Got some oldies on sale on GOG and considering Roger Wilco has been my avatar since more or less the beginning, I guess it's only fitting I review as I go.
Space Quest I - 6/10
It is honestly really hard to score a DOS game from 1986 that predates the popularization of the mouse, not to mention one that has a serious nostalgia factor for me. It's funny to me, looking at this now and seeing how much this game really plays like a text adventure with graphics because as a kid who'd played text adventures before this, I don't think I ever made the connection. The other interesting thing is seeing how this game has simultaneously become much easier for me (considering the last time I played it in earnest, I was probably 8 or 9) but also harder. I used to have problems typing fast enough or thinking of the correct phrases to use, but that was only ever a problem for me at one or two spots because the game wanted something very specific and much simpler than I was thinking. For example, an alien gives me an offer to buy a ship I have and I tried typing "tell him no," "say no," "reject offer," "turn down offer," and on and on, but nothing worked. Turned out all I had to do was type "no." Don't think I ever would have figured that out if I hadn't looked it up. One thing that was harder for me now, was looking around well enough to find that one item that you won't use for like half the game, but can proceed without it. I don't remember having those problems as a kid, and without the internet I must have figured it out somehow.
At any rate, I would say the game is overall an enjoyable experience and a decent and humorous way to see how games used to be considering it only took me a couple hours to beat it and there are walkthroughs online for anything too troubling. Made me laugh a few times, and they do a good job at telling a silly story about a witless character with very little in the way of sophisticated resources.
Space Quest II - 7/10
Very much like the first game, but improved in terms of graphics and puzzles. It's a lot less simple but plays exactly the same. Also the story follows more or less the same pattern as the story of the first game, but the locales are more varied and interesting and the addition of a main villain really helps sell the story better and raise the stakes a bit. I would also say that the humor in this one is much better executed than the first with more visual gags instead of just text-based goofiness. This would definitely be my pick for an introduction to '80s walk and type adventure games. SQ III, while superior in almost every way, is closer to being in another category of game because of all the interface changes that were made.
