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27-401: The game was a commercial success from launch, receiving significant praise by critics from more improved puzzles and a greater scope, but with some criticism over some problematic elements. The game was followed on by a sequel, Space Quest III , in 1989. In 2011, a remake of Space Quest II was launched, featuring improvements in graphics and gameplay, while including new animation sequences and

54-408: A demo to promote Space Quest III . Space Quest III was developed using an early version of Sierra's SCI engine. Unlike the series' previous installments, the player is no longer able to choose the protagonist's name. From this game onward, the character is known as Roger Wilco, the name that had previously been the default. It features music composed by Supertramp drummer Bob Siebenberg , and

81-491: A full voice cast for characters. Space Quest II takes place within a universe that notably parodies prominent science-fiction brands such as Star Wars and Star Trek . The story takes place several months after the events of Space Quest I , with players assuming the role of Roger Wilco, a janitor who saved his homeworld of Xenon from disaster by destroying a potent weapon known as the Star Generator and killing

108-515: A full-voice pack and extended content. Space Quest III Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon is a 1989 graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line , and the third game in the Space Quest series. Players assume the role of Roger Wilco, a lowly space janitor, who becomes involved in rescuing a pair of computer programmers from a sinister video game company. The game received positive reviews from critics, and contributed further to

135-487: A glass jar, Roger manages to break out, and infiltrates a life-support machine that has helped to keep Vohaul alive over the years. Disconnecting it, Roger kills Vohaul, before getting himself restored to his normal size. Activating a self-destruct sequence, Roger makes his way through the base, finds an escape pod, and flees as the base is destroyed. Finding the pod cannot keep him alive forever, Roger enters cryo sleep to conserve oxygen while awaiting someone to rescue him, as

162-511: Is in cryogenic sleep, while his escape pod drifts through space. An automated garbage freighter brings it aboard, where Roger awakens. Forced to find a way out, he discovers a derelict spaceship, the Aluminum Mallard , in the freighter's garbage hold. After repairing the ship, Roger pilots it out of the freighter. Visiting the desert planet of Phleebhut, he find himself confronted by an Arnold Schwarzenegger -like android terminator, who

189-413: The "Pirates of Pestulon". Roger learns the programmers need rescuing, as ScumSoft intends to use them to design awful games to flood the galaxy. Deciding to rescue them, he visits a lava moon orbiting the planet Pestulon to neutralize a shield generator. Heading to the planet's surface, Roger uses his invisibility belt to infiltrate the base, and secures a disguise in the form of janitor overalls. Exploring

216-454: The May 1990 edition of Games International , John Scott called this program "Brilliant! The graphics are super." He also thought the musical soundtrack was "the best I have yet encountered in any computer game." He noted the streak of humour running through the game, saying, "sometimes it's warped, sometimes cruel, but it's always funny." He did criticize the long loading times for each screen, and

243-538: The SPA ( Software Publishers Association ) Gold Medal. According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of the Space Quest series surpassed 1.2 million units by the end of March 1996. Infamous Adventures announced on 1 April 2007 that they were remaking Space Quest II in the style of past VGA remakes , releasing screenshots and a demo along with the announcement. The remake was released on New Year's Eve 2011, featuring

270-496: The Sariens that stole it. A comic is included in the manual to explain to the player what events have occurred since Space Quest I . Several months after saving his homeworld of Xenon from the dangers of the Sariens, Roger Wilco accepts a position as Head Janitor aboard Xenon Orbital Station 4 as his fame fades into obscurity. Contacted by his superiors to clean up a mess on a recently arrived shuttle, Roger finds himself ambushed in

297-506: The Sariens to steal the generator, but was infuriated when Roger thwarted this. Despite the setback, he reveals he is in the process of creating an army of cloned insurance salesmen to help him eradicate life on Xenon. To punish Roger for his actions, Vohaul has him sent to his mines on Labion as a slave. However, whilst being transported over the jungles, a malfunction on the transport craft causes it to crash, killing Roger's guards. Escaping detection by Vohaul's goons, Roger makes his way through

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324-521: The capsule drifts across space. Space Quest II was well received by both critics and consumers. As Computer Gaming World noted, "Though the game is similar to the original Space Quest , the addition of more detailed animation, more difficult puzzles, an improved parser (hurrah!), and greater scope makes a good game even better." The review included criticism of some objects' unclear descriptions, which it stated were particularly problematic if playing with CGA graphics rather than EGA. It also stated that

351-506: The company, Roger tracks down the Two Guys, but is trapped by Elmo, who forces him into an arena battle using giant Mecha robots (based on the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game). Roger overcomes Elmo, defeating him and escapes with the Two Guys. After fighting off several ScumSoft space ships, the trio realize that the warp drive is broken. After tinkering with it, and with no warp course set in,

378-426: The computer's habit of prompting a disk change before the save sequence was finished. Nevertheless, he gave both the gameplay and graphics an excellent rating of 9, saying, "I think you'll like this. I did. A lot." According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of the Space Quest series surpassed 1.2 million units by the end of March 1996. Graphic adventure game Too Many Requests If you report this error to

405-465: The effects unavailable to IBM PC users with the Sound Blaster card. The game features a scene at ScumSoft where parody versions of Sierra's president, Ken Williams , and director of operations, Rick Cavin, are depicted as overseers cracking whips over software developers in cubicles. Murphy designed this scene to satirize the negative trends he observed at Sierra at the time. Space Quest III

432-466: The game 4 out of 5 stars. The Macintosh & PC/MS-DOS versions of the game were also given 4 out of 5 stars. Compute! praised the game's graphics and sound card audio, stating that they were the best of the series. STart also praised the ST version's graphics and sound. While warning that Space Quest III was "essentially a text adventure" with syntax guessing and frequent saved game reloading,

459-488: The game are similar to those of Lunar Lander , with the exception that the chicken rebounds unharmed if it strikes the trampoline too forcefully. Achieving a high score reveals a hidden distress message left by the Two Guys from Andromeda. The Astro Chicken theme music is a variation on Chicken Reel , a traditional folk song best known for its use in animated cartoons. Sierra released the Astro Chicken minigame as

486-567: The hidden location of the gem was "illogical", as the entrance to the underwater cave is not shown on the screen. Antic warned of the difficulty, stating that the ST version "is trickier than the original and graphically superior". Macworld wrote that "as in the original game, Space Quest II succeeds with the humor of its animation and scripting". Space Quest II was listed number four in Sierra's Top 5 Bestsellers. Therefore, it can be assumed Space Quest II sold over 100,000 copies, thus earning

513-442: The jungle to the landing pad he arrived at, and steals a shuttle. However, Vohaul hijacks its controls, bring him back to the asteroid base to keep him from escaping. With little choice, Roger sneaks around the base, attempting to find some way out. Instead of finding an escape route, he finds himself entering Vohaul's control room, where the scientist decides to keep him imprisoned more permanently. Shrunk down in size, and trapped in

540-670: The magazine described it as "not-too-difficult" and suitable for those new to adventure games. Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review, noting improvements in the presentation and action sequences over its predecessors. In 1989 the magazine gave it a Special Award for Achievement in Sound, and in 1996 listed the player's body parts being sold at a butcher shop as #2 on its list of "the 15 best ways to die in computer gaming". The editors of Game Player's PC Strategy Guide gave Space Quest III their 1989 "Best PC Adventure Role-Playing Game" and "Best PC EGA Graphics" awards. In

567-410: The series' commercial success for Sierra. A sequel, Space Quest IV , was released in 1991. Space Quest III takes place in a universe which parodies notable science-fiction franchises such as Star Trek and Star Wars . The game continues the story of Roger Wilco, a simple janitor who has saved his homeworld twice from disaster. Following the events of Space Quest II , lowly janitor Roger Wilco

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594-454: The station's hangar bay, where he is knocked out and abducted by unknown assailants. When he regains consciousness, he finds himself a prisoner on an asteroid base orbiting the jungle planet of Labion, run by Sludge Vohaul - a former scientist of Xenon. Vohaul reveals he was the creator of the Star Generator, but was exiled by Xenon when he sought to have the technology used as a weapon rather than for peace. Eager for revenge, he attempted to use

621-491: The time of the game's release, so Roger is unable to automatically find his way around obstacles in the game world, instead stopping if he encounters a barrier. Computer mice were relatively new at the time, and Sierra's mouse movement would greatly improve in subsequent games. Astro Chicken is an arcade minigame in Space Quest III . Gameplay consists of attempting to land a chicken on a trampoline. The mechanics of

648-413: The trio are warped into a parallel dimension via a black hole, ending up before the planet Earth. Roger delivers the two game designers to Sierra On-Line's president, Ken Williams , before departing the planet to return home after being turned down for a janitorial job. PC versions of the game support mouse movement and a new, heavily improved text parser . Mouse movement was still in a primitive state at

675-488: Was one of the first games to support the new Sound Blaster sound card. Sound effects include digitized audio sampling, such as the voice of Roger saying "Where am I?" during the introduction. The digitized effects can be heard in the Tandy, Amiga and Macintosh versions of the game. Though Space Quest III was designed to utilize the Sound Blaster's ability to play digital samples, the inclusion of an incorrect audio driver left

702-513: Was released on March 24, 1989. Several fan remake attempts were cancelled over the years. On 2003, a non playing VGA demo was released. In 2023, a fan remake titled Space Quest 3D was released. In the September 1989 edition of C&VG (Issue 94), the reviewer gave the Atari ST version of Space Quest III a score of 83%, calling it "enjoyable and addictive". In 1989, Dragon gave

729-472: Was sent to deal with him for failing to pay for a whistle in the previous game. However, Roger outwits him and obtains his invisibility belt. At an orbital Monolith Burger station, Roger comes across a hidden message in an arcade game he plays, stating that its programmers (known as Two Guys) were abducted by ScumSoft, a sinister video game company on the Planet Pestulon - owned by Elmo Pug, leader of

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