Nerds That Geek Game Review – ‘Space Quest VI: Roger Wilco in The Spinal Frontier’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

While we love our favorite franchises through and through, and support them as often as possible, no one likes to acknowledge the fact that eventually, they run out of steam and the quality that we often find in these wonderful tales eventually begins to decline and there are always various reasons as to why this happens. Top tier talent associated with the franchise sometimes begin to desire more in their careers and step away from the saga, changing the narrative and the design of the story and in the computer game world, the lightning quick evolution of technology and the ever-evolving tastes of the industry can help make a franchise irrelevant.
 
But sometimes, those issues and a lack of fresh ideas can contribute to the end and I would venture to say that all of those factors came into play with the sixth and final entry in the Space Quest series, Space Quest VI: Roger Wilco in The Spinal Frontier. For this particular chapter in the Wilco saga is in fact the weakest in the franchise and well, that’s a down right shame because this adventure actually had some serious potential. After all, it featured top-notch graphics and beautiful and…moist locations for Roger to visit in this tale, but something simply fell flat here, leaving the game to feel pretty by the numbers, thanks in large part to its slow pacing.
 
For the games that came before this one, kept the story rolling by way of shorter scenes and sequences on other worlds and by making use of whip smart scripts that engrossed and entranced the audience. But here, the story just drags on and it takes far too long to get to the next plot point and that problem is extended into the all-important third act where Roger is transported into another’s person’s body. Because a sequence that should have been fun and silly takes forever to slog through, which brings me to the next major issue with this game, its hit or miss humor.
 
Because the normally on point humor wasn’t quite as sharp as it used to be, and the lampoons and gags that were once handled with subtlety were a bit more ham fisted here and there were other problems hovering over this game as well, to me the biggest one is that this game arrived upon the market a little too late. For at this point in the time the industry was starting its shift toward console gaming and full motion video becoming the next great thing and the fact that this game didn’t offer anything incredibly unique outside of another adventure with Roger Wilco likely alienated it in a sea of next generation games. 
 
However, while it seems as though I’m truly ripping into this one, I do want to point out that there are some genuinely delightful moments to be found in this game. Virtually any interaction with Captain Kielbasa is just a hoot and some of the jokes really do work and leave you in stitches. It’s just obvious that the magic for this series had finally run out, and it’s time had come to a close and well, while it’s not a perfect send off for Roger Wilco, it’s a serviceable one and while this may be the weakest link in a wonderful series, it’s one worth playing out of tribute for our favorite janitor and of course, if that’s not enough to satisfy, one can always bask in the fact that this chapter is part of a unique series that found a way to make science fiction and comedy blend together seamlessly, and one that managed to make a galactic hero out of an everyday janitor.

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