Just (Free) Adventures
Space Quest: The Lost Chapter

Author:
Vonster D Monster
Download
Size: 807 KB
Number of Screens: 253
Approximate Playing Time: 9 Hours

By Adam Rodman

Did you
know that every Just (Free) Adventure review begins with an italicized paragraph
in which the reviewer gets to rant? A whole paragraph! Can you imagine what I
could rant about in one whole freakin’ paragraph?

Click
here to visit the official Space Quest: The Lost Chapter Website
Click
here to download Space Quest: The Lost Chapter (it’s only 807 KB!)

I
really wanted to love Space Quest: The Lost Chapter. I truly, honestly, really
with sugar, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and a cherry on top did. I’ve been
a Space Quest fan since I was nine (which is really sort of sad, but also
sort of sweet, dontcha think?), and the cancellation of Space Quest 7 was
a serious disappointment for me. Thus, I needed buckets (though I actually used
a clever milk-jug/funnel/rubber band contraption) to collect the saliva shed over
a Space Quest fan-made game that promised to be just as big as any that
Sierra produced. But I didn’t love Space Quest: The Lost Chapter. In fact,
I was overly disappointed–not because The Lost Chapter is a bad game,
but because it could’ve been so much more.

The Lost Chapter takes
place in between the events of Space Quest 2 and Space Quest 3. Basically,
this space hero/janitor/all-around great guy dude named Roger Wilco is floating
in an escape pod when a mysterious shockwave forces the pod to crash-land on a
jungle planet. Roger, after finding his hair has mysteriously changed color (from
brown to blonde–and no, he didn’t dye it!), must find a way off of the planet.
Though the story may cause a little deja vu for Space Questarians (the
“stranded on a jungle planet and must find an escape path” was sorta
the plot of Space Quest 2), it’s still a pretty good story. Vonster D Monster
has done an especially good job in recreating the sarcastic tone of the Space
Quest series. Scott Murphy couldn’t have done a better (and for those of you
reading this review, Scott Murphy is one of the two progenitors of the Space
Quest series and not a random person I named, such as Joe Schmirshkahoven)
job!

Mr. D Monster (if that is his/her real name) also deserves credit for
his/her brilliant use of Sierra’s AGI engine. I wouldn’t have thought that AGI
could be made to look better (not that it looks good), but compare a shot of Space
Quest 2 to The Lost Chapter. Wowsa! Yes, the graphics are severely
dated, but what are you gonna expect from a 15-year-old engine? Gameplay is like
every other Sierra AGI game. The arrow keys make Roger walk around, and a text
parser takes all input (i.e., EAT MOLD or DANCE). Puzzles are mainly inventory-based,
and since all of the other Space Quest games had Roger stuffing and removing
huge objects from his pockets (and I know that sounds wrong), it’s a nice throwback
to the series. There are also some mind-boggling, insanely difficult puzzles (and
you know a writer mean business when he uses two adverbs in the description of
one noun!). The squid maze comes to mind. Music is obviously limited to the tooting
and doodling of the IBM internal speaker, meaning the main theme sort of sounds
like, “Toot to doo doo doo da dee deedle doo.” But hey, that’s the most
the engine can support, so any music is welcome.

Sure, The Lost Chapter
sounds perfect, but there are some serious issues that detract from its funability
rating (for more information on the funability scale, please consult your local
library). The game world of The Lost Chapter is big. Really big. Too big.
There are far too many places (especially on the planet) that have no importance
to the game–you just have to walk through them. Finding all of the inventory
objects (especially in AGI, which has the one-of-a-kind ability to make a bikini-clad
model look like a mailbox) is a major pain in the donkey’s hoof. Obviously, this
increases the play time of the game, and it sure doesn’t increase the time in
a good way. And there’s the aforementioned squid puzzle, quite possibly the most
annoying, time-consuming, and restorable (and by restorable, I of course mean
that you have to restore the game a lot because of the dying and the hurting and
the maiming) puzzle ever placed in an adventure game.

But don’t get me wrong!
The Lost Chapter is a wonderful game. It is, by far, the best and most
expansive fan-made adventure I’ve ever played–it’s as big, if not bigger, than
Space Quest 2. If you’ve ever played a Sierra adventure (and enjoyed it),
The Lost Chapter is a must-play.

Story: A
Graphics: A
Music/Sound
Effects: B
Gameplay/Puzzles: B-

Final Grade: B

If you
want to see a sequel to The Lost Chapter (and I certainly do!) throw Mr.
D Monster a line (that’s not only sailor-talk for saving someone who has been
thrown overboard, it’s also JA-speak for sending an e-mail) and tell him that
you demand a sequel or else you’ll burn down his house, hang him from his toenails,
and beat him with an organic stick of celery. Or ask really nicely, it’s your
choice.