SPACE QUEST: INCINERATIONS
REVIEW
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YEAR: 2012
SIZE: 664 MB
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PLATFORMS: Windows, Mac
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+ Well-written story
+ Stunning graphics
+ Atmospheric music
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- Too many arcade\action scenes
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STORY
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It’s been 10 years since Roger Wilco was Captain of the SCS Eureka, and
his life has been going downhill ever since then. He has no job, he has
no adventure, he misses the glory days, and now he’s lost the love of
his life, Beatrice. His life officially sucks!
His relationship with Beatrice has been deteriorating for a while, mainly
due to Roger’s fear of proposing. He hasn‘t even seen her since she
started working at the Aries 6 Military Base a few months ago. But
recently, she’s even been avoiding his calls. So Roger decides enough is
enough! He has it all planned out - he gets a job interview on Aries 6,
spends all his savings on a huge engagement ring, and plans to surprise
Beatrice with a romantic proposal. He’s looking forward to seeing her
again.
But things don’t always go to plan.
When he arrives on Aries 6, his luggage has mysteriously gone missing.
Then he misses his job interview. Then he discovers that’s he lost 5
hours of his life, thus missing a date with Beatrice. Then the worst
thing - he discovers Beatrice‘s betrayal! She’s been cheating on him
with another man for the last year! And now this other man - General
Havoc - proposes to her… and she accepts! Poor Roger! His heart is
broken!
Roger knows that him & Beatrice are destined to be together - he’s
already met his future son (Space Quest IV), who tells him that Beatrice
is his mother. But how can that happen, if Beatrice marries General
Havoc?
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But as he’s relaying his sorrows to a mysterious stranger, the stranger
informs him that things aren’t supposed to be like this. He’s living in an
alternate timeline. It seems that General Havoc has gone forward in
time, to change the future in an elaborate plan to split up Roger &
Beatrice… oh yes, and blow up the universe, as well! It’s vital that Roger
restores the timeline, so that everything is back to the way it’s
supposed to be. In order to do that, he has 3 days to get to the planet
Halon. There’s just the slight problem of a tracking bug inside his
system, that prevents him from leaving Aries 6.
The odds are stacked against Roger, as he tries to win back his
sweetheart’s affections, restore the timeline, and stop General Havoc’s
evil plans. Then he comes up against the deadly Cronarr, who kidnaps
Beatrice.
Will Roger EVER catch a break? Will he win Beatrice Back? Will he
manage to stop Havoc’s plans? Will he save the universe? Will he ever
find his luggage? You’ll have to play this epic adventure to find out.
　
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GAMEPLAY
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Space Quest: Incinerations is a superb fan game made by Box Of
Mystery Games, and the story is fantastic, taking you through so many
twists and turns, and throwing in some unexpected surprises. Though
it started life as a team-effort, various delays in the project led to it
eventually being restarted as a one-man team, so kudos to Chris Ushko
for having the dedication, commitment, and love, to see this through.
It’s a fantastic game, well worthy of it’s place in the Space Quest
history.
The Main Menu allows us to start a New Game, or restore a previous
game. And when you begin a New Game, you are treated to an
awesome (skippable) intro scene.
When the game begins, you interact with Roger’s world via a drop-
down menu (just move you mouse to the top of the screen to see it),
and click on icons to control Roger. The icons are Walk, Look, Pick Up,
and Talk. There is also a box, which represents your Inventory. Items in
your Inventory can be combined to create new items. You can also
Save, Load, or Quit at any time via the drop-down menu. You can also
adjust volume at speed to your preference, by clicking on the Controls
tab.
For those of you who like achievements, you’re in for a treat. The
Controls box has a special Stats tab. And from here, you can check how
many times you’ve died, how many floors you’ve licked, how many yards
you’ve stomped, and more.
Space Quest: Incinerations also includes the hilarious Death Scenes
we’ve come to know and love in the Space Quest games. Luckily,
Incinerations has an automatic ‘Try Again’ feature, where you are
resurrected to before you died.
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The humour in this game is just wonderful, and I love all the wild
theories as to how Roger blew up the SCS Eureka, back when he was
Captain. No-one seems to know he was a hero!
Even at the start, Roger is woken up from a nap, when the ship he’s on
is attacked. But he’s too sleepy to even notice that half the ship has
gone, or that his co-worker is impaled on a huge spike. One of my
favourite parts of the game, is when Roger gate-crashed Bea’s
wedding. I really fell in love with Doomtron though! He may be a big,
fierce, powerful Armech, but he’s also a playful rogue. And I loved the
multiple endings. I do think Beatrice is rather mean to Roger though -
no matter what he does, and how hard he tries, it’s just not good
enough for her.
Space Quest: Incinerations is somewhat more actiony than most Space
Quest games, with Roger himself being more gung-ho than usual.
While the story is fantastic, the downside is that the game-play has a
few too many arcade action scenes in it, including a first-person Shoot-
The-Space-Chickens mini game. Thankfully, these action scenes are
skippable.
　
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GRAPHICS
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Graphics in Space Quest: Incinerations are gorgeous, with strong bright
colours used throughout! The CGI backgrounds, together with the cell-
shaded characters are impressive, just like watching an animated film.
And many of the cut-scenes are 3D, with bombs and debris and various
other stuff flying straight towards you, and it looks STUNNING! Just
watch the intro, to see what I mean!
I love how Roger is all hunched over at the start, cos he’s still half
asleep, and it’s not until he’s had his coffee that he perks up. Seeing
Roger and General Havoc fighting like children, inside the Prison Cube
makes me laugh every time. And when we meet the Space Chickens,
they may be evil, but they’re still cute, hehe.
When characters are talking, we see a small headshot of them with
their lips moving as they talk.
Conversation topics are shown at bottom of the screen, and when
Roger has asked about a certain topic, it’s greyed out. Inventory items
are shown as little pictures inside the box, so it’s easy to see what
you’re carrying.
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SOUND AND MUSIC
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The music in this game is just superb. Everything from laid back, bluesy
music in Puggzley’s Bar, to inspirational fighting music, to organ music
in the church, to gut-wrenchingly sad music when it seems like Roger
and Stellar have lost the battle. It’s all here.
Sound effects are rather sparse. We can hear electronic doors slide
open as Roger walks through different rooms. And guns let out a
satisfying Boom. And a tinkle is heard when Roger picks up an item, or
performs a correct action. There’s not really much else. But you don’t
really notice, since the music does such a good job of drawing you in.
Space Quest: Incinerations is definitely a Must-Play for all fans of the
series! So what are you waiting for? Get playing!
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