Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Year: 1992
Platform: DOS
Score: 6
Out of the many remakes that Sierra released of their original adventures, Police Quest fared the best. But as is the case with most of them, they failed to actually improve the game.
For the most part, the game follows the events of the original, though a lot of the ancillary camp is toned down or removed completely. For example, your coworkers act much more professionally and there’s less locker-room talk, matching the more serious tone of Police Quest 3. I might have appreciated this had the game’s serious moments been dramatically improved. Unfortunately, the atmosphere feels so dry that moments like the loss of Jack’s daughter aren’t any more moving than they were before. On the other hand, Sonny is surprisingly funny. His deadpan delivery made me chuckle a few times.
The interface has been switched to point-and-click, which removes a lot of the parser-type Easter Eggs, while admittedly removing some of the parser frustration. But the driving is similar to that of Police Quest 3, which is needlessly cumbersome. And, sadly, the MIDI soundtrack somehow does a worse job of conveying tension than the internal soundboard of the original. When I play the EGA version, I find myself on the edge of my seat during several scenes. Here, everything felt muted.
Another unforced error comes with a slight change to the plot. Woody Roberts, the hotel bartender who is a part of Jesse Bains’s crime ring, is murdered by Bains in the sequel after testifying against him. And for no discernible reason, he’s left out of this version entirely! It’s not like he had a big role in the original and they needed to cut for time. He’s simply replaced by a female version who serves the same purpose. Even though her character has better dialogue than Woody did, there’s no reason they couldn’t have just fleshed out Woody instead.
Despite my misgivings, I would recommend this game to those who like the original and/or like the genre. But the original is leaps and bounds ahead of this release on the fun meter.
