Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers

When reading the documentation is more fun than playing the game, you know that you are on to a loser. Space Quest IV is a very dry, slow affair which seems to ignore all the encouraging advanced made in the adventure genre over the last couple of years.

The story concerns Roger being plucked from his own time and dumped back on his home planet Xenon far into the future. The place is looking a bit worse for wear and zombies wander the street. As it turns out this is the result of a super computer having gone mad after being infected by a virus caught from a pirate copy of Leisure Suit Larry (and if you think that is a hoot, then the humour is just about on your level – it never gets any better).

The old-fashioned 16-bit graphics are, to put it politely, hideous, and the animation, such as there is, makes Roobarb And Custard look like a Disney classic. The other big problem is with the gameplay itself – there is very little interaction with other characters. For the first quarter of the game, if you try to talk to anyone, you end up dead seconds later – hardly an incentive to continue.

It is hard to imagine even real adventure buffs enjoying this much. It is very old-fashioned and has an air of tiredness about it. Avoid.

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