It took him a total of three games, but Roger finally found his way home to Xenon after the conclusion of Space Quest II. Apparently finding little purpose in being a janitor, he enrolls in the StarCon Academy, where he still spends most of his spare time napping in the closet. After attempting to take his final exam, a freak glitch in the computer grading system promotes him to Captain and awards him his own vessel. It's technically just a garbage scow, complete with a crew that more or less hates his guts, but it's a step up from mopping floors, right?

The trouble begins when Roger intercepts a transmission from Commander Raemes T. Quirk and Ambassador Beatrice Wankmeister, the woman whom, according to Roger's son back in Space Quest IV, will eventually bear him children. Their ship has been attacked by a militant group of deformed mutants called Pukoids, who wish to inflict their own terrible fate on the rest of humanity. Naturally, it's up to Roger and crew to not only save the galaxy, but woo Miss Wankmeister and prove that he's more than just a lowly screw-up.

Like Space Quest III, you get to take control of the starship from the commander's chair, which makes a rude noise every time you sit on it. There's a bit more freedom here, with a slightly larger galaxy, although navigation requires referencing the faux tabloid included with the game, acting as copy protection. Space Quest V introduces the "Command" icon - a speech bubble with an exclamation point - used for issuing orders, although they're mostly restricted to your crewmembers and the teleporter. The "Smell" and "Taste" icons are sadly absent.

Space Quest V feels remarkably different from its predecessors, for a number of reasons. For starters, it was developed by the team known as Dynamix, who had been acquired by Sierra a few years before. They were known for other adventure games like Heart of China, Rise of the Dragon, and The Adventures of Willy Beamish, but it was their first (and only) title using the SCI engine. The difference is most notable in the art style, which has changed from the other VGA games. It has more of a retro comic book feel, which fits in with the cheesy sci-fi theme.

Space Quest V (IBM PC)

Additionally, the design rested solely on Mark Crowe. Scott Murphy and Josh Mandel also had little to do with the game, and their absence definitely makes an impact. Space Quest V is still funny, but it's lacking much of the biting sarcasm - and freakishly dark deaths - that made the previous games so amusing. But the biggest bummer is that Space Quest V was never released on CD, so there's no voice acting, outside of a few brief sound clips stolen from The Simpsons.

Even though it's not quite as funny, Space Quest V almost makes up for it in other areas. The narrative is much more focused, and it feels less like Roger is simply stumbling through various situations until the game decides to end. Speaking of which, Roger is now a much more fleshed out character. In the previous games, Roger only spoke a few lines, with much of the humor coming from the narrator, but here, our hero comes off as a clumsy, yet well meaning and likable guy. The secondary characters - sarcastic pilot Droole, man-hating Flo, and cranky engineer Cliffy, and even nemesis Captain Quirk - all have more personality than is typical of the series.

The whole game is obviously a pretty huge Star Trek parody, mostly because The Next Generation was popular at the time. The first task is to pass the academy final exam (which Roger hasn't studied a bit for, of course) and some of the multiple choice questions are quite chuckleworthy, even if it's not as hilarious as the bargain bin from Space Quest IV. If you wander through the halls of the academy long enough, you can find Obi-Wan and Darth Vader dueling in the distance. If you pay attention to various screens, you can find animated versions of classic arcade games like Missile Command and Pong. It also features some outdated references to telecommunications company Sprint, who sponsored the game. You overhear some guards talking about switching telephone plans, and all communications aboard the ship end with the Sprint logo. At one point, Roger is transformed into a fly in order to infiltrate an office, and in another, he hops into the seat of a 2001-style EVA pod to rescue Cliffy, who has accidentally fallen out into space.

Later still, you adopt an Alien-style facehugger whom Roger lovingly names Spike. There's also another run-in with the killer bounty hunters from the Gippazoid Novelty Company - they're still angry about the mating whistle from Space Quest II, and further infuriated by the destruction of the Arnoid from Space Quest III. This time, though, it's a woman, unintentionally foreshadowing the third Terminator movie. This move is either halfway clever or creatively lazy, depending on your viewpoint, but at least defeating her is less frustrating than the similar encounter way back in the earlier game, and after being reprogrammed, she becomes part of your crew. The action segments are generally minimal, and even the minigame - an overly long game of Battleship against Captain Quirk - is optional. Overall, it's a much better designed game than its predecessors, and while though it's not nearly as off-the-wall as some of the others, Space Quest V is still another fine adventure.

Space Quest V (IBM PC)

Even though Roger saved the galaxy (again) at the end of Space Quest V, his violation of several StarCon regulations leaves him to be stripped (literally) of his rank. Furthermore, there seems to be some kind of conspiracy to kill Roger, as he's kidnapped while on shore leave. He's saved by his companion, Corpsman Stellar Santiago, who seems to have a thing for him, but Roger insists on remaining loyal to Beatrice, who doesn't actually appear in this game. Roger begins to question these feelings after Santiago sacrifices herself to save him during another attempt on his life. Eventually he discovers that she's still alive, somewhere, and sets off on an adventure to rescue her. When he finds her, he can only save her by miniaturizing himself and diving inside her body. The Incredible Journey-style setting of the final chapter is where the game gets its subtitle, The Spinal Frontier, although the working title was Where in Corpsman Santiago is Roger Wilco?

The sixth and final Space Quest game features SVGA graphics, with cleaner visuals and the occasional computer rendered animation. That being said, neither the artwork nor the animation quality compares with King's Quest VII. While the backgrounds are crisp, they're too sterile compared to the hand painted visuals of the previous VGA games, and while they may work as a sci-fi setting, they're a bit dreary for something that's supposed to be a comedy. Some of the character artwork is decent, but the artwork for Roger and Stellar are pretty ugly. Other than a few close-ups in key cutscenes, the portraits during dialogue are missing, which creates a disconnect between the characters and the player. The interface now takes up the bottom quarter of the screen, leaving the view a bit more cramped than usual.

There are still a bunch of amusing parodies and throwbacks to previous games. You'll find a drunken ET sleeping in a liquor store, who will happily show you his glowing finger, if you try to talk to him. (You can also pull his finger for expected results.) You'll come across a shady Blade Runner-style character who's too lazy to do his own job, and an Alien-like creature stalking a lone female spacefarer. There's a minigame called Stooge Fighter 3, featuring Lar Man, Coiley Joe, and Big Mo. And unlike other Sierra minigames, it realizes that it plays poorly, and the only way to win is through cheating. One of the most amusing screens is the theater marquees that change every time you re-enter the screen, which consist of over several dozen parody titles. And "cyberspace" in the Space Quest universe apparently consists of little more than a variation on Windows 3.1. You'll run into a drunken Elmo Pug, the wiener kid from ScumSoft, as well as Fester Blatz the shopkeeper, both from Space Quest III. Roger even keeps some of his mementos from previous games in his quarters, and there are some amusing references to both that stupid owl Cedric from King's Quest V and the cheesy love ballad from King's Quest VI. Roger's commander, the anthropomorphic lion Kielbasa, may as well be a Kilrathi - albeit a friendly one - from Wing Commander. And your ship, the Deepship 86, looks like a giant flying jockstrap.

These moments are amusing, but the plot is a bit on the dark side and more dramatic than the previous games, which never took themselves seriously. The writing style, too, while very funny, isn't nearly as biting. Gary Owens returns as the narrator, but he's not quite as condescending, so his lines just don't sparkle the way they used to. There aren't any particularly amusing death scenes, either, although you're now given the option to "Try Again" after dying.

It also doesn't help that the puzzles are some of the most convoluted of anything in the series. Many of them feature numerous tedious steps and involve picking at nearly everything in the scenery to see if you can interact with it. Some of the usable items are so small or so hidden that you can often get stumped just because you couldn't even see it. This is particularly bad at the beginning, where you're not given any real direction.

One of your first tasks is to capture an escaped android, who's hiding at the bottom of a bar. You need to freeze him with a blast of nitrogen, like the T-1000 in Terminator 2. You can't just go up to him and use it though. Instead, there's a tedious series of steps to run the ice blast through a series of pipes. At one point, you need to solve a puzzle by taking apart an electronic device, replacing some chips, and flipping some switches. There was supposed to be a comic book strip in-game to tell you how to do this, but it was removed from the final product. Instead, it was printed in the manual leaving many to believe it was copy protection. Furthermore, some copies of the game, including many of the compilations, don't come with the necessary documentation, requiring that you use a FAQ to complete it. And this is just in the first area of the game! The final sections in Stellar's body are just as frustratingly designed.

Space Quest VI is a decent but not outstanding game, one that probably could've used some polish. Perhaps this is due to a result of management issues - a large majority of the game was designed by Josh Mandel, who left the project before completion, leaving Scott Murphy to pick up the pieces.

Before Space Quest VI was released, Sierra created a demo for distribution on promo CDs. Unlike most of their demos, this one is not only playable, but consists of a storyline that didn't exist in the full game. The evil Bjorn (parodies of the Borg from Star Trek) have invaded the Deepship 86 and turned everyone, except Roger, into piles of sorbet. You can download the demo here.