Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier

aka: SQ6
Moby ID: 145
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Roger Wilco, the brave interstellar janitor who has already saved the universe from many great dangers, is now in a very embarrassing position. His commanders show no respect for his courageous actions in the previous game. Instead, he is being accused of all kinds of violations against the galactic law, is deprived of all the honors he got in the previous game, and as a token of mercy, is allowed to return to his old job - cleaning closets... But those unfortunate events are just the beginning of much bigger troubles Roger will get into. Once again, the future of galaxy depends on him!

Space Quest 6 is the first game in the series to be released exclusively on a CD ROM. The game continues the humorous tradition of the series and is especially inclined towards parody of popular sci-fi movies. It features SVGA graphics and voice-overs for conversations and text descriptions. The interface is slightly different from icon-based system used by Sierra in many other adventure games: the player chooses verbs from a menu that appears at the bottom of the screen, similarly to earlier LucasArts titles. Unlike all previous Space Quest installments, the game allows the player to retry immediately in case Roger dies, without the need to restore a previously saved game.

Spellings

  • מסע בחלל 6 - Hebrew spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

62 People (57 developers, 5 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 73% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 90 ratings with 6 reviews)

Hysterically funny, but not too much fun to play.

The Good
The humor. Period. This is almost certainly the funniest SQ game released, and almost every text box read by Gary Owens is hysterical. Their radio commercial jingle for "Soylent Clear" is an absolute classic. ("Less people too, like me and you, and less reprocessed waste!") There's nary a sci-fi movie (or game) made which isn't lampooned. And, unlike previous adventures, this is a rather lengthy game.

The Bad
The gameplay just didn't feel like Space Quest. The puzzles were way too convoluted for my taste, often with very little payoff. We're talking some on the level of Monkey Island 2, with you having to spend two days, solving a half-dozen puzzles (each with multiple steps), just to turn a lousy dial or something. (which, in turn, is just part of a bigger puzzle) The cartoony graphics sometimes worked really well, and sometimes fell flat.

The Bottom Line
If you can find it for cheap, it's worth picking up JUST for the humor. It's a shame this couldn't be made into a movie; it's far funnier than Spaceballs or any other parody.

Windows 3.x · by WizardX (116) · 2000

Great spoof; ok game.

The Good
This is a great spoof on sci fi! Sporting numerous major sci-fi movie/games/etc. sequences that will have you chuckling and laughing nonstop, making full use of a great and often wacky sense of humor.

The graphics are nicely made using plain 2D sprites which give the game a unique feeling and a great sense of humor (those aliens wouldn't be nearly as humorous if they were digitized or pre-rendered characters). And there's also a nice sense of exploration thrown into the game, as you don't get to die as often as before. Finally, the puzzles are usually on the good side of things, which is a must for these types of games.

The Bad
Unfortunately it's not that good a game. The fun is there, but the game at times feels like a Frankensteinian creature made of disjointed parts that don't really fit well together. Some of the sequences are fun (Polysorbate!) and others are merely ok (inside Santiago) but the problem is that these sequences seem to be stitched together using nothing but chicken wire and duct tape! You spend 3/4 of the game playing one game, and then somehow you are thrusted into a crappy "Fantastic Voyage" spoof and then a hasty ending that leaves you high and dry. Add to that the usual problems of graphic adventures (hunt the pixel!) a more cookie cutter and less edgy approach (family friendly Wilco!!) and a mostly simplistic design (they even got rid of most action-like sequences!) and you've got yourself a merely ok graphic adventure that tries but never quite manages to reach it's predecessors.

The Bottom Line
Very funny but ill-conceived game. Quite frankly SQV was much more entertaining, and this game simply fails to achieve the level of cohesiveness that made it's prequels not just funny spoofs, but good games too.

Still it's worth the shot for the sake of all the sci-fi references and in-jokes.

Windows 3.x · by Zovni (10504) · 2002

Well, I like it...

The Good
I honestly like this game. It is definitely the funniest game in the series and one of the most humorous games of all time -- up there with Monkey Island 2 and 3 and Zork: Grand Inquisitor. The graphics are highly effective and, they evoke the proper feeling. The puzzles are definitely some of the series's most challenging and are highly involved; I found this to be a plus, although others may agree.

The Bad
Now, I like the involved puzzles, but a few are quite difficult. While many people complain about the homing beacon puzzle, it is really not all that hard if you concentrate. The puzzles that really gave me problems were the hookah hose problem and some of the puzzles inside Steller's body. Again, like Space Quest IV, there is a strange timing issue in the sickbay when you try to read the results of the DNA test. Disable your CPU's internal cache from the BIOS config and move speed all the way up and detail all the way down. Remember to turn the cache on again when you are finished (don't try this in Windows--trust me).

The Bottom Line
In my opinion, a great game. It has a good story, complex, involving puzzles, and hilarious dialogue and narration. One of personal favorites, I would like for it to get the attention it deserves.

DOS · by Mark Abrams (4) · 2000

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Game crashes again Nowhere Girl (8680) Mar 16, 2016
Game crashes at the funeral Nowhere Girl (8680) Nov 4, 2014

Trivia

Demo

The demo for the game was not taken from the game itself but was a small independent game of its own.

Development

This game was originally written and designed by Josh Mandel, but he left Sierra for management reasons and original Space Quest creator Scott Murphy took over and put on the finishing touches. This partially explains the inconsistent nature of some of the puzzles, since Josh and Scott didn't get as much communication done as they should have and certain details in the game were overlooked in the transition.

References

  • When attending Santiago's funeral on the Holocabana check out the graveyard keeper... It's the same one from Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers.
  • After forcing Magnum (the bully guard to the Shuttle Bay) his medication, he morphs through various states until he's finally knocked out: among them the dancing frog from Looney Tunes' One Froggy Evening and an Elton John-esque abomination giving a impression of Mark Seibert's cheesy Girl in the Tower, the title song of King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (CD-ROM version).

Title

The game was almost called Where in Corpsman Santiago is Roger Wilco? until Broderbund threatened to sue.

Vulgar Nerve Pinch

Can't work out what Roger is saying when he does the "Vulgar Nerve Pinch"? If you've set the game to display text, the dialogue provides no help; all it says is "O, mumble ... mumble ... mumble".. So here is what Roger is actually saying is:

"Ohh, boy I got you with my fingers and your Kurt Russell now you can't get awai gotcha now that you gotta ... Hard to believe this is a real job (inaudible sound) Oh, my (inaudible sound). So, how come you're not going tonight I got you with your mumbo-jumbo and your (inaudible sound) Whew, boy, I oughta ... If I only could I would, jeez. If you ... Why don't you step outside, pal? I got you with ... this and the ... Mmm, I think I broke a fingernail here."

Awards

+ PC Player (Germany)
    - Issue 01/1996 - Most Illogical Puzzles in 1995
+ Power Play
    - Issue 02/1996 – Best Adventure in 1995Information also contributed by

*Katakis*, Alan Chan, FnordPerfect, Istari and Zovni

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Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
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Related Sites +

  • Hints for SQ6
    These questions and answers will help you solve the game without spoiling it.
  • SpaceQuest.Net - Space Quest 6
    Extremely comprehensive site about Space Quest 6: Basic game information, hints, documentation, downloads and behind the scenes stuff, for example a downloadable PDF manual, scans of the official hint book, easter eggs, fun facts, cancelled stuff etc. etc. etc.
  • SpaceQuest.Net - Space Quest 7
    A comprehensive story of the events from 1997 to 1999 leading to the cancellation of the next Space Quest, as well as rumors of a new Space Quest starting in 2002.
  • Unofficial Space Quest 7
    Could be just a dream, but at the very least, a good one.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 145
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Andy Roark.

Macintosh added by Terok Nor. Windows added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: WizardX, Unicorn Lynx, Katakis | カタキス, Jeanne, Stargazer, General Error, Crawly, Patrick Bregger.

Game added May 29, 1999. Last modified January 21, 2024.