Space Quest II: Chapter II - Vohaul's Revenge

The Good
The game has basically the same three acts/scenes as the first game, home space station, wild alien planet and enemy space fortress. I thought the planet was the best stage in Space Quest II, some very nice screens, nice in a dangerous sort of way. There is certainly a variety of obstacles you have to go through to get back to the landing pad and escape the planet and possibly foil Vohaul's plans. I actually got stuck for at least a month on one part, trying every solution I could think of and finally hitting the right one, but I'm not too resentful about that.

I thought your final confrontation with Vohaul on the bridge of his asteroid fortress was well done as was the escape through the fragile glass tubeway on the asteroid exterior.

I thought the ending was a necessary touch, not just another standard finish.

The Bad
Well I think it would've been nice if they'd had a home space station stage, more like the first game. Not necessarily an alien hijacking, but some more things to do before moving on to the planet stage. I think Vohaul's asteroid was a letdown too, the problems and their solutions not so impressive, made up for in part by the confrontation with Vohaul and how his defense against you provides a way for you to defeat him.

The Bottom Line
Well again, it's lowly janitor becomes a hero by clever manipulation of his environments. It's good in the way that it progresses to meeting the supposed mastermind behind the Sarien assault/robbery of the first game, though it STILL isn't clear if Sludge Vohaul is scientist Slash Vohaul from the cartridges' message in Space Quest 1, corrupted by some sort of failed experiment, or if he's his evil brother or clone(he's clearly supposed to be like Darth Vader without his mask).

Because Roger had already performed such an amazing feat of bravery, cunning and luck, defeating the Sariens in the first game, I think it made his feats in this game seem less important. Also important was that after all he'd done, he was still a janitor and treated like one. I suppose one would still feel inclined to do what had to be done, regardless of rewards, but there is a slight hollowness about it, knowing what you know now about the people of Xenon.