Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Dynamix
Year: 1993
Platform: DOS
Score: 4
The Two Guys from Andromeda split up before this game, leaving Mark Crowe as lead designer while Scott Murphy pursued other interests. Crowe righted the ship, as besting Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers did not require clearing a particularly high bar. Nevertheless, Space Quest V is a pleasantly playable, albeit short, adventure back in the spirit of the first three games.
Roger Wilco is now studying at Starcon Academy, hoping to someday captain his own ship. After cheating on a test and impressing his superiors, he manages to do just that. But instead of commanding a starship, he gets a garbage scow. You must direct as they collect garbage, all the while sidestepping some landmines, including some overzealous aliens and backstabbing Starcon members.
Interestingly, unlike the previous game, this sequel has no voice acting. And that’s probably for the better, as the voice acting did little to enhance its predecessor. The humor derives mostly from pop culture parody: Star Trek, with touches of Star Wars, Alien, and 2001 thrown in. The rest of the humor is dedicated to Roger’s ineptitude, which is fine, though I don’t like how self-deprecating Roger has become. I much preferred him when he was oblivious to his own shortcomings.
The plot is predictable, much like every other game in the series. The puzzles are fairly easy and bland, although I did enjoy some creative tricks when Roger is briefly turned into a fly. Other than that, very little of the game is memorable. The ending, in particular, is far too quick and underdeveloped. And while I did laugh out loud a few times, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the jokes or the characters.
I kind of liked the move to hand-drawn comic-style artwork, and the point-and-click interface is intuitive. The score has a professional quality to it, but leans too heavily on synth organ and woodwinds, and it never quite matches the mood for me.
The Next Mutation is an otherwise pleasant, inoffensive game that should take the seasoned gamer less than a week to finish.
