The first game in the Space Quest series to use the advanced graphics capabilities of King's Quest V, Space Quest IV is a complete disaster. Though Space Quest III was brilliantly and attractively designed with a lot of genuine humor, this game is very shoddy and poorly put-together, and hardly funny at all. It also tells an incredibly irresponsible time travel story that has almost nothing to do with the philosophy behind the game, or the series in general. In fact, the only reason for its inclusion seems to be to show off the graphics. It has a few arcade sequences, though none of them have anything to do with science fiction, and none of them are even remotely interesting. One good moment occurs when you visit Space Quest I, though that is but a very short section of the game. A very bad game, and not worthy of play by anyone, including Space Quest fans, Space Quest IV isn't best avoided--it's best forgotten.

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