather than killing you, it gives you a big sloppy kiss. The first time I played the game, I thought this was all rather humorous, but continued on, assuming it was just a big joke. After making significant progress towards the end of the game, Roger suddenly lurched about, and a small alien burst out of his chest, killing him in the process. As awesome as this occurrence was, and it was awesome, I was forced to reload my game back a fair way, avoided the alien kiss, and then repeated everything I’d done since. In my memory, that was about an hour’s game time, which is obviously a pretty bitchy thing for the game to put the player through. In reality, it simply can’t have been that long! By the time you come across the alien, there’s not all that much of the game left to go, so I can only assume my memory has exaggerated that little story, and the chest bursting scene probably occurs only a short period after the initial contact (maybe ten to fifteen minutes).

They mostly come at night...mostly.

Passing the acid pool and the robots granted me access to Vohaul’s chamber, where he was busy preparing to launch his salesman clones to Xenon. From here on in the puzzle solutions were fairly obvious. He used some sort of beam to shrink me down to minuscule size and placed me in a glass jar as a decoration. It’s here that I used yet another item found in one of the janitor closets, the glass cutter, to get out. Climbing through a vent on the wall took me straight into Vohaul’s life support system, where there was only one option available to me. I turned it off, killing the hideous bastard within moments. I then used the computer system to fire the beam again, bringing me back to my normal size. I didn’t feel this was particularly climactic to be honest. The end result is exactly the way you’d expect it to be, but there was very little challenge in making it happen. I didn’t really need to use my brain and simply followed the only paths available to me at the time.

Space Quest II: Attack of the Salesman Clones

The first time I played through this section today, after killing Vohaul I simply dusted myself off, got myself an escape pod and left, totally forgetting about his salesman plot! I was able to finish the game, but received only 203 points with a message basically mocking my poor performance. That didn’t sit too well with me, so I restored back to his death and went about things the right way. To deactivate the launch countdown, I needed a code, which I located by searching Vohaul’s body (it’s written on the back of his hand). Getting to the escape pod is another case of droid evading, which is much easier to accomplish when running the game at slow speed again (typing commands to press the button to open the hatch and then again to enter the pod while the droid is closing in on you is next to impossible at faster speeds). The end game message was much more positive this time around and I ended up with 223 points out of the possible 250.

How to finish a game while losing at the same time

I’ve checked out a walkthrough tonight to see where the missing 27 points are. The only two things I can see that I didn’t do were “hide behind the tree to avoid the guard when first arriving on Labion” and “use the supporter to throw a rock at the guard at the landing platform”. In both cases I simply avoided the guards altogether and therefore got no points for it at all. I can’t imagine that would make up the total deficit, so if anyone has spotted something they know can be done differently, then please comment. Overall I found Space Quest II to be a pretty enjoyable little romp that doesn’t really do anything to make itself stand out from the pack. It’s at times pretty funny, which is certainly a bonus, but the plot is fairly lacking and there’s actually not a lot that happens when you look back at it in hindsight. It should be interesting to see what score it ends up with when I apply the PISSED rating system to it.

Having the protagonist left in cryosleep is yet another Alien reference

Session Time: 1 hour 00 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Game 15: Space Quest II - Holy logjams, Batman!

Roger Wilco Journal Entry 1: “Why does this stuff always happen to me?! I thought after saving the world from destruction that I’d be able to live off the fame and stay out of trouble for a while. Turns out the “grateful” citizens of Xenon quickly forgot about all my daring feats, forcing me back into my unwanted pastime…as a janitor. The company I joined shipped me off to Orbital Station 4 where I was fully prepared to sleep my way through working hours and kick back in the station bar at night. Some fat guy called Overhaul or something like that thought different, and sent his goons to kidnap me! It seems he holds a grudge against me for stopping his star generator plot. It’s not like I set out to intentionally thwart his goals for world domination, I was just trying to save my own ass!  Anyway, since I arrived at his asteroid fortress, my luck has turned slightly. I escaped my captors and have made my way past numerous obstacles (including a giant vine creature, a swamp dwelling monster, a large troll-like dude and a Labion Terror Beast) in this dangerous environment, in search of a way to get off this rock. I’ve just found myself a shuttle! Here’s hoping I can figure out how to fly this thing…”

Fame is such a fickle thing!

I’m afraid to say that I’m going to rip through Space Quest II very quickly. After a two and a half hour session, I’ve already collated 119 points out of a possible 250. I plan to continue with the game as soon as I finish this post, so there’s every chance I’ll finish it in a single day. Of course this sort of progress would not be possible if I hadn’t already played the game previously. I can’t remember exactly when I played through Space Quest II and III, but it would have to be within the last five years. It hasn’t been completely smooth going (more on that soon), but in most cases I’ve been reminded of the challenges I faced on my first play through, but remembered enough to avoid them this time around. That being said, it can be quite difficult for me to think about how a player might handle certain situations if they didn’t already know the solution, so I’m going to need you guys to pull me up if you think I’m underplaying the difficulty of certain sections.

Roger generously took time out from escaping Labion to write in his journal for our reading pleasure

As I mentioned in my introduction, Space Quest II starts off with Roger being transferred to Orbital Station 4, which orbits the planet Xenon. The opening scene very quickly establishes the tone of the game, with Roger letting go of his broom to respond to his beeping watch, and subsequently watching the broom float off into space. It’s clear that Roger is still the bumbling antihero, which is a characterisation that Sierra repeated for a lot of their classic games, including Leisure Suit Larry.  The first scene also makes good use of gravity (or lack of it), and requires Roger to walk up the wall and onto the ceiling to reach the platform that takes him “down” into the station. It’s a shame the developers didn’t make use of gravity elsewhere in the game as the possibilities are almost endless.

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

It’s really quite surprising how quickly the plot is pushed along in Space Quest II. On entering the shuttle bay to clean up some tourist’s vomit (hence the beeping watch), Roger is captured by Vohaul’s goons and taken to his asteroid fortress called Labion (sounds a bit sexual if you ask me). So the game hasn’t even really started (I had a total of 10 points), and Vohaul was close to exacting his revenge for my exploits in the first game. Vohaul himself is introduced as a wretched individual: “a sagging mass of flesh that appears to have been human at one time” and his new plan to “infest your planet with thousands of genetically engineered door-to-door life insurance salesmen” sounds hysterically horrifying. It’s all funny stuff, but the plot seems to be moving along very quickly with little to no interaction from the player at all.

Villain lesson one: Let the hero live long enough to understand and put a stop to your deadly plan

Things change once I hit the ground on Labion and the usual Sierra style exploration began. This involves moving from screen to screen, seeing what items I can pick up, and then looking to utilise those items on obstacles that stand in the way of my progress. Interestingly you’re given the option of saving a little creature tied up in a tree right at the start, and I can only assume that if you choose not to, the game becomes unfinishable later on when you require his peoples’ assistance. That might be the first possible dead end to note in Space Quest II, but it could hardly be considered a criticism given how unlikely a player is to just ignore him. As usual, there are plenty of ways to die, and the majority of them are worth experiencing for the humour alone. Whether it’s being eaten by giant mushrooms, devoured by carnivorous ants or roasted over a fire on a stick, it’s all handled in a graphic yet inoffensive way.

Sierra always had a knack for making horribly gory deaths hilarious

A couple of people have commented on how annoying the vine growth is that forms a maze that Roger needs to manoeuvre his way through. The difficulty is not in figuring out a way to get through (that’s obvious to anyone that ever tried to solve one of those paper mazes where there’s one entrance and one exit), it’s in actually achieving it given the limitations of Sierra’s AGI three-dimensional depth perspective. I’ve mentioned plenty of times how challenging it can be to do things like climb stairs in these old Sierra games, so the fact Space Quest II purposely puts obstacles in your path that take advantage of a flaw in the engine hardly seems fair. I dealt with this section the same way I have with all the other mini games and obstacle challenges in the Quest games to date. I changed the speed to slow and crept my way a step at a time, saving whenever I made decent progress. Cheating? Maybe! But it’s better than dying a hundred times, particularly when the game makes you come back through the maze once you collect the berries on the other side.

Looks easy doesn't it!

The first big challenge in the game comes when you reach the swamp. Walking in results in an underwater creature quickly pulling you under and eating you, but with no other pathways left to explore, it becomes obvious that you need to find a way across. I specifically remember having trouble figuring this puzzle out when I first played it, but this time I knew to rub the berries all over my body before going in (the creature apparently is put off by the highly noxious aroma). I wouldn’t be surprised if a few others got stuck here, as I don’t recall the game giving you much of a hint other than the fact the berries smell bad. Trial and error would have got you through if typing “use berries” had worked, but you’re required to type “rub berries on body” or something similar, meaning you have to be very specific.

Was there anything to tell the player to do this?

Those of you that have played the game will know that this isn’t the only difficult thing to get through in the swamp, and this is where my memory failed me. When walking through the water, you come to a point where you can no longer stand and are forced to swim. I decided to dive and found a tunnel leading down into the ground beneath the swamp. Strangely, any attempt to swim down through it resulted in me running out of breath and dying. I couldn’t see that I had any items on me that would assist, so I figured I’d probably come across something later that I could bring back. I also figured, given you have to be walking in a very specific part of the swamp to even come across it, that whatever was down there probably wasn’t required to complete the game. I’ve pretty much given up on trying to get every point in these games, especially as I have hundreds of games to get through, so I moved on.

Don't look to the game for encouragement

I continued on through the luscious Labion environment, climbing a tree that subsequently breaks to form a bridge connecting two cliffs, and then being captured by a “large oaf” and put in a cage. Escaping at first seems impossible, but as long as you picked up a stink pod earlier and are willing to persevere in getting the creature’s attention, finding the solution is only a matter of time. I took his rope and used it to climb down to a cave (avoiding a gorilla by swinging on the rope on the way), and this is where things got nasty. The cave was pitch black and any attempts to find my way without a light-source resulted in a killer Cave Beaver eating me in the darkness. I vaguely recalled having some form of light to get through this section the first time I played the game, so immediately assumed whatever I needed was at the bottom of the swamp tunnel.

I just had to put this in for BacklogKiller's enjoyment

Instead of going back to the swamp, I assumed I’d missed an item earlier on in the game that would allow me to breath underwater somehow, so went hunting. I came up empty-handed, so eventually entered the swamp again for another go at it. As soon as I thought to myself “what would I do if I needed to go a long way underwater”, I had a “eureka” moment. I’m pretty sure I had exactly the same “eureka” moment years back on my first play-through, but the memory had made way for other things (it probably made way for nappy changing and pram unfolding techniques). I typed “take a breath” and was then able to dive down and swim through the tunnel to an underwater cave. Did anyone else get stuck here? It seems a little harsh to expect the player to “take a breath”. After all, we’re not expected to command Roger to complete other basic bodily tasks. Still, I guess I’ve figured it out twice now, so it’s by no means impossible.

Gosh it's nice to leave CGA behind...at least temporarily

In the cave is a glowing gem, which of course can be used in the pitch black cave later on as a light-source. Strangely if you have the gem, the killer Cave Beaver isn’t even there, which is not explained in any way. Regardless, exiting the cave put me in the company of the little race of beings whose companion I saved earlier. They offered me shelter, but all they’re really needed for is to show you the way forward, which is straight into another pitch black cave. This cave is a bit annoying it has to be said, as it’s a rather complex maze of tunnels and ladders. Roger can only fit in the tunnel on his knees, so I had to figure out how he could crawl and still hold the glowing gem (“put gem in mouth”). I got through the maze by continually going down and right wherever I could, correctly guessing that the exit would be in that direction.

It's so nice to be able to see that there is in fact no killer Cave Beaver after all

Once through the maze, you eventually come to an opening with nowhere to go. This is one of the main criticisms I have for Space Quest II so far. There are quite a few times where the player is left to try using certain items, not because their use is logically required, but because there’s simply nothing else to do. I couldn’t know that a Labion Terror Beast was situated to the north, but using the Labion Terror Beast whistle that I got mail order early in the game resulted in one crashing through the rocks and forming an exit. I couldn’t get to the exit without the beast ripping me apart, so I was once again forced to try using items in hope that one would do something. Throwing the Cubic’s Rube (an obvious piss-take of the Rubic’s Cube) at the Labion Terror Beast makes him stop and try to solve the puzzle, which is just plain ridiculous. I really dislike this sort of puzzle and will undoubtedly mention it in the final rating post.

I'm quite perplexed at the preposterously peculiar puzzle

This is where I’m currently up to in the game. I successfully avoided a guard to make my way onto a shuttle platform and hopped in a vacant shuttle. Surprised at how quickly I was getting through the game, I decided this was a pretty good place to stop and get a post out before finishing it. Apart from some illogical puzzles and a few too many maze-style obstacles, Space Quest II has been fast paced and filled with funny details. It’s difficult not to enjoy it, particularly when your progress is only occasionally halted due to memory failure. I can’t really remember what happens next, although I know there’s an alien just waiting to kiss me somewhere in a corridor not too far from here (you’ll see when I get there). I’m off to (hopefully) complete the game and will report back once Vohaul has been defeated, this time for good.

Let's get the frak out of here!

Session Time: 2 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Game 15: Space Quest II - Introduction

You just gotta love the Space Quest theme music. You can't help but smile!

I’m very grateful for the way the list of games I’m following just so happens to split the more challenging (aka maddeningly frustrating) games with friendlier, enjoyable Sierra outings. After Uninvited nearly killed me, Leisure Suit Larry gave me a few days of joyful entertainment to cleanse the palette. The memories of the bewildering Mortville Manor were also quickly forgotten when Police Quest eased me through the day in the life of a police officer. Now, after spending the last week struggling through Shadowgate, I get to put on my spacesuit and prepare for the intergalactic hilarity of Space Quest II. I also have the benefit of having played this particular game before, so unless my memory fails me, I should be able to go into cruise control and just enjoy the ride while it lasts. The main challenge will be making sure I judge the game appropriately and don’t avoid possible dead ends and difficulties due to my prior experience with the game. I know Space Quest II is renowned for being quite tricky and I have no idea whether I required a walkthrough at any stage the first time I played it.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Moby Games for having every cover of every game ever made in decent resolution (yes, I stole it)

Given how successful Space Quest I was, it was inevitable that Sierra would crank out another one in quick time.  Once again it was The Two Guys from Andromeda (Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy) behind it all and the result was Space Quest II: Vohaul’s Revenge. Released on the 14th of November 1987, the game takes place sometime after the protagonist (now officially named Roger Wilco) had “foiled the Sarien’s fiendish plot to rule the galaxy by using the Star Generator as their weapon of destruction”. Unfortunately, as time had passed, Roger’s fame had diminished, and he’d eventually had to return to his job as a janitor. The player joins Roger after he’s been transferred to Orbital Station 4, where the game describes him as “sweating like a pork-beast in a pressure suit while relocating space debris in zero gravity”. Little does Roger know that the villainous Sludge Vohaul witnessed him on television, egotistically describing his exploits and mocking the stupidity of “some guy called Overhaul, or Uhaul...something stupid like that”.  Filled with rage, Vohaul sends out his mercenaries, intent on getting his revenge.

Blessed yellows, greens and blues...how I've missed you!

While Sierra themselves have never remade Space Quest II, there is an unofficial remake by Infamous Adventures available to download. While that looks worth checking out one day, I’ll be playing through the version of the game as it appears in the Space Quest 1 + 2 + 3 collection which I purchased from GOG. Thankfully it comes with the great comic Space Piston that not only acts as the manual for the game, it also gives the reader a rundown of the events of the first game and what has occurred since, in comic book form. It’s also got some pretty funny advertising (which reminds me of the newspaper that accompanied Tass Times in Tonetown) selling objects ranging from Incredible Shrinking Tablets to Death Ray Specs. It’s all done with the same humour and wit that pervades the Space Quest series in general and a welcome reintroduction into the outlandish game world that I'll be spending the next few days. I’m very much looking forward to playing Space Quest II again, and will undoubtedly be back in the next couple of days with an update on my progress.

The comic doesn't make a lot of sense..but it sure looks good and will have you chuckling throughout