Game 33: Space Quest III - Final Rating

I'm back! The wife and I had a wonderful short break in Tasmania, with a thick layer of snow covering the beautiful forest surrounding our cabin on Cradle Mountain for most of our stay. A lot of our time was spent reading in front the fire and eating quality cuisine, which is just what we needed after three years of child rearing, working and...well...gaming! Anyway, there are still countless games to play and blog about, so let's finish up Space Quest III and get stuck into game 34!

Puzzles and Solvability
I’m not going to sugar coat things here. Space Quest III is too short and too easy! That being said, it’s true that I was challenged a couple of times (mostly by the ladder puzzle on the freighter), and it’s also true that I’ve played the game before so aren’t in the best position to judge. I do feel though that reader comments have confirmed my overall view of the game, so will run with it. One of the major factors that make things so easy is the fact there are so few items in your inventory throughout the game. Confronting a puzzle when you only have four or five things, three of which you’ve already used, isn’t overly challenging. The trick of course is to figure out what is and what isn’t a puzzle that needs solving, but that’s normally pretty telegraphed. The space combat towards the end was also stupidly easy, as was the giant robot combat in the arena. I would normally criticise unavoidable deaths, but since the death scenes make up some of the game’s highlights, I'll be forgiving there. I’ve been pretty negative here, so why am I still giving the game a 4? Well, there’s nothing overly offensive here, such as dead ends or parser affected puzzles, and readers tell me there are some alternate solutions which deserve credit. In the end, Space Quest III is a fun experience that chooses not to bog the player down with brain testing stuff, but I just can’t give it the same rating as even Larry III or Police Quest II, both of which had more puzzles that were way more satisfying.
Rating: 4

So what is the alternate solution to this?

Interface and Inventory
Let’s start with the inventory, as there’s not a lot to say about it. It’s stock standard stuff, being a list of items the player can scroll through with the keys or select items from with the cursor. Doing so brings up an image and description of the selected item. In other words, it works, without being anything special. The interface is also as you would expect for an SCI0 game. I can’t recall having any movement issues (apart from Astro Chicken but we’ll get to that in a minute) and while the parser tripped me up a couple of times, there were no serious flaws to mention. It’s all professionally done, as you would expect from a 1989 Sierra game, particularly the third one in a popular series. The mini-games are less praiseworthy, although once again I can’t be too harsh. The robot fight and the space combat controls were so simplistic it could hardly go wrong, yet I didn’t find punching in the robot suit particularly responsive. I was going to tear into Astro Chicken, as the controls in that damn thing were incredibly frustrating for me, but I’ve since been informed that I was simply doing it wrong! My immediate tendency was to press the up button over and over again to make the chicken flap its wings, but now I realise pressing up once makes it continually fly! I don’t even know how I got through it the way I was playing it.
Rating: 6

 

I'm sure I would have seen less of this screen if I'd not been so trigger happy

Story and Setting
I can’t complain about the setting, as it’s perfect for a Space Quest game. Where else should Roger be other than out in space, visiting strange alien worlds!? The story however does leave a fair bit to be desired though. I mean let’s face it! What is the story here? Roger awakes onboard a rubbish freighter and must escape. Everything that happens after that gives the player little actual motivation, unless they're fortunate enough to find and decode the Two Guys from Andromeda’s message on Astro Chicken. It would be very easy to miss that message, meaning many players would reach the climax with no real idea why they’re even there in the first place! However, fans will know that story really isn’t what Space Quest is all about, at least not at this stage of the series. It’s about humour and entertainment, and there are plenty of those qualities to be found in this game. I have to be a little bit harsh on this category here though, as other games had advanced much further down the path of good storytelling by this stage.
Rating: 5

 

With nothing else to do, I'll set my course to home and leave this adventuring behind me! Or will I!?

Sound and Graphics
I was worried when I saw that Supertramp drummer Bob Siebenberg was taking on music duties above the tried and tested Mark Seibert, but I think he did a really good job. The Space Quest theme was already memorable, but it received a huge upgrade for game 3 in the series (yes, I checked out the beautiful Roland MT-32 version), improving the end result. There’s even a Monkey Island-sounding version when the player is at Monolith Burger that is very enjoyable too, and the music at World o’ Wonders needs to be heard to be believed. I was also happy to find low-key yet moody pieces of music used throughout most locations, which sure beats the long periods of silence that filled previous games in the series (there’s still quite a bit of silence though it must be said). The sound effects are merely adequate, being irregular and at times a little grating. Let’s talk about the graphics. I really like what Mark Crowe did in this game! Sure, there’s a lot of bright pink, green and blue going around, making it all pretty in your face, but I think Mark did an awesome job with what he had to work with. The environments on the planets look suitably alien and dangerous, the little cut scenes and death images a very cool, and the vehicles and buildings are both convincing and attractive. Compared to Hero’s Quest and Indiana Jones it falls short in both sound and graphics departments, but it’s still worthy of a 6.
Rating: 6

 

The death scenes...

...are very violent...

 

...yet still remain...

 

 ...highly enjoyable!

Environment and Atmosphere
The environments in Space Quest III are varied and graphically striking, ranging from the volcanic Ortega to the suitably named Monolith Burger. Almost all of the locations are highly dangerous, with many screens seemingly there only to kill you. Phleebhut is a good example of this, as the only place you actually need to discover is World o’ Wonders. Every other screen has nothing of use and likely something to cause you a quick and horribly painful death. For this reason I have to say that the planets all feel too small for my liking. In fact, the biggest location of all is the rubbish freighter, which feels massive compared to the restricted environments found elsewhere. The inclusion of the Space Quest headquarters was a very nice touch though, and true to the overall feeling of the series. The resulting atmosphere is a combination of sheer entertainment and wonder, and I’m going to use this category to reward the game for simply keeping a smile on my face for almost the entire (albeit short) running time.
Rating: 6

 

It gets a bit weird at times, but who says what you can and can't do when designing alien planets!?

Dialogue and Acting
I’ve given healthy 6’s to both Space Quest I and II, due to how damn funny the dialogue was in those games. It’s no different here, with knowing silliness and plenty of references for science fiction geeks (like me) to get their teeth into (this is not the first or last time Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek will be referenced in an adventure game). The self-referential humour seems to irk some, but I think Sierra made that part of their formula right back in King’s Quest I (it used to be limited to advertisements for other Sierra games but it was still there). The Two Guys from Andromeda merely took it to a level not reached previously, topping even Al Lowe's Comedy Club scene in Larry III. Whether that level is high or low probably depends on the sense of humour of the player, but I appreciate it. I think I’ll have to complete the devil’s number here and go with another 6.
Rating: 6

And then there was Kickstarter!

So that's 4 + 6 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6, which equals 33, divided by 60 equals .55, which means Space Quest III gets 55. That's exactly what the first Space Quest game received, and somehow that seems fitting. The third game is undoubtedly more polished and has less potential for frustration, but the first one was groundbreaking and offered more in the way of actual puzzle solving. I'm going to keep it at 55!

Did anyone predict that score? Yes! In fact, two veterans of the blog got it bang on, being Ilmari and Charles! I'm going to have to use the Random Number Generator to separate them, so if it comes up odd, Ilmari wins. If it's even, Charles wins. And the number is... 85, so Ilmari wins! There's every chance that Ilmari already owns Loom, so I'll leave it up to him as to what he does with the prize (if indeed he does own it). Congratulations and see you all for Colonel's Bequest!

50 CAPs for Lars-Erik

• Sponsor Award - 20 CAPs - For sponsoring the blog with free games
• Legend Award – 20 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it without assistance
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on Steam
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on Steam

50 CAPs for Aperama

• Discworld Award – 20 CAPs – For solving my Discworld Noir riddle
• Legend Award – 20 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it without assistance
• Ren and Stimpy Award – 5 CAPs – For simply knowing it
• Makka Pakka Award – 5 CAPs – He knows why

45 CAPs for Draconius

• Legend Award – 20 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it without assistance
• Twin Distraction Award – 10 CAPs – For playing along with screaming twins fighting for his attention
• Haggle Award – 10 CAPs – For explaining how to get more buckazoids and points for the gem
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on GOG

38 CAPs for Jarikith

• Legend Award – 20 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it without assistance
• Missing Points Award – 18 CAPs – For telling me that my missing points were just hidden under my seat!

30 CAPS for Canageek

• Kickstarter Roundup Award – 10 CAPs – For a fine Kickstarter wrap
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game on Steam
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on Steam
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on Steam
• Vasectomy Award – 5 CAPs – For having his priorities right

25 CAPs for TBD

• True Companion Award – 10 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game on GOG
• SCUMM Award – 5 CAPs – For letting us know that using SCUMMVM for the game means no audio problems
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on GOG

20 CAPs for Ilmari

• Psychic Prediction Award – 10 CAPs – For predicting what score I would give Space Quest III
• Space Quest Podcast Award – 10 CAPs – For telling us about a Space Quest related podcast

20 CAPs for Kenny McCormick

• What’s Your Story Award – 20 CAPs – For answering the What’s Your Story questionnaire

20 CAPs for Andy_Panthro

• Legend Award – 20 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it without assistance

20 CAPs for JosephCurwen

• Legend Award – 20 CAPs – For playing the game with me and finishing it without assistance

14 CAPs for Charles

• Psychic Prediction Award – 9 CAPs – For being the second to predict what score I would give Space Quest III
• Child Leverage Award – 5 CAPs – I shouldn’t fall for it, but it was just so heartfelt!

10 CAPs for Laukku

• Techy Award – 10 CAPs – For sharing his vast audio knowledge with us…again

10 CAPs for Josh

• Sierra Article Award – 10 CAPs – For alerting us to a very fitting Sierra article

10 CAPs for Lupus Yonderboy

• Astro Chicken Award – 10 CAPs – For telling me how I was supposed to play Astro Chicken

10 CAPs for The Java Monkey

• Mark Crowe Worship Award – 10 CAPs – For linking to a great Mark Crowe video

5 CAPs for Olivier Galibert

• Anemometer Award – 5 CAPs – For telling me what it is

Game 33: Space Quest III - Won!

Roger Wilco Journal Entry 3: "What a rush! After destroying a huge force field generator on Ortega, I opened up an opportunity to visit Pestulon and save the two guys that contacted me through Astro Chicken. It certainly wasn't easy, as I firstly had to get into the complex unseen, then disguise myself as a janitor to gain access to the room where they were being held captive. Just when it looked like we were going to escape unnoticed, it turned out the boss and his guards were watching me all along. Thankfully the little dweeb overestimated his ability to play Nukem Dukem Robots, with his challenge resulting in his defeat and my eventual escape. You'd think after all that I would gain some reward and happiness, but as usual, not all ends well for Roger Wilco, oh no! Our ship was sucked into a black hole during our escape, transporting us to a parallel universe where the two guys I just rescued were hired by a software company called Sierra, leaving me to once again travel off into space on my own. I don't know what awaits me...but let's hope it doesn't involve me risking my life all over again. I've had enough adventure to last a lifetime!"

It's back to Ortega we go!

As expected, my third session of Space Quest III was the last one required to complete it. I’ll save my overall thoughts for the Final Rating post and try to get the rest of my play through wrapped up in this post. So where were we? Oh that’s right, I’d just found out that the Two Guys from Andromeda were being held captive on the planet Pestulon, but had decided to go back to Ortega now that I had the thermoweave underwear to protect me from the harsh environmental conditions. Once I arrived I discovered that I was now able to walk around the planet without melting, so that was a vast improvement over my first attempt. After making my way across a dangerously loose rock section (I failed the first time and plummeted to my death), I looked over a wall to see a “short range scout ship” parked with no-one around. When I walked around the wall to gain access to it, I ran into a bunch of ScumSoft employees, who were using various telescopic and radar devices for unknown purposes. They walked away before I could consider interacting with them, and I heard the ship take off. They did however leave their stuff behind, so I began looking through it, hoping to find something useful.

The death scenes are highly enjoyable in Space Quest III!

So all these planets have breathable air!?

Amongst the equipment were “a telescope, an anemometer on a pole, some seismic equipment, and a crate of some sort”. I opened the crate and found a bunch of detonators inside. I picked one up (10 points), then also collected the pole (10 points), ignoring the anemometer (whatever that is). I didn’t appear to be able to get anything else, so I moved on to the east and then eventually upwards towards the peak of a “decayed cinder cone”. There was a large machine at the top, sitting within a volcanic crater, although its purpose wasn’t clear to me at the time. I entered it, and found myself inside a huge pink and blue metallic room. The room description stated that the machine was a “massive force field generator”, although I’m not sure how Roger would know that. I wandered around inside and then climbed a tall ladder that took me right up to the very top of the machine. There I found a large hole at the peak where the force field beam apparently originated. I had a sudden urge to throw the detonator into it. I can’t say whether it was my memory telling me to do it or whether finding large holes while holding explosive devices can result in only one form of action, but I did it regardless! “The explosion disables the force field generator. You may now travel to Pestulon.” (20 points)

Seems like a safe place to put it. What could go wrong?

Who was in charge of decor around here?

Hmmm…I didn’t even realise that I couldn’t travel to Pestulon. I guess I’d figured that learning about the Two Guys trapped there was all it took to add Pestulon as an option on my navigation screen. This got me thinking though. Since there’s no real reason to play Astro Chicken or indeed visit Monolith Burger at all, it’s quite possible for someone to blow up the force field generator without even being aware of Pestulon. Even though I knew about it, I still didn’t really understand why I was on Ortega or why I might want to blow up the machine. Not very good game design!  Anyway, now all I needed to do was get back to my ship, and this task was made more urgent when I was informed that the detonator had set off a chain reaction of earthquakes. I made my way as quickly as I could back through the large room and headed for my ship, only to find that the loose rock section had fallen away into the lava. There was no other pathway I could take to reach the ship, so I was going to have to jump over the gap somehow. Any experienced gamer would have no problem figuring out the solution, since there were so few items in my inventory at the time. I typed “use pole”, and watched as Roger ran towards the gap and pole vaulted across. “The Romanian judge gives you a 9.5!” (20 points)

So that's why I'm here?!

After practising pole vault with all his brooms over the years, this was never going to be an issue for Roger

There were no further obstacles, so I hopped back into the Aluminium Mallard and accessed the navigation screen. As expected, I was now able to travel to Pestulon, so I set my course and prepared for the game’s climax. Pestulon turned out to be a very green planet, with odd, twisted “trees” all over the place. I decided to head east for no particular reason, and was surprised when the first screen I accessed held the ScumSoft complex! Hiding behind some vegetation, I watched as several guards exited the building, obviously trying to find out what the unidentified craft was that landed somewhere in the vicinity. Suddenly I was given a choice as to what my next move would be. I could “Stay Here”, “Return to Ship” or “Enter ScumSoft”. I hadn’t yet used my invisibility belt, and this looked like a perfect opportunity! I chose “Stay Here”, then typed “use belt”. Roger disappeared, but I was informed that I only had a few moments before the belt’s power pack would be depleted. When the decision options appeared again, I chose to “Enter ScumSoft”, and then witnessed a barely visible Roger running across the grass and straight past the unsuspecting guards into the complex. (25 points)

I'm sure Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy are around here somewhere

I'm sure guarding a software company on an otherwise vacant planet that's historically been protected by a huge force field is one of the more rewarding careers

I made it just in time, with the invisibility belt running out of juice as soon as I’d reached safety. My view shifted once inside and I could now watch Roger running towards or away from the “camera”, making his way around a circular hallway. There were exits on both sides of the hall, so I took them in the order I reached them. The first doorway I passed through did something unexpected. While Roger did indeed go into the room beyond, the door simply closed and my view didn’t follow him inside. This wasn’t the first Space Quest game where this had happened, so I immediately knew that this was a janitor’s closet! I typed “look in closet”: “Rummaging about the cramped closet you find a pair of old, grimy janitorial coveralls.” I put them on, finding a trash vaporizer in one of the pockets. “You’ve seen these babies in all the janitorial supply catalogs but your superiors were always too cheap to outfit you with one.” (5 points) I did indeed have the coveralls on when I exited the closet, so I moved onto the next door. This one led to a typical office environment, with numerous ScumSoft employees banging away on their keyboards and manager-types wandering around with clipboards. I remembered the scene from past experience, and knew I had to make my way through the maze of partitions while playing the part of a janitor.

That looks more like a young Gene Hackman than Roger Wilco!

This is pretty much what my first office environment looked like, right down to the partition colouring

As long as I used my vaporizer to empty each bin of its scrunched up paper, the managers would leave me alone, leaving me free to explore the area. Eventually I found a picture of the boss (Elmo Pug) on one of the walls, which I was able to pick up. I seemed to recall using the photocopier near it for something, so I typed in “copy picture”. It worked, so I put the real picture back on the wall and took the convincing copy with me. (5 points) Exiting the maze to the north brought me to the boss’ cubicle area, but I couldn’t really investigate it while he was there. I walked around behind him and gained a view of my spaceship sitting in the ScumSoft vehicle bay. I wasn’t sure how I was going to escape after saving the Two Guys, but put that thought aside as I hadn’t even found them yet. When I walked back inside I found the boss had now departed his desk, so wandered into his office to take a look around. There was a keycard sitting on the desk just begging to be stolen, so I obliged! (5 points) I couldn’t find or think of anything else to do in the office area, so I made my way back to the hallway, hoping to find another doorway I could try out.

An office run by a snotty nosed fourteen year old. Joy!

Honestly, they could have made some of these puzzles a bit harder.

I found one, and this one had a keycard security system on it. I typed “use keycard” and the door appeared to unlock, but then a message popped up saying “Keycard verified. Standby for composite facial scan.” That was obviously what the picture of Elmo was for, so I typed “show picture”. Roger held the picture of the boss up to the scan, and it did the trick, opening the door and letting me through! (20 points) The chamber beyond had four exits, including the one I’d just entered through, and the Two Guys from Andromeda were held captive on a platform in the centre. The two of them were held by green jello, and it was difficult to tell whether they were actually alive or not. At first I couldn’t figure out how I might reach them, as the bridges from all four exits were retracted. I could tell that there were keypads on the walls next to at least two of the exits, but I couldn’t get to them either. I took a punt and typed “use keypad”. Apparently there was one on the wall right next to me, only I couldn’t see it! I was able to make the bridge extend, allowing me to wander across and stand next to the jello. I tried to talk to the guys, but they only responded with “HELPH!”

Please work, please work, please work...

What have they done to you now Han!?

I looked through my very small inventory in search of something that might work. The vaporizer seemed a good bet, so I used it on the jello. It worked: “Thanks dude! It’s great to be out of that green stuff. They discovered our distress message we coded into the Astro Chicken game and sent us here as punishment. Let’s get out of here before we’re discovered!” (245 points) I couldn’t agree more, but before we could begin our escape, the bridge retracted again, and then part of the wall did too, revealing Elmo Pugg and a stack of ScumSoft workers and guards watching us. (-235 points) “Nobody’s going anywhere... heh, heh, heh! You must have thought you were pretty clever, Mr. Wilco, disguising yourself as a janitor. Unfortunately for you, my boys found your sorry excuse for a ship in the woods. Escort this gentleman to the ARENA. You boys haven’t seen a good fight in quite a while.” The three of us were led from the room, reappearing in a huge arena where two giant mechwarrior-style bots awaited. I was led to the white one, while Elmo himself hopped into the gold one. “OK Wilco, the name of the game is Nukem Dukem Robots. The only rule is that there are no rules!”

In other words, I've decided to give you an opportunity to escape, because that's what villains do

Awesomeness!

The aim of Nukem Dukem Robots was simple. Press the J key to punch the opponent and the M key to block, while using the left and right arrows to move the robot back and forward. I ignored the block key altogether, preferring to just wait until Elmo moved his robot into range and pressing M. I defeated him in under a minute, watching with satisfaction as his robot fell through the wall in the side of the arena. (100 points) I climbed out of the robot, and the Two Guys and I bolted through the hole, which just happened to lead to the vehicle bay. We jumped into my ship and took off before anyone could stop us! The game had one last trick up its sleeve though, as short range fighters began approaching me from the rear. I immediately set my shields to rear, then pressed fire as they passed me and my targets locked on. This fight was once again way too easy, as all I had to do was put my front shields up when the target was in front of me and my back shields up when the target was behind me. There was no real challenge at all, and after I took down a few fighters, the remaining enemies simply gave up and went home. (100 points)

Round 1...Fight!

Sayonara suckers!!!!

I was in the clear, and Mark and Scott told me how awesome I was, suggesting we go grab some food somewhere to celebrate! Their tune changed quickly though when I informed them that the ScumSoft employees had deactivated my light speed system, so it was going to take ages to get anywhere. “What! Now I’ll never get any food! Some rescuer you are!” Scott found the Light Speed Maintenance Access Panel and reattached the belt, but since I hadn’t entered a course into the navigation panel, we were thrown into light speed with no destination. We flew blindly through space, eventually hitting a black hole that pulled us in. “A bright light becomes visible in the distance. It grows larger as your ship races toward it. Finally you are hurled out of the blackness into a parallel universe.” This universe just happened to be our own, and the Aluminium Mallard appeared not far away from a little green and blue planet called Earth! We landed the ship just outside a pleasant looking building surrounded by a forest of trees. It was Sierra headquarters, and in a fantastic self-parodying moment in gaming history, the Two Guys from Andromeda introduced themselves to Ken Williams, the president and founder of Sierra On-Line!

Hey, don't be playing with random electronics on my spaceship, you hear me!?

This is actually what the Sierra building looked like! Check out the photo below.

Mark: “Greetings Earthling. We are the Two Guys from Andromeda, Universally famous software authors.” Roger: “And I am Roger Wilco, Space age swashbuckler and all around nice guy.” Ken: “Sooo... You two guys are software authors heh? What are your credits?” Scott: “Ever heard of ASTRO CHICKEN?” Ken: “No.” Scott: “Good! Ken: “How about you two guys come to work for me?”Scott and Mark: “Sounds great! How many buckazoids does it pay?” Roger also saw an opportunity, asking whether Mr. Williams might also require a janitor. The answer was no, so Roger climbed back into his ship, feeling left out but knowing he’d accomplished his mission. “The Two Guys from Andromeda go on to create the Space Quest series of adventure games reaping fame and fortune. They grow fat on their success and soon become burnt out and begin a drunken tailspin into obscurity.” Space Quest III finished with Roger shooting off into light speed once again...course unknown! I on the other hand know exactly what course I will be taking now that this adventure is over. I’ll be trying my hand at a Laura Bow game for the very first time! I should let you all know that I’ll be having a short break before that happens though, as my wife and I will be leaving for a belated honeymoon trip to Tasmania tomorrow morning and will return in five days time. I’ll try to get the Final Rating post done before we go, although I will schedule it for the weekend if I do.

Only Sierra truly got away with this stuff!

THE END

Session Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 00 minutes

Game 33: Space Quest III - Hasta la Vista, Baby

Roger Wilco Journal Entry 2: "Can't I just have a simple life? I finally escaped that junk freighter by repairing a cool little spaceship and blowing my way out, but of course that wasn't the end of my dramas. I chose the most sensible option, being to land on the nearest planet and see if I could get some resources, only to find there was a murderous robot after me for not paying a few measly buckazoids. Lucky his brain didn't match his brawn, and I was able to destroy him before he could complete his mission. As if that little confrontation wasn't weird enough, now I've got a couple of guys held captive on Pestulon contacting me through a damn video game. Can't a guy just get some escape in without having to be a hero all the time? Sigh...I guess no-one else is gonna do it!"

This thing's like the Tardis! There's much more room inside than appears possible from the outside!

Well, my fears around the challenge offered by Space Quest III were unfounded, as would come as no surprise to all of you that ripped through this game in the last few days. I haven’t quite finished yet, but that’s only because I wanted to get this post out while the experience was still fresh. My last post finished with me finally gaining entrance to the space ship submerged in junk upon the garbage freighter. As soon as I did that I was given an over the shoulder view of the ship’s internal setup. There were only three things I could do inside, being exit, look at the ships status monitor, or hop into the cockpit. Looking at the monitor revealed the power was critically low as the auxiliary reactor was not on-line. I of course had a reactor in my possession, so I typed “use reactor” (5 points). “You drop the reactor into the hole. In attempting to reconnect the cables, you find that one is much too short.” I had some wire too, so I typed “use wire” (5 points). This was all that was needed to get the ship’s power unit back online, and I was given a view of all the ship’s sections along with a message telling me they were all “nominal”.

As it just so happens, one of the two items I picked up on this entire junk freighter is the exact reactor that fits this ship!

Landing gear nominal? Well, that's one less typical space genre drama to deal with!

With that all sorted, I hopped into the cockpit and looked at the computer screen. There I found eight menu options, which were 1. Engines, 2. Navigation System, 3. Takeoff, 4. Cruise, 5. Light Speed, 6. Attack Speed, 7. Radar and 8. Weapons System. I pressed 1 to turn the engines on, and heard a whirring sound as the ship prepared for launch. I turned the radar on and tried to use the navigation system, only to be told that it was “inoperable while not in flight”. I received the same message when I tried to view the weapons system, so I simply tried to takeoff instead. “The ship rises several meters, then stops abruptly. An alarm from the computer attracts your attention.” Looking at my monitor revealed that my ascent was halted due to an obstruction. I was a bit confused by what that obstruction might be until I realised it was the room’s ceiling! My memory told me that using my weapons system was the solution, and while I wasn’t yet very trusting of my memory, I gave it a shot anyway. I brought up the weapons system screen, where I could turn my front or back shields on or simply fire away. I pressed fire, and was given a view of the outside of the freighter as my weapons blew a hole through the side of it!

Can Roger withstand the temptation to push the red button?! The beautiful, shiny button! The jolly, candy-like button!

Apparently not!

The smile of victory on my face was quickly eradicated, when a message popped up saying: “Unfortunately, your inadequately protected ship is struck and subsequently destroyed in the bottle neck of metallic objects striving to pass through the same relatively small opening.” The solution of course was obvious, so I restored and went through the same process, this time putting my front shield on first. This worked, and I was free! I brought up my navigation system and ran a scan. A cursor passed across my surrounding space sectors, revealing locations of interest as it did so. I could visit Planet Ortega in sector 82, Planet Phleebhut in sector 39, or Monolith Burger Fast Food Dive in sector 62. I vaguely remembered each of them, but not enough to make a judgement on where I should go first. I therefore selected the first one (Ortega), and set my ship to light speed. I watched as my ship took off at light speed, but was then surprised to find another ship gradually appearing (it must have been using some sort of cloaking device) close to where mine had been! The close-up of a robot face appeared on the screen, and computer generated messages began appearing in the reflection of his shades. “Identity confirmed... Roger Wilco... Case OU812... Wilco wanted for vending machine fraud... Plaintiff: Gippazoid Novelty Co.... Judgement: TERMINATE”

Hmmm...unknown habitants...volcanic crater-strewn surface...seems safe to me!

A nice Van Halen reference within a Terminator reference

The Terminator’s ship took off at light speed in pursuit of my own, which didn’t bode well. I wasn’t particularly stressed though, as I clearly recalled how I took him out when I first played the game. I knew what to do when the time came, so I focussed on the task at hand. After a short trip, a message popped up on my screen, telling me that I was in orbit above the planet Ortega. I chose to land on the planet’s surface, and watched as my ship spiralled down towards the volcanic planet. Exiting the Aluminium Mallard, I soon realised that I’d made a very poor decision in coming to Ortega first! “My, my, this is one hot planet! Hopefully you’ll last more than a few minutes.” I didn’t, and watched as I fell to the ground and simply melted into nothingness! “You sizzle into oblivion. This planet wouldn’t be so bad if you could keep cool somehow.” Well at least now I knew that I needed some form of heat protection before coming back to Ortega! I restored my game, and this time chose to visit planet Phleebhut. After the same cut scene with the terminator setting off in pursuit, I quickly found myself departing my ship onto a purple landscape with green rock formations. There appeared to be a storm brewing, but thankfully I didn’t seem to have any issue with the environmental conditions.

This image reminded me of something. Project X on the Amiga?!

Now that's hot!

Another cut-scene interjected, with the terminator’s ship also landing down on the planet Phleebhut. I was given a close-up of the Arnold Schwarzenegger lookalike robot exiting his craft, then pressing a button on his belt that caused him to disappear. Footprints forming on the sand leading away from the ship clearly referred to the fact my pursuant was damn well invisible! I set out from my own craft, exploring the alien landscape and trying to avoid the various deadly creatures that inhabit the planet. While I was methodically mapping out the area, I was killed by a venomous scorpazoid, some pulsating pods that dropped down from a cave roof and ingested me, and some sort of huge serpent that ate me whole! It appeared for a moment that I was also going to be confronted by a Godzilla-like monster, as I could see one chomping away in the distance! As I got closer though, I realised it was merely the World o’ Wonders souvenir shop, built into the base of a huge Godzilla replica named Mog. My memory told me that there was a second entrance to the building around the left side, so I went to check before entering the shop proper. It was there, just as I remembered, but since I knew the time for its purpose had not yet arrived, went back and entered the front door.

Probably not as cut as Arnie

Alien hillbillies! Now that's scary!

Fester Blatz awaited me inside the World o’ Wonders, hoping to sell me a wide range of junk, collected from all over the planet. Blatz began making suggestions to me, uch as an Orat on a stick, an official Astro Chicken flight hat, and a nice pair of thermoweave underwear that will “keep your internal environment pleasant on even the sweatiest worlds.” The last of those items was exactly what I needed to survive the heat on Ortego, so I tried to buy them. “Everything here costs 25 buckazoids, and you don’t have that much!” I couldn’t remember doing it when I first played the game, but I thought I would try selling him my used up glowing gem. It seemed likely to work, since he had others like it sitting in the cabinet in front of him, and it was the only thing in my inventory at this point. Blatz was very pleased with the rock, and offered me 350 buckazoids! (2 points) That was more than I needed, so I purchased the Orat, the hat, and the underwear for 75 buckazoids (15 points). There seemed nothing else to do in the shop, so I left with my new goodies, ready for what I knew would be coming when I got outside.

Perhaps I could purchase one of your chins. You seem to have a few spare at the moment!

Blatz's poker face sucked!

The terminator appeared out of nowhere and grabbed hold of me before I had any chance to react. Disappointed with how easy I was to track down, he revealed the purpose of his mission: “Seems you forgot to pay for that Labionian terror beast mating call whistle. Now let’s see... with interest that comes to 400,000 buckazoids. I don’t think you’ve got that kind of cash on you hmm? No... I didn’t think so.” In typical villain style though, the terminator offered me a chance at escape, albeit an unlikely one. “I will count to ten real slow then I track you down. If you make it to your ship I forget I see you. But if I catch you again... I dust you like bundt cake.” I knew from past experience that trying to reach my ship would mean certain death, so I headed straight for the side entrance of World o’ Wonders instead. I guess it’s a sign of how memorable this scene was, since I recalled exactly when it would happen and how to deal with it. After ascending one of Mog’s legs in an elevator, I found myself in a machine room of sorts. There were some gears spinning round and a couple of heavy chains hanging from the ceiling.

 

Our hero will certainly require a new pair of pants after this confrontation

I think I'll just keep the elevator doors open on the top level. Problem solved!

The terminator came up the elevator after me and began his slow walk towards my position on the top floor. I waited until he was a few steps away from me, then typed “get chain”. Roger pushed one of the heavy chains into the robot, causing him to fall into the spinning gears, breaking him into many parts (35 points). Investigating the remains revealed that “the terminator’s invisibility belt has survived relatively intact”, so I picked it up (35 points). Blatz arrived on the scene, at first quite cranky that I’d ignored the signs telling people this section was closed for repairs. His mood lightened when he saw what I’d done though: “Oh! I see you’ve gotten rid of that grease swilling android. Never did like that terminator series.” I could see no further reason to stay on Phleebhut, so decided to take my leave. Once I was back on my ship, I put my new underwear on in preparation for visiting Ortega once again (10 points). However, once I accessed the monitor, I realised the closest joint to my current location was the Monolith Burger fast food dive. I set a course for it, dreading the fact that I would soon be required to play the horrible arcade game that is Astro Chicken!

It was almost too easy! Well, actually, it was too easy.

Ever wondered what the Trekkers ate between episodes? Now you know!

On arrival, I had a giggle at yet another Star Trek reference found in an adventure game, with the Starship Enterprise taking off from one of five entrances to Monolith (clearly a reference itself to McDonalds). My own ship docked, and I was soon walking amongst the numerous strange aliens lining up for greasy food and sugary drinks. I approached the counter and typed in “order food”. I had no recollection of what I should purchase from the menu, or indeed whether I should purchase anything, but the Monolith Fun Meal seemed an obvious choice. With any luck it would come with a surprise item that might be useful (10 points)! The geeky looking employee asked me whether I would like something to drink to go with my meal, and rather hilariously both options available to me were “Yes”! The same joke was applied to whether I wanted Space Spuds and Blattfruit Pie, and eventually I was able to hand over my seven buckazoids and sit down to eat. “OWWW!!! Hey, what’s this in my burger? Oh, it must be my Fun Meal prize! Hey, it’s a swell decoder ring!” (10 points) Awesome! To be honest, I don’t think I found the decoder ring when I first played the game, and had to resort to a walkthrough to decode the message when I came upon it.

Ha! I only just realised now that it's in the shape of a "monolith" burger

I didn't need audible voice to know what this little twerp would have sounded like

It was time to work my reflexes, so I walked up to the Astro Chicken arcade game and reacquainted myself with the controls. If you’ve played the game, you’ll know how frustrating this section is! The idea is a simple one though. All you have to do is continually land the chicken on the landing pad which is surrounded by mines. If the chicken lands with too much speed though, it will bounce onto the mines and explode! The player needs to press the up arrow to make the chicken flap its wings and therefore slow its descent, while also directing it left and right to make sure it lands on the pad. If it sounds easy, then that’s because I haven’t told you how unresponsive the controls are, and how stupendously difficult it is once the chicken is dropped from either of the screen’s top corners. Each time I successfully landed the chicken I received a few points, with the total maxing out at fifty (50 points). At some point the game decided that I’d landed enough chickens to be rewarded with a huge amount of encoded text on the screen. It was just as well, as my finger was cramping up from the exertion!

Astro Chicken? How can that be bad?!

 

Indeed!

I used my decoder ring, and a cipher was displayed at the bottom of the screen, setting me the task of decoding the message manually (although a lot of it can be figured out just by looking at it) (70 points). “Help us! We are being held captive by Scumsoft on the small moon of Pestulon. An inpenetrable force field surrounds the moon. It must first be deactivated. It’s origin is unknown to us. Scumsoft security is armed with jello pistols. We’re counting on you whoever you are.” The message was signed off by “Two Guys in Trouble”. So now I have a new motivation! Before I would consider visiting Pestulon though, it was now time to revisit Ortega. In case anyone is wondering, at this point my inventory contained an Orat on a Stick, some ThermoWeave Underwear, an Astro Chicken Flight Hat, a Monolith Decoder Ring, some Buckazoids, and an Invisibility Belt. If I didn’t know better, I’d figure the game was really about to take off (excuse the pun), but as plenty of readers have already stated, Space Quest III is a very short game. I’ve already got more than half the points on offer, and it’s very possible to next post title could end in Won! Well, I’m about to kick the Aluminium Mallard back into light speed mode. I hope to see you all at the destination!

A blatant attempt to add a few minutes onto a stupidly short game

It's interesting that travelling at light speed always has a light effect. Kinda silly when you think about it.

Session Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!