Space Quest III: - Sierra On-Line œ24.99
   The Pirates of Pestulon 

When we last saw Roger Wilco, he was making a break from the 
fortress of Sludge Vohaul in a one-man emergency spaceboat - 
Space Quest II. Nobody knows how long he drifted aimlessly 
through outer space.
 
Space Quest III begins with our hero floating silently through 
space. How far behind has he left the evil Sludge? Maybe hours, 
perhaps years. All we know is that Roger's spaceboat has been 
picked up by a robotic garbage transporter. Only quick thinking 
will keep him from being recycled as a lager can!
 
The ultimate objective is to save Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe, 
those illustrious 'Two Guys From Andromeda', who have been 
kidnapped by Scumsoft and forced to write inferior computer 
games. But first you will need to retreat from the roving 
recycler, tear apart the terrifying terminator, squelch the 

scurrying scorpazoid and prevail over the perilous Pirates of 
Pestulon (a take-off on the Pirates of Penzance!).
 
Space Quest III is not quite as linear a game as its 
predecessors. You are committed to the first and last scenes 
once you start them, but the middle part of the game is more 
flexible. Once you get into space, several locations become 
accessible, and you can fly back and forth between them as you 
like. You will have a bit of trouble walking around on Ortega 
before acquiring some kind of thermal protection, but you can go 
there, nonetheless.
 
The Pirates of Pestulon is also not nearly as puzzle-intensive 
as most of the Sierra On-Line adventures - but what it lacks in 
riddles, it makes up for in sheer magnificence of special 
effects. Sierra is once again pushing back the envelope. This 
time they even recruited Supertramp's Bob Siebenberg to write 
the soundtrack!
 

As with the other games made with the new Sierra Creative 
Interpreter (SCI), the graphics are wonderful: bright and crisp, 
revealing more detail than ever before and offering beautifully 
animated close-ups that add the kind of depth we could only 
dream of until now. In addition to maintaining Sierra's high 
standards of graphic excellence, Space Quest III adds a new 
dimension in detail. Several new video effects involving tricky 
manipulation of light and perspective are introduced. When Roger 
walks into an area that's deep in shadow, his colour darkens. 
When he walks under direct lighting, he brightens (of course, he 
wasn't that bright to begin with!). In some areas, he even casts 
a shadow against the wall.
 
While operating the fork lift, Roger's figure grows smaller or 
larger as he moves away from or toward the viewer. This effect 
is particularly dramatic on the planet Phleebutt (who thinks up 
these names?), where he struggles across sand dunes in several 
places.
 

By now most people are aware of the recent strides in enhanced 
sound. The sound effects are certainly impressive through my 
ordinary colour television, but I can only imagine the 
spectacular treats in store when suitable midi hardware is 
coupled up. Ad-Lib, IBM, Roland MT-32, Roland MT-100, and a 
stand-alone Midi card used with a Casio keyboard are all 
supported. If they handed Academy Awards for computer games, 
Space Quest III would surely walk away with one for it's 
effective use of sound. In previous animated adventures, 
background music has always been restricted from screen to 
screen. This was used effectively in King's Quest IV by giving 
each character his own little theme song. In Pirates of Pestulon 
this has been taken a step further. Whole areas now have 
melodies that play uninterrupted as you cross from screen to 
screen, adding the feeling that you are actually participating 
in a film.
 
Of course, no Space Quest would be complete without the offbeat 
humour of the 'Two Guys'. As you walk through the game, keep an 
eye on the background......you might see some familiar old 
friends! Death has also been personalized. There have always 
been lots of ways to expire in Sierra adventures, but only a 
single message was displayed afterwards. Pirates of Pestulon has 
almost as many different messages as there are ways of getting 
killed. It has got to the point where it's almost as fun getting 
exterminated as it is playing the rest of the game.
 
Control of the central character is, as always, accomplished 
with the keypad, mouse or joystick. The parser is the advanced 
version that has been used in all the newest Sierra adventures. 
It is much stronger on synonyms and understands the pronoun 'IT' 
in limited situations, but is somewhat weak on multiple 
directives.
 
The only part that I had trouble with was the Astro Chicken 
arcade game - don't I always?! For some reason, I just could not 
control the chicken. After intense frustration, I finally 
developed the knack and had no further problems. There is a 
cryptic sequence near the end which will cause a severe strain 
on the eyes as you try to decode characters displayed on an 
ordinary television screen......this particular sequence is not 
really necessary to complete the game, but since you would not 
otherwise find out what your mission is, Space Quest III doesn't 
seem complete if you bypass it. Such puzzles should be 
restricted to an extra point situation, so people could avoid 
them if they wished.
 
The game comes on three double-sided disks and the packaging 
includes a goofy facemask complete with a loony viewing 
strip......a foretaste of the humour to come! Many people will 
be happy to learn that copy protection has been completely done 
away with on this game. Whether or not this practice continues 
probably relies on how many copies are sold as opposed to 
'stolen'.
 
In conclusion, Space Quest III can be described as pure 
entertainment. The graphics are faultless, the music is better 
than ever before and the story is a riot!
 
                                       John