SPACE QUEST II: VOHAUL'S REVENGE
REVIEW
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YEAR: 1988
SIZE: 27 MB
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+ Exciting story
+ Clever puzzles
+ Lots of humour
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- Tricky maze in the Pinkunz Canyon
- Easy to miss vital items
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STORY
After a promotion to Head Janitor, Roger Wilco moves from his home
planet Xenon, to the Orbital Space Station 4. His new boss is… less
than friendly. You’d think, after saving the universe from the evil
Sariens in the last adventure, his boss would show a little respect. But
somehow, his boss doesn’t see it that way. And poor Roger is still
tasked with the most menial of jobs, such as sweeping the floor! Oh,
how quickly heroes are forgotten!
After being ordered to clean up the mess in a recently docked shuttle,
things quickly take a turn for the worse, when he is beaten up and
knocked unconscious. When he comes to, he is greeted by none other
than Sludge Vohaul himself. Vohaul seems to have a grudge against
Roger, for interfering with his plans previously.
Ahh, but Vohaul has a NEW plan now. Even more diabolical than
before. He is making clones of door-to-door life insurance salesmen,
and he is going to use these clones to take over the universe:
Bwahahahahaha. And to stop Roger from interfering THIS time, he is
sending Roger to the planet Labion, to do hard time in the mines.
But when the hover shuttle that is taking Roger to the mines crash
lands… Roger uses the opportunity to escape, put an end to Vohaul’s
new evil scheme, and save the universe once again.
He just needs a little help from you…
　
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GAMEPLAY
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Space Quest II: Vohaul’s Revenge is a fantastic sequel, full of good
humour and witty dialogue. As with the first game, you get to type in
your own name at the beginning of the game.
The game uses a combination of the traditional text parser (meaning
you type in commands through your keyboard), and a menu-based
system (click your mouse at top of the screen) to interact with the
game world.
The text parser controls your actions, and you have the freedom to try
anything you want. For example, if you want to ‘Kick Guard’, go ahead.
Or how about ‘Eat Gem‘, or ‘Tickle Beast’, or ‘Kiss Vohaul’. You can try
anything you want, although you may not always like the result. Press
the Tab key on your keyboard to see a list of items you are carrying,
while ‘Examine [Inventory Item]’ gives more of a description of it.
Pressing F3 on your keyboard repeats the last thing you typed, which is
very handy if you weren’t quite in the correct position.
Movement is controlled by using the Cursor keys, or by clicking your
mouse where you want to move.
The menu-based system (click your mouse at top of the screen to see
it) allows you to Save, Restore, Restart, or Quit your game. I
recommend you Save your game often, using different Save slots,
because you can die in this game. A lot. Personally, I find looking for
the various ways to die is half the fun - there are so many hilarious
Death messages! The Speed Menu has 4 different pre-set options -
Normal, Slow, Fast, Fastest. You can change Speed at any time, to suit
your preference, although certain situations are easier to get through
on the Slow Speed.
It should be noted that there is a tricky maze, after you leave the
Pinkunz Canyon. Although you cannot die in this section, it’s still a pain
to navigate through.
There are also some dead ends, in that if you don’t pick up Item X, you
won’t release you need it until ages later, and by then, it may be too
late to go back and get it.
　
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GRAPHICS
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Graphics are fairly blocky by today’s standards, but still very pleasant to
look at, and the animation is nice and smooth. I love the cinematic
intro, with Roger sweeping the floor outside Orbital Station 4, and then
talking to his boss through his wristwatch. And seeing the hover
shuttle that’s supposed to take Roger to the mines, run out of fuel and
then crash, really appealed to me. The little Pinkunz creatures are just
so adorable, and the giant ape reaching out to grab you is also very
impressive! But the Labion Terror Beast is my favourite - he’s just like
the Tasmanian Devil!
Text is displayed at bottom of the screen, while conversations are
shown in a text box in middle of the screen. Inventory items can be
examined for clues when you EXAMINE an item.
There is so much to explore and love about Space Quest II!
　
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SOUND AND MUSIC
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The game intro begins by playing a very catchy theme tune while
opening credits show on screen, and you‘ll be humming that theme
tune long after the game is finished. And as the game starts proper,
we can hear a disgruntled Roger sweeping the floor, before his watch
starts beeping away.
There is not really much sound in the game though, which is to be
expected, since it came out in 1988. Mechanical doors open & close on
Orbital Station 4. The hover shuttle has a loud homing beacon after it
crashes. You can hear the ’TOOT’ of your whistle blowing. The Labion
Terror Beast whizzing around And various other beeps throughout the
game. Nothing much by today’s standards, but back in 1988, it was
brilliant!
Give the game a try - you won’t be disappointed
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