Space Quest V: Roger Wilco – The Next Mutation is a computer game with pictures and stories developed by Dynamix and released by Sierra On-Line for MS-DOS on February 5, 1993. It is the fifth game in the Space Quest series and the first to be designed only by Mark Crowe. The story, which is a funny take on the Star Trek series, follows players as they control Roger Wilco, who becomes a star captain but must help save the galaxy from a deadly virus created by humans.
Many critics praised the game as a fun addition to the series. However, it did not include a voice cast like Space Quest IV. A sequel, Space Quest 6, was released in 1995.
Plot
The game is set in a universe that copies parts of famous science fiction stories, such as Alien and The Fly. Unlike other Space Quest games, Space Quest V copies parts of Star Trek, including ships, crew members, and references from Star Trek episodes. In the story, players control Roger Wilco, who, after the events of Space Quest IV, applies to become a captain to achieve a lifelong dream. At the same time, an investigation begins into a series of toxic dumping incidents in the galaxy, which is believed to be causing problems.
After Space Quest IV, Roger, a janitor, applies to Starcon Academy to become a captain. At the academy, Roger becomes enemies with Raems T. Quirk, a character who clearly copies Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek. Quirk is the commander of Starcon’s most valuable ship, the SCS Goliath. During a test to assess skills, Roger cheats. Later, Ambassador Beatrice Wankmeister, a woman Roger plans to be with after learning about her from his future son, arrives at Starcon. She asks for help investigating strange cases of toxic dumping across the galaxy. Quirk offers to help, and Starcon allows her to use the Goliath for her mission.
Meanwhile, Roger achieves his dream and is given command of the garbage ship SCS Eureka, which looks and works like a large vacuum cleaner. With his crew, the Eureka cleans up space debris and picks up a facehugger creature, which Roger keeps as a pet. They also receive a message about a collection from an unknown person. After collecting trash near a jungle planet, the Eureka is attacked by a robot named WD40, sent by the same company that targeted Roger in Space Quest III. Roger outsmarts the robot on the planet and takes it, along with a cloaking device from the robot’s ship, back to the Eureka.
While relaxing at a space bar, Roger finds his engineer, Cliffy, fighting with members of the Goliath’s crew. Quirk sees this and arrests Cliffy, forcing Roger to rescue him from the bar’s jail. As the Eureka continues its mission, Roger investigates a deserted colony on a barren planet. He discovers the colonists have turned into mutants. Clues include a canister from a genetics company and a log entry stating the colony was attacked after the Goliath visited.
Soon after, the Eureka receives an emergency signal from Quirk, revealing his ship is under attack. The crew finds an escape pod containing Beatrice, who explains the Goliath was hit by mutants, and Quirk and his crew were mutated. As Beatrice begins to mutate, Roger puts her into frozen sleep to slow the process until a cure is found. Tracking the genetics company, Roger learns scientists created a virus for terraforming, but it mutated and attacked living things. The experiment was stopped, but the lead scientist had to dispose of the virus. Quirk had been bribed to dump the virus across the galaxy.
Inspired by his pet facehugger, Roger suggests using a teleporter to separate the virus from Beatrice. The process works, and Roger launches a mission to save the rest of the Goliath’s crew. With help from a reprogrammed WD40, Roger rescues the remaining crew but finds Quirk, now too mutated to save, fleeing to infect the Eureka. Roger rescues Beatrice, sets the Eureka to self-destruct, and destroys the virus. Beatrice joins Roger and the survivors as they leave in the Goliath for Starcon.
Development
This game was the first in the series not created by the "Two Guys from Andromeda." Mark Crowe was the only person who worked on it. It was also the first Space Quest game not made by Sierra On-Line itself. Instead, it was developed by Dynamix, which is a sister company of Sierra On-Line. Mark Crowe moved to Dynamix shortly after Space Quest IV was released.
Space Quest V was the only Space Quest game and the second Sierra game overall (Leisure Suit Larry 5 was the first) to be sponsored by a real company. The Sprint logo appeared during communications, on a billboard in the Spacebar, and in the ending credits. At one point in the game, a character criticizes MCI's "Friends & Aliens" plan as "just not worth it." Space Quest V was one of several Sierra games given away as a reward for signing up for Sprint's service. The game also mentions "TT&A."
Even though this game came after the CD-ROM "talkie" version of Space Quest IV, it was first released on floppy disks only. Later, it was included on a CD with all the Space Quest games. Early plans for a talkie version of the game were canceled. According to Sean Murphy, an artist at Dynamix at the time, this happened because Dynamix was having financial problems. They wanted to create new games instead of making improved versions of games already released.
Copy protection
The game uses a copy protection system that requires players to enter five-digit numbers representing specific planets or space stations from a chart in the printed manual. Like the game Space Quest IV, there is a puzzle connected to this protection system. Players must find a secret code through exploration within the game.
Reception
By the end of March 1996, Sierra On-Line reported that total sales of the Space Quest series had sold more than 1.2 million copies.
Charles Ardai wrote in Computer Gaming World that the game was both humorous and exciting. He noted that the graphics and sound were of high quality and described the dialogue and narration as written in a humorous way that shows the characters well. Ardai concluded that even the most critical fans of Wilco will enjoy it.