Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter (By Jubal)

[Jubal]

Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter

Game Type: Abandonware
Genre: Single Player RPG

Link: http://www.spacequest.net/archives/sq1/

Graphics rating:
Gameplay rating:
Immersion rating:
Overall rating:

You, the Janitor of the great science ship Arcadia, are having a nap in a broom closet when Sarien space pirates invade and steal a superweapon. So starts the self-aware, gloriously stereotyped plot of Space Quest. Your rather dim character must become a great space hero and mop up not just the floor but the galaxy, escaping the Arcadia, evading death on and under the surface of the desert planet Kerona, then find transport and go on a one-man grenade throwing pulse-ray firing mission to self destruct the weapon and then fly off into the sunset.

The fact is, quite simply, that Space Quest is funny. Genuinely so - not with a deep underlying message, not by resorting to offense, just by being genuinely light hearted, quirky and fun. It loses a point for gameplay compared to the similarly styled (and deliberately so) game Peasant's Quest, if only because of the higher frequency of annoying cutscenes and lack of a proper HELP command. There are also some places where the game has almost excessively tough or far too repetitive minigames (the skimmer game is very tough, the slot machine takes far too long) which, given losing them kills you, can be something of a grind. Save regularly! The five for immersion is very well deserved indeed, though, and in itself carries most of my recommendation for this game. Your whirlwind tour of the desert planet Kerona includes all the sorts of aliens and tentacled things and attack droids any good sci-fi setting should pride itself on, and the snarky backchats from the game engine when you fall down yet another elevator shaft and die are worth every accidental slip of the arrow keys. The game is also fairly short, with just four main areas (The Arcadia, the Kerona desert cliffs & caves, the truck-stop like settlement of Uluence Flats on the Kerona surface, and finally the space-pirate cruiser Deltaur). As such you can probably play through it in a matter of a few hours - though finding more amusing deaths and easter eggs will take longer!

In short: it's not a game for the moment you win, it's a game for the moment you purchase the wrong droid and it blows itself into scrap metal, the point at which you escape detection by going through a washing machine cycle, and it's a game where one location has "take a leak" as a valid user command. And it's a game that anyone who wants a smile or an adventure should take a look at.