Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge Remake (IA)(PC, 2012)
Graphics-7 Sound-6.5 Control-5.5 Challenge-6.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-4 Frustration-9 Fun-4.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-4.5
+
Improved visuals overall (some of the art looks rushed)
Improved interface (SQ1 VGA-style though you can skip sentences/text boxes immediately with a click now)
Altered story?
Some good VA (Letterdroid, Vohaul)
Some good humour (sarcastic, low brow, parodies, the fake SQ1 beginning)
Some alternate solutions (dealing with the last guard before leaving Labion)
+/-
Roger is even more of a loser/idiot than in the prequel (clashes a bit with his improved looks)
F5 also skips dialogue boxes (fairly easy to accidentally skip one when trying to access the menu)
Save anywhere outside of cutscenes (nameable slots (fairly short character limit though), 20+ slots)
-
Pressing Alt followed by F4 exits the game (pressing them together doesn't)
So-so narrator VA (not a native English speaker) and uneven sound quality on the VA overall
Uneven humour (fart jokes, some overly obvious jokes, macho posturing from the narrator)
Trial & error (the serving droid at monolith burger kills you if you give/show any item to it, the acid floor trap on the asteroid, clicking with the Eye icon on the Labion ship's buttons is treated as if you used the Hand icon, finding the path in the pit of the Labion forest area, timed encounter (very short limit) with the terror beast and other hazards, swamp monster solution, the path to the swamp on Labion, forget to take off your space suit in the beginning and it's game over without warning, unexpected need for navigating around holes and other hazards, the brain maze (the game is anal about where you place the rabbit bomb (they should've just not let you place it too close; there's also this weird animation when you try to use only the rabbit (for example getting close to the brain itself and throwing it in to distract it) which is hard to tell what it's supposed to be), can't take the obvious route past it), etc)
Some interface issues (going in and out of the options menu resets the action icon to Use (if you pressed Play) or Move (if you pressed Save), can't press Alt+Enter to go full screen, can't press Enter after pressing F5/F7 and picking a slot to save/load, no action hotkeys, can't skip walking animations and in-game cutscenes?, no journal/log feature)
Sometimes limited options (can't throw items away, can't smell or taste items in your inventory, ''the rope is in use right now'' when trying to untie the little pink guy by using the hand on the rope itself, can't run/jump/crouch)
Sometimes hard to tell where you can and can't go (mainly screen exits, changing the icon while hovering over an exit would've been a good solution) or what you can examine (DotT and Simon the Sorcerer have the solutions)
Logical inconsistencies (can't get another rock after using one to make a slingshot and kill the guard before leaving Labion (the game says you've got one already), can't examine the machine next to Vohaul's chair at monolith burger, swamp solution - you couldn't use the berries near the mushrooms and can't tell if they would be useful here other than through trial & error, suddenly your actions are reduced while near land in the underwater cavern and you can't explore the nook in the bottom left despite the game telling you to get closer, can't tie up the predator?)
Inintuitive control change at the rope swinging segment (clicking the left or right arrow (not the jump icon) makes you jump to your death)
Narrator often gets annoyed or mocks you for no logical reason at all
The french kissing Alien rip-off would've been fun if it wasn't actually lethal without your knowledge so you saved over what you thought was a safe save slot
Can't cancel the move while Roger is walking towards an object you're trying to interact with
Level Design-4 Frustration-9 Fun-4.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-4.5
+
Improved visuals overall (some of the art looks rushed)
Improved interface (SQ1 VGA-style though you can skip sentences/text boxes immediately with a click now)
Altered story?
Some good VA (Letterdroid, Vohaul)
Some good humour (sarcastic, low brow, parodies, the fake SQ1 beginning)
Some alternate solutions (dealing with the last guard before leaving Labion)
+/-
Roger is even more of a loser/idiot than in the prequel (clashes a bit with his improved looks)
F5 also skips dialogue boxes (fairly easy to accidentally skip one when trying to access the menu)
Save anywhere outside of cutscenes (nameable slots (fairly short character limit though), 20+ slots)
-
Pressing Alt followed by F4 exits the game (pressing them together doesn't)
So-so narrator VA (not a native English speaker) and uneven sound quality on the VA overall
Uneven humour (fart jokes, some overly obvious jokes, macho posturing from the narrator)
Trial & error (the serving droid at monolith burger kills you if you give/show any item to it, the acid floor trap on the asteroid, clicking with the Eye icon on the Labion ship's buttons is treated as if you used the Hand icon, finding the path in the pit of the Labion forest area, timed encounter (very short limit) with the terror beast and other hazards, swamp monster solution, the path to the swamp on Labion, forget to take off your space suit in the beginning and it's game over without warning, unexpected need for navigating around holes and other hazards, the brain maze (the game is anal about where you place the rabbit bomb (they should've just not let you place it too close; there's also this weird animation when you try to use only the rabbit (for example getting close to the brain itself and throwing it in to distract it) which is hard to tell what it's supposed to be), can't take the obvious route past it), etc)
Some interface issues (going in and out of the options menu resets the action icon to Use (if you pressed Play) or Move (if you pressed Save), can't press Alt+Enter to go full screen, can't press Enter after pressing F5/F7 and picking a slot to save/load, no action hotkeys, can't skip walking animations and in-game cutscenes?, no journal/log feature)
Sometimes limited options (can't throw items away, can't smell or taste items in your inventory, ''the rope is in use right now'' when trying to untie the little pink guy by using the hand on the rope itself, can't run/jump/crouch)
Sometimes hard to tell where you can and can't go (mainly screen exits, changing the icon while hovering over an exit would've been a good solution) or what you can examine (DotT and Simon the Sorcerer have the solutions)
Logical inconsistencies (can't get another rock after using one to make a slingshot and kill the guard before leaving Labion (the game says you've got one already), can't examine the machine next to Vohaul's chair at monolith burger, swamp solution - you couldn't use the berries near the mushrooms and can't tell if they would be useful here other than through trial & error, suddenly your actions are reduced while near land in the underwater cavern and you can't explore the nook in the bottom left despite the game telling you to get closer, can't tie up the predator?)
Inintuitive control change at the rope swinging segment (clicking the left or right arrow (not the jump icon) makes you jump to your death)
Narrator often gets annoyed or mocks you for no logical reason at all
The french kissing Alien rip-off would've been fun if it wasn't actually lethal without your knowledge so you saved over what you thought was a safe save slot
Can't cancel the move while Roger is walking towards an object you're trying to interact with