1. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco And The Time Rippers
The Space Quest series follows the life and misadventures of deep space janitor Roger Wilco, who finds himself thrust into increasingly ridiculous situations as the stories progress. The entire series is well worth a play, but Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time rippers (1991) is my personal favourite for several reasons. Firstly, the graphics in RWATTR were a huge leap forward from the third game, The Pirates of Pestulon, which was released two years earlier and was limited to just 16 colours. Space Quest IV, by contrast, features 256-colour hand painted sprites and backgrounds. Not only does the game look great, but the script is hilarious. In fact, the series arguably contains some of the funniest moments in gaming history. Narrated by the late Gary Owens (Space Ghost), RWATTR has some classic one-liners. During one scene Roger has been captured by a giant bird. While he is standing in the nest another unfortunate chap lands dead on the nests edge. If the player tries to talk to the mans body, we hear: Help. A giant branch has penetrated my vital organs and I cant get up. This is followed by Owens: Seriously, do you actually think this guy has time to talk to you? Hes too busy being dead! Thoroughly ironic, Space Quest IV manages to poke fun at the point-and-click format, as well as games and sci-fi in general. Alongside the usual look and use icons, smell and taste options are included, which have no use other than providing further opportunities for amusement. If at one point you decide to smell the screen of an arcade machine, the narrator says Gooey, greasy little fingers and various appendages have left a coating that smells like a cross between cotton candy and dead gerbils. I assure you, this sounds much funnier in Gary Owens deadpan voice! No matter what age you are, I cannot recommend the latter episodes of the Space Quest series highly enough. Good for you, then, that GOG.com has 4, 5 and 6 bundled and on sale for only £6.49. What are you waiting for?! What are your favourite adventure games you'd recommend to the upcoming generations? Let us know in the comments!
