Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter was an instant hit among fans of the thinking game genre, and the release of a sequel was no surprise. It was more of a demand, so to speak. The first adventure tells the story of Roger Wilco, and his encounter with an alien race called the Sariens, and the preventing of that race's plan to utilize a new weapon, which could destroy entire planets. In Space Quest 2: Vohaul's Revenge, Roger Wilco meets Slash Vohaul's little brother, Sludge Vohaul. Sludge has thought up a master plan for himself, and wants Roger out of the way, to ensure his success. So, Roger is kidnapped, and the adventure begins.

As with all of Sierra's early adventures, Space Quest 2 uses the AGI engine, which may seem a little blocky at first, but gets the job done just fine, and the pixelated feel fades away quickly, since all graphics are drawn quite well, obviously by skilled people. The interface is exactly the same as it was in the first part, using a text parser to issue commands to Mr. Wilco, anything you want to say, can be said. As long as the game understands, that is. And the engine seems to be quite intelligent. Many words are understood, even words that won't be necessary to use in the game. But, in some cases, you might just find yourself looking for a specific word to use, since all synonyms of it are not understood. A minor downside, which mostly only occurs to people whose first language isn't English, or haven't mastered the language enough.

Sounds are nice, PC Speaker off course, as digital soundcards weren't used in personal computers those days. But there is a patch floating around the Internet, which turns the old-fashioned bleeper sounds in good old Adlib sound, which is a nice improvement, but not a must by definition.

The adventure itself holds quite some intruiging puzzles in store for you, all fair and solvable, but a couple of them may have you smacking your head into your screen out of despair, which is actually a good thing with adventures. That's what they're made for. All puzzles blend in seamlessly with the story, a story which gets my stamp of approval. Aside from the excellent storyline, Space Quest 2 also provides the player with a couple of fun one-liners, and quite a load of comical comments and situations, which gives the game a much lighter and more enjoyable feel than, for instance, Police Quest. If you're looking for a grand adventure and a good laugh, this is exactly what you need. It is much better than the first part in all views, which still was an excellent game, and will keep you entertained for days to come. If you're more interested in action and good graphics, skip this game, and go stand in the corner, you infidel.