Well, no wonder Sierra was the king of this kind of adventure games (as the manual itself rightfully says). This game was a 'nice try', but nothing more. It is not very bad per se, but has quite a few flaws that make for a subpar experience: - All the pixel hunting. Even after the game explicitly tells me where my goblet is, for example, it took me at least a minute to spot it. And that goes with all the other stuff lying around; you never know what is part of the background and what is significant. - Everything has a description (which is nice BTW), so once again, the important stuff do not really stand out. - The gameplay is tedious. It is so boring watching the protagonist move from one end to the screen to the other. At one point, he climbs a cliff for like a minute! And while it is possible to skip these animations with the space key, it is only allowed about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, zzz... - Speaking about tedium: the game with the caliph; the sprite puzzle. Seriously? - The puzzles seem sometimes a bit random, especially those that involve conversation. - The end of the game, if you collect all 250 points. I mean, seriously? Why would a young king do that?! TL;DR it is nice having such a program for free here, but I guess there is a reason for that too...
While Raptor is not bad (I didn't like it back when it came out, because it lagged on my 386, though), you can get OpenTyrian (2000?) for free -- a much better choice.
SC2 is one of the best games of all times: the story, the quirky alien races, the music -- all make for an unforgettable experience. BUT. Toys for Bob have open-sourced the game long ago, and you can actually download a much improved version on any platform for free; just Google 'The Ur-Quan Masters'.
This is probably the best space combat game out there. The gameplay is great, and it has an actual, captivating story (as opposed to, for instance, Tie Fighter), which is also very well executed (unlike e.g. Descent: Freescape), thanks to the excellent video scenes. There is also comic relief in the rivalry of Blair and Maniac. Be sure not to miss the finale of the Terran-Kilrathi War. Don't expect much from the planetary missions, though.
