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You really WON'T be disappointed...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 22
Date: May 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I simply can't believe I'm the only person to have written a review of the funniest space adventure games ever created. This is from the days when Sierra was a decent software company and actually made mostly adventure games. In a nut shell: the central character, Roger Wilco, the ultimate hero of the galaxy, is a bumbling space janitor.

Space Quest 1 [Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter] and SQ2 [Vohaul's Revenge] are very old indeed (we're talking 1986 and 1987 here) but it is so long since I've played them I remember very little about them. Both have 16 colour EGA graphics. The pixels are HUGE!! But recall that these 2 games were around when colour graphics was just beginning to take off.

Space Quest 3 [Pirates of Pestulon] was actually the first Space Quest game that I played. Here's an excerpt from the Sierra documentation:

"Roger's escape craft was towed aboard a Space Junk Freighter. Using his legendary ingenuity and mostly dumb luck, he escapes to try and find the Two Guys From Andromeda from the clutches of the villainous ScumSoft Corporation."

Does the software company sound familiar? It was (and still is) hilariously funny. It had a terrific plot with many great locations. You got to go use a spaceship and fly around to a few different planets. You had to use your imagination a little, because the resolution was only 320x200 (but still more than SQ1 and SQ2). At the time it was fantastic: 16 colours and great sound. It was the first to introduce Adlib/SoundBlaster soundcard music and to say goodbye to the internal PC speaker forever. I get nostalgic just thinking about it (and I'm only 24!).

For the first 3 games, you actually have to type in the commands. For example, upon entering a new scene, you'd have to type something like "look at spaceship" or "get broom" or "put screwdriver in cog". Although it is slow, and it makes things more difficult, it is still terrific fun. From SQ4 [Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers] onwards, a point-and-click mouse interface was introduced so you didn't have to type anything. Also, SQ4 through SQ6 have 256 colour graphics (but SQ6 is the only game to use 640x480 pixels). Finally, with SQ4 and SQ6, but not SQ5 for some reason, the characters "speak" to you - so you don't necessarily have to read anything that is being said.

Back to SQ4: In this game, you get to visit a few different time zones with a stolen time-pod. The less said about that the better. You'll again encounter the infamous "sequel police".

SQ5 [The Next Mutation] looks very "cartoon-like", something which I'm not terribly fond of. Roger gets is capain of his own vessel, no, I won't tell you what it is. He must stop, yes, you guessed it, "the next mutation".
In my opinion, SQ6 [The Spinal Frontier] is probably the best of the lot. It is one of the funnier ones, has the best graphics and the characters voice-overs are spot-on. I nearly feel off my chair laughing at one of the final scenes where you have to get past 2 robots! :-)

If you haven't played these games before, I'd recommend playing space quest 1 & 2 last, because you probably won't be able to handle the graphics & sound. You could start off on SQ3 and carry on from there. On the other hand, start with SQ6 and you'll be hooked on the rest of them.

In most of the games, you get also get a bonus: a game-within-a-game (or sometimes two!). The theme song of "Astro Chicken" spring instantly to mind.

Keep in mind though that because some of the older games (1-3) were designed to work with DOS, it might be a little tricky to get them to work properly with Windows XP. You should be able to create some sort of bootable floppy disk though, which will get them to work.

If you love TV shows like Red Dwarf, you'll probably love this sort of thing too. It seems these days, that almost all games exchange gameplay for graphics. This collection, however, was from the era when games had to have other outstanding qualities, such as a great story-line and good humour - to make up for the "poor" graphics (by todays standards).
It is a pity that many kids these days don't enjoy old games such as these, instead of those horrendous 3D shooters of today. It is also a crying shame that Sierra tempted us with a preview of Space Quest 7, but then reninked and never produced it.

Think of it this way: almost all other "classics" (such as cars, etc) go *up* in price as time goes by. Over 10 years ago, these games retailed for roughly the same price as new games do these days: US$50. Now you get 6 complete games for 20 bucks. Just think of what that is worth in 1990 dollars, considering the cost of inflation! This collection is a veritable bargain! Buy it up while you still can. I'd give it all the stars in the known universe if I could, but they'll only let me give it 5.

A nice way to get the full Space Quest series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: September 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Yes, contrary to what the box will tell you, there will never be a Space Quest 7 unless someone over at Sierra decides to revive the series, and I don't see that happening any time soon. On the bright side, that means that buying this set will give you all 6 of one of the greatest adventure games series of all time.

Unfortunately, Sierra made a few poor decisions and neglected to update the software for current PC's. Because of this, you'll have trouble playing 3 of the included games, and the included version of Space Quest IV will be virtually impossible to get through on most new computers, even with moslo or other cpu-slowing applications. This is even more outrageous because there was and is a version of SQ4 that does not have any of the problems exhibited in the version included with the collection. In addition, none of the included games were modified in any way from their original versions. Sierra just slapped them on a couple discs without removing the inane copy protection or any of the known bugs that afflict these games. If they had put just a little more effort into this and fixed these minor issues, I would have been glad to give them a perfect 5-star score.

As far as the gameplay goes, if you're new to the series or an old fan, you won't be disappointed. Although the Space Quest series is quite dated, the games are still great fun and provide hours of laughs and adventure as you explore various alien worlds and try to keep Roger alive through all of the traps and pitfalls he manages to get himself into.

No classic gaming collection is complete without the Space Quest series. Included on the 2-disc set are two versions of Space Quest 1 (the original in all it's 16-color glory and the VGA remake), and the full original versions of Space Quests 2 thru 6. There's also a "sneak peak" of Space Quest 7, which has since been cancelled but is nevertheless an interesting look into what the future of Space Quest might been. As stated before, the version of Space Quest 4 included in the package is the buggy CD-ROM version, and you most likely WILL NOT be able to play it without a very old PC. It is highly recommended that you just find someplace to buy (or download since all the SQ games are now officially abandonware) the normal disk version of SQ4, which has absolutely none of the issues that prevent the CD-ROM version from working.

Relive the entire Space Quest saga, as Roger Wilco blunders through adventure after adventure and janitorial closet after janitorial closet. You owe it to yourself to own this classic collection.

Great game, Unfortunately.........

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: April 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best adventure game series out there, if not the best. However, just because this package here is no longer in production does not mean that it is a collector's item. No game is worth $... If you really want this game, go to a certain well known auction website and find it for less than $...SERIOUSLY. The same can be said for the Kings Quest collection. The older Lucas Arts adventure games (Sam & Max, Manaic Mansion) are in my opinion just as good as any Space Quest game. But you won't find the out-of-print Lucas Arts Archive package on sale anywhere for hundreds of dollars. In fact, you can find it used at this very website for only $... Space Quest is a great game, but no home video game in existance is worth over $...no matter what.

Janiter in Space

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: December 10, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Six hillarious episodes of Space's greatest janiter, er hero this side of Epsilon XI. Controlling Roger Wilco is a fantastic experiance. What the game lacks in mindbending puzzles from other RPGs it makes up for in hilarity. Gary Owens does naration for some of the episodes and his deadpan on Rog's goofups are fantastic! A must for any humor fan!

SQ3 - That "1989" Action Adventure Game Marvel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Sierra before Half-Life

- We played SQ1 on EGA and loved its interface, space, characters and fun.
- We played SQ2 on EGA because SQ1 was just so good.
- Then we got SQ3 and it was as good as the "Star Wars" story the first time we played it... start in a dumpster, move across the galaxy, save the world.

It is all about the Story of Roger Wilco, the sad anti-hero of these games, just go play Space Quest 3 first and then play the rest. Space Quest 3 was amazing for its time. Roger actually had a sad end because the genre sort of died after Lucas Arts made Grim Fandango.

Brilliantly Hilarious

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 09, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Space Quest is an uproarious game about a brave and heroic janitor named Roger Wilco. Through various quests, Roger must romance a captain, save a planet, defeat an evil robot, and protect the world from the nefarious Sludge Vouhaul. Play these games one-by-one and you'll be on your side laughing. For REALLY big Laughs check out Space Quest 4, Space Quest 6, and the Space Quest 7 preview!

Mopping away in space...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I own all 6 of the Space Quest series; the first five from the first collection.
I've played most of them and ended the first three.
The humour is great. I can't say I didn't love it. (In part 2, you'll have to let an angry monster explode by throwing a can of super-compact-water towards him. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! ;-) )
I love the series and can't wait to buy the seventh.
Sierra is one of the finest still around, (I suppose if some of the older companies were still around, they would still be on the top five of my list, but just barely) and this series is good enough to be remembered and played for ages to come.
I never get tired of playing the old SQ-games.

Don't Declare Darkness the Standard

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 10
Date: March 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb? None. They declare darkness the standard. Space Quest used to be my favorite computer game. Over time and three upgrades, it finally didn't work at all. It's not like I didn't keep buying it every time they repackaged it. Surely the CD Rom versions must be updated. But no, the word "classic" on the package is apparently meant as a synonym for incompatible.

Sierra apparently named their "help" line on Opposite Day. They know these games won't play and that's as helpful as they get. They could adopt the strategy of another software company and make you keep buying upgrades. Sierra's tactic instead is simply to improve the packaging and not the product. Here's a crazy idea: why not bring back the funnest game(s) of all time and make it work with the Mac, the best computer of all time? Or would that overly raise the standard?

good

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: January 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Space quest my my my what a game you would be stupid not to buy it it is a sierra classic!

Roger Wilco Janitor by Day, Janitor by night

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This collection of games, brought to you by Sierra, involves constant consentration and challenging situations whith the usual Sierra twist. From the early Space Quest I to the newest Space Quest VI you will find difficult challenges that require you to be alert to the game.

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