Space Quest: Chapter I - The Sarien Encounter

The Good
Sierra did know how to make good bucks with their technology. They mixed a lot of different themes with their adventure games, and I guess that almost everybody had at least one Quest that they liked. Mine was Space Quest with its wicked sci-fi humor.

The two guys from Andromeda showed us that adventure games didn't need to be serious to be enjoyable. Space Quest, without being a total joke, was funny and refreshing. It was even funnier to play it two at a time, since new jokes popping up could be laughed even louder. Imagine the initial storyline: you're a janitor doing an on-shift nap in a closet and the first thing you know when you wake up is that your ship has been abducted by enemies from another planet. Now, it is time to get the hell out of there and save the world!

Technically, this game didn't have much more than King's Quest I and II. However, the designers managed to program a lame action sequence using Sierra's AGI interpreter. This at least showed that the AGI could be used for more than a graphical text parser and that might have spawned some other projects such as Manhunter. The graphics, while having a really low resolution (I think it was something like 160x200, a PCjr limitation) were colorful and nice for their time.

The Bad
I don't know if Sierra wanted to push the sales of their hint books (which by the way used a special ink that disappeared over the years, making them a less useful collection item), but this game was really hard, at least by my standards of the time. I just can't see how I could have had the patience to finish it without the book.

Until LucasArts got it right with their "adventures in which you could go back and don't die", Space Quest suffered from the lack of flexibility most adventure games had in this era. That means that you ended up dying for stupid reasons without warning, and that could be frustrating. That also means that if you messed something up early in the game, you might not find out about it before hours of gameplay.

For example, if you forget to get a cartridge on the spaceship when the game starts (for which you need to know a password given by scientist who shows up out of pure random luck), you won't be able to use it around the middle of the game and you'll be stuck. Of course, all your saved games until then will be crap, so you then have to replay from the beginning all over again. Ah, well...

One last thing: there is a part in the game in which you need to play slot machine in order to have enough bucks to buy yourself a spacecraft. No, you can't buy the cheapest one, try it out and you'll understand shy. This is the long and boring part of the game, as you have to play a while (and save your game often) in order to win enough. I really would have liked an option to bypass that useless sequence.

The Bottom Line
No matter its problems, this game is worth it.

Space Quest fans must try it out. It started the whole series and while it is certainly not the best, it gives you an idea of what Mark and Scott were up to back when they started. It is also an interesting alternative to those who dislike the medieval theme of King's Quest. Just don't leave the spaceship without the cartridge!

The Good
Back in the Eighties, Sierra introduced us to their popular King's Quest adventure game series, with their next series being Space Quest. This would not have gone ahead had Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe (dubbed "The Two Guys from Andromeda") not programmed a four-room demo that impressed Sierra's CEO at the time. I'm not sure if the Two Guys intended to create more than one game, but this first one was successful enough that they decided to make the sequel.

The game centers around Roger Wilco, a space janitor who is stationed on the starship Arcada, where a device known as the Star Generator is undergoing testing. This device is designed to generate a sun that would replace the one on Earnon, a galaxy whose sun is slowly dying. An evil race known as the Sariens find out about the Star Generator, and get on board the Arcada and successfully take it under Wilco's watch. The device must be retrieved before the Sariens use it to conquer the galaxy.

I could not believe how impressive the title looks. Both the red outline used to create the title and the star background inside it blend well with each other. The quality of the graphics throughout the game reminds you, just like other games in the series, that this is purely a sci-fi adventure game set in outer space. The characters you meet through the game are alien-like figures, as you would expect. Most of them are unfriendly to Roger but at least they can be used to his advantage. Out of all the characters in the game, I found the spider droid on Kerona a bit scary. The way it looks and the way its animated is rather disturbing.

The music is brilliantly composed, and it serves as the theme tune for most of the Space Quests. I enjoyed listening to the music that was playing at the Ulence Flats bar, which sounds excellent coming from the Tandy speaker. Sure it is crap today, but the speaker was standard for its time. Also, unlike other adventure games from Sierra, there can be different music playing each time you enter the same scene. When you leave the aforementioned bar, for example, then come back in, you get to hear the likes of The Blues Brothers or ZZ Top.

I like the way that the game provides alternate solutions to puzzles, much like its cousin. The first one of these happen when Roger has landed on Kerona. I enjoyed solving one puzzle, then going back and solving that same puzzle in a different way. Some alternate solutions may not be the best, giving you less points than the other way. But I don't play for points.

The game is packed with humor. Not only are there funny ways to die, but to get past most obstacles in the game, Roger must do things that are quite unexpected by the player. Who would know that you can kill anybody with a water bottle? Also, there are unusual things happening in most scenes, like the slot machine that causes death to the player if they make a specific win. Finally, try kissing one of the Sarien guards. This type of humor continues in every SQ game.

The Bad
I have to agree with everyone here. Space Quest is a humorous sci-fi adventure game, so forcing the player to use a slot machine to try to win a hundred buckazoids not only is difficult without losing a lot of money or dishing up three skulls. Then there's the skimmer trek to Ulence Flats. These two aspects of the game not only are unnecessary, but a waste of time as well.

The Bottom Line
The Two Guys' first adventure game is not only entertaining, but excellent as well, packing good graphics and sound. In addition, it provides plenty of humor and multiple solutions to puzzles. The only drawback is the slot machine and skimmer arcade sequence, but other than this, Space Quest is worth playing at least once.

The Good
I was 6 years old in 1986, I didn't know much about computers or computer games. My father had just purchased a Tandy SX. I had little to do with the computer when it first came to my house, the obscure commands (DOS) that my Father, and brother used to interact act with ti confused me. That all changed when my mom brought home this classic. I saw my brother playing it and was instantly mesmorized, unlike the cold environment of DOS, the screeen lite up with color and movement. There was your little charcter walking around and interacting with his environment. I watched my brother play it for hours, I didn't understand much of what was going on but I couldn't pull myself away. I was 7 when iIfirst played it myself, playing the game was more addictive then watching it! It wasn't until I was 9 that I beat the game, but I owe so much to that simple old game. In a way it taught me DOS, as I had to know DOS to run the game, and got me hooked on computers, here it is 13 years later and I'm still playing them! The story is cliche, but that's o.k. as the whole game, as the whole series is a spoof of the science fiction genre! The graphics were simple, but the gameplay was great. To this day I still occasionally pull it out and play it.

The Bad
I was 6, the graphics dazzled me, the theme song catchy, and the story funny, I liked it then, and to this day I can't find fault in it!

The Bottom Line
A classic in adventure, set the path for latter humorous series like Monkey Island.

The Good
The sense of humor is very good, but there's just enough seriousness for the game to feel like a genuine story of a humble, somewhat lazy and clumsy man who is forced to fight for survival and then ends up with a shot at beating the enemy and saving his race. Space Quest:The Sarien Encounter and Police Quest:In Pursuit of the Death Angel were just about sharing the top of my list of Sierra's best games, but now I'd have to put Space Quest above Police Quest. So I guess I like playing the role of a very average person who grows into a hero. Sonny Bonds in Police Quest is similar, he's supposed to be a 15 year veteran(as Jim Walls was I believe), but you get the sense that he's a rather average cop at the start of the game, not particularly favoured by his superiors. It can be great to play the role of someone who is a tough hero right at the start of the game, but I liked playing the role of someone who was a rookie in heroism, like a lot of gamers would be.

Another thing I like about Space Quest is its division into three parts , like 3 stages i.e your home space station, planet Kerona and the enemy battle cruiser, which I suppose makes it feel more like an arcade game and I loved arcade games before adventure games.

The Bad
I liked a lot of the problem solving, but there are some puzzles that drag the game down a bit, the worst being the gambling at Ulence Flats Bar(there is actually a code phrase cheat that makes you win every time). But even in the Arcade at the start, I felt that the keycard required to escape was a little too randomly placed. Other puzzles were interesting and probably worth the effort. The skimmer challenge, dodging rocks, is quite difficult, though there are a couple of strategies to make it easier.

The Bottom Line
My opinion is that it's Sierra's best game, not only that, the best adventure game ever, better than any I've played by LucasArts, Revolution Software, MicroProse and all the rest. Of course the game was made fairly early in the timeline of computer adventure games, but I think it has a heart and soul that the more visually and sonically impressive adventure games don't have.

The Good
The first adventure in the long-running Space Quest series, and one of the best, as you, as intergalactic janitor Roger Wilco (or your own name, if you chose to enter it) must escape the evil Sariens who have invaded the ship you are on, and eventually stop them from using the powerful Star Generator as a weapon.

For it’s time (and bearing in mind it came on a single floppy, as things did back then), this adventure is MASSIVE, with lots of locations to visit, strange aliens to encounter, and many often crafty puzzles to work out.
Hopping around the cosmos really makes the game feel non-linear (even though it is pretty much), and makes the already big game seem HUGE, not being limited to a single island or countryside as in Sierra’s other big ‘Quest’ series, the King’s Quest adventures.

The game is very humorous. Maybe not as much as later SQ entries, where Roger Wilco would develop into his own personality more, but even so it’s very funny in places, and will no doubt please players not as keen on the more serious, rather sappy King’s Quest games.

There are tons of ideas crammed into this game, making it a stand-out Sierra adventure. With loads to do (such as finding the right one of several ships to buy, and then finding the right piloting droid for it) really making the player feeling involved.

There are different ways to solve some puzzles, which is great. This claim on many a back-of-box blurb for many adventures, is kind of bending the truth, as it usually just means it is possible to complete puzzles in various order. But in this game, it’s genuine - for example, when you’re in the desert on planet Kerona, there is more than one way of killing the spider droid and the orat that you must deal with.

The graphics are typically Sierra looking, but are for the time good looking, and do the job adequately, with some colourful, creative backgrounds.

The sound is no more or no less than can be expected from the era; again, it’s adequate considering the limitations.
The signature tune is great – very suitable, and very catchy (I still often find myself whistling it).

There’s quite a Star Wars feel to much of the game, particularly at one of the locations the adventure takes you to, Ulence Flats, complete with it’s multi-alien-filled bar and dusty old space-ships.
There aren’t as many direct sci-fi parodies as in the latter end of the SQ series, though in some ways it helps make the game more original; in later games, at times, it felt as if whenever the writers got a block, they’d just throw in another half-hearted sci-fi parody.

Overall, this game is just great fun to play, and it’s easy to see why the series became so popular and long-running from this first game. One of the very first PC games I ever played, it still stands as one of the best.

**The Bad**
It is very easy to miss some things that are absolutely necessary, quite often being impossible to go back and get them, and leaving the game uncompletable as a result – and you as a player just hoping you’ve got a save game far enough back to go back and get whatever you missed!
A cartridge near the beginning of the game, a piece of glass (rather obscurely placed and very dependant on where you are standing as to if you can see it / get it) and a jet-pack, are both vital but are particularly easy to miss; and the game doesn’t even give the player a clue that the items are there in the first place.

In true Sierra style, lots of saving and restoring is not only necessary, but in many cases is the only way of deducting the correct thing to do, as trying something that isn’t the right action often results in your characters demise (often without no pre-warning).

And as with the majority of Sierra games of the era, there is at least one infuriating “arcade style” gaming sequence that is very much random driven, and sees your character dying every other keystroke.
In this case, it is on-board a ‘skimmer’, as it races across the desert, avoiding rocks on the ground that randomly appear and will knock you to your death off if you take too much damage. I found this section of the game rather irritating and annoying, and awkward to get past.

Ah, and the gambling machine. For some reason, Sierra went through a phase where they felt obliged to include some sort of gambling game, usually a slot machine or card game, somewhere in their releases (Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, they all have them…).
Here, it is a slot machine, from which you must win enough money to by a space-craft. It’s best just to play by entering a high bet, randomly playing until you win some money, saving, and so on. Again,
The random “instant death”, where you are zapped if you get three skulls, is harsh, and typically Sierra-ish.

But whilst those points are gripes, there was nothing the could really spoil playing this great adventure.

**The Bottom Line**
A golden classic, that not only sets a high standard of creativity that would run throughout the SQ series, but one that stands as one of the best entries in the series on it’s own (graphic & sound advancements allowing).
If you’re an adventure game fan and have never played it, then track down a copy as soon as possible!
A top-notch start to an excellent adventure series. (Did I mention “classic”?)

The Good
This game is a humorous science fiction tale. You are Roger Wilco, space janitor & you must save your world from the Sariens. The pixel graphics are nice with several different locations to visit. Most of the puzzles make some logical sense & there are a few that have multiple solutions.

The Bad
There are the usual Sierra gotcha instant kills but they are not as bad as some of their other games. There are a couple of items that are very easily missed as they are almost invisible onscreen.

The Bottom Line
If you like sci-fi then this game will entertain you for several hours.