Space Quest 1+2+3

Space quest is one of the great grandaddies to the Adventure genre (alonside with kings quest). As stated before, the influence it had on the game industry cannot be underestimated. HOWEVER Do you really remeber these games well? For you should've played the series a long time ago. It was a definitive game of my generation, and it was great fun to play them back then. On the other way, it doesn't really hold up that well today. Especially, when you compare them to the latter, more refined installments, they feel crude, to say the least. For starters, this first part of the series is punishingly hard. Literally, because it's going to punish you with DEATH for the slightest error you make, even if you cannot be aware of certain obstacles. This makes them not only frustrating, but but tends to be more of a "trial and error" type of andventure, which has never been good. Well, at least, the developers got pretty creative when it came to game overs, but after a while it gets really tiresome. On the other hand, one could easily see, how the trilogy turns better and better with each episode. They get longer, deeper, less frustrating, more clever and entertaining. Another aspect is the game grapchis, the parser and the sound. While I find EGA graphics very charming (especially in SQ 3), this might put off many newcomers. Why are the VGA remakes missing from this package? At this price, it'd have been nice to include them.

WTF? No VGA SQ1?! I'm somewhat less pleased with my purchase.

Space Quest IV was the first adventure game that I ever played. It introduced me to a world where games were more about story and brain bending puzzles than run-and-gun style gameplay. Space Quest is a funny science fiction adventure game series that lampoons popular film and television series, such as Star Trek and Star Wars. If you are a fan of those things, you will fall out of your chair laughing. Highlights of the series include Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon and Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers. The Space Quest series may end with Space Quest 6, but the two guys that started it all, Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy, are back for new adventure games. Support the revival of a genre: tgakick.com

The Space Quest series come from a time in my childhood when PC gaming was largley defined by the adventure. Sierra was the undisputed king of adventure gaming, with such golden franchises as Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, Quest for Glory, and yes, Space Quest. Space Quest takes Sierra's noted goofy humor to an all new level, and creates fun, engaging game play. You play a janitor, who through sheer laziness, incompetence and dumb luck manages to foil the villains in every game. Thus, the gameplay requires you to work and think like a janitor. You have paltry tools, and weird items that you must constantly use in creative ways to solve impossible problems and ridiculous odds. You rarely get to shoot back and the gun toting thugs trying to vaporize you. You'll by doing a lot of typing on the first two, but the games gradually advances to a more intuitive point and click interface. Make no mistake, however, these games are hard. Those who have played through them a thousand times may have forgotten how unforgiving the early adventure games were. Space Quest, however, is rewarding for all its difficulty. It dishes out ridiculous humor, goofy aliens, and slapstick regularly, and is definitely worth your time whether you want to relive the glory days, or take a trip the mists of gaming time.