Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Year: 1992
Platform: DOS
Out of the many remakes that Sierra released of their original adventures, this one probably fared the best. But as is the case with most of them, they failed to actually improve the game. Of course, the production values are much better. The point-and-click interface also works as well as that in The Kindred. And surprisingly, Sonny has become a funnier guy.
Publisher: Tsunami
Developer: Tsunami
Year: 1993
Platform: DOS
Jim Walls, who helped develop my favorite games of all time,Police Quest, had a parting with Sierra (something that would happen way too often during the 90’s with their best designers), and joined a renegade group that formed Tsunami. Somehow, I grew up never hearing about this game. If I had, it would have been the first thing on my Christmas list. Ignorance can be bliss. I had read many negative reviews mixed in with a smattering a positive ones. My low expectations were met in full force during the, oh, four hours it took me to win this one.
This is not something I would normally do considering the size of my audience here at Death by Troggles, but I desperately want this game to become a reality, so hopefully this post reaches a few people who can help.
Jim Walls was the principal designer of my favorite series of games, ever. On my countdown of the Top 50 Adventures Games, the Police Quest games he designed ranked 11th, 1st, and 30th respectively. He also was a designer on Blade Runner, the 28th game on the countdown. I can’t say he’s the best game designer in the industry (see: Tim Schafer), but I’ve always been crazy about games that take place in the real world with real human problems involved. He had a couple of misses with Codename: Iceman (submarine adventure) and Blue Force (lackluster Police Quest clone), but I’m seriously hoping that if he’s allowed to make a game without any pressure from a publisher, it’ll be fantastic.
I admit this screenshot isn’t that amazing, but hopefully they crank it up a notch if they get the funding. After one week they’re only at 5% of goal, and they only have three weeks left. Police Quest didn’t have quite the following as other adventure game series, and it didn’t help that Daryl F. Gates designed an extraordinarily shitty game with the same name after Sierra dismissed Jim Walls.
If you have any desire to see this game made, please consider donating to the cause. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to enjoy all of the ways Walls figured out how to kill me or get me fired, and sincerely hope this can happen again.
Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Year: 1988
Platform: DOS; Amiga; Atari-ST; PC-98
Rating: 10
While our family would often play adventure games together when I was young, we would generally pair off given the tight squeeze around the IBM. Police Quest 2 was the exception, with my brother, father, and me huddled around the tiny screen for weeks because we were so invested that we wanted to experience it at the same time. And while that memory no doubt elevates this game for me, I still think it’s damn near a perfect game.
Sonny Bonds is back…with a vengeance! Actually, Jesse Bains, the perp he testified against last game and put in prison, is back with a vengeance. Not only does he escape prison, he also kidnaps your girlfriend Marie to exact revenge upon you. I’d feel bad spoiling the kidnapping–which takes place about halfway into the game–if it wasn’t described on the box with a picture of Bains literally holding Marie hostage. Sierra definitely didn’t want you to realize plots could be uncovered!
The Lytton P.D. has received a major overhaul since the first game, not only of the building but of the staff as well. Lest you worry that you’ll get bored with nobody familiar around, Jim Walls has created several more characters with wonderful personalities. First is Keith Robinson, your partner. Other than taking smoke breaks and making snide remarks, he offers little help, but he provides the comic relief that every cop game needs. In one instance, while on the way to a scene, Keith wagers with you on whether the witness is a dude or a chick. There is no reason for this little scene to be in the game, but given how many intense moments there are, the levity is appreciated.
Then you have Captain Hall, who has a very short temper but a keen taste for pistachio ice cream and is a master at working the telephone. If you dink around too much, he’ll literally suspend you. But he’s also got your back when shit starts hitting the fan. And, as with Police Quest 1, the supporting cast (such as the guys in Narcotics, the street cops, and the gun range supervisor) usually have something funny and interesting to say.
The production values have also taken a leap forward. The pixel-art graphics are generally well-detailed and colorful, and there’s little in the way of pixel-hunting. The sound is a consistent delight, with the music carrying an energetic Miami Vice vibe. Even the sound that tells you that you’ve been awarded points is addictive.
The plot takes a more linear route this time around as Sonny usually knows his next destination. Yet you’re not hand-fed what to do, and the puzzles remain fair and moderately difficult. The day-to-day busywork is toned down considerably (no more checking for flat tires!), but important police procedure still must be followed (such as collecting evidence) in order for Sonny to have a clue as to what’s going on (in addition to nabbing more points!). The design team also made a smart move in eliminating manual driving. Since Sonny drives an unmarked car and never needs to patrol the streets, driving would have become pointless and quite tedious.
The Vengeance has the best story in the series, thanks in large part to its cohesiveness. Your focus is unwaveringly on Bains and saving your girlfriend, giving each decision a gravity that was lacking before. You’ll race around town to follow Bains’s trail, coordinating with airport staff, a scuba diving team, hotel staff, and other police departments. You’ll even explore a sewer system! There is one highly contrived scene in the airplane that has no relation to the main plot, but it can be forgiven considering its entertainment value. And the endgame, which requires you to think quickly to rescue Marie and stay alive, is pitch-perfect.
As close to flawless as an adventure game can get, Police Quest 2 remains my favorite game of all time.
Contemporary Rating: Medium. Good parser, but going to the shooting range multiple times to adjust the sights on your gun would annoy many.
Cruelty Rating: Tough. If your only saved game is a split second before you’re going to die, then yes, you can make the game unwinnable. Otherwise, you should be fine. You can miss a ton of things through your investigation, and this will make the game more difficult (and less enjoyable), but it won’t lock you out.
Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Year: 1987
Platform: DOS; Amiga; Apple II; Atari ST; Macintosh
Score: 8
Review: My passion for adventure games–no doubt buoyed by playing alongside my dad–began with an AGI figure named Sonny Bonds. A traffic cop from Lytton, California, Sonny has aspirations of moving up in the police force, a goal roughly equal to his pursuit of beautiful women. Sonny begins the story performing his regular duties: briefings, pulling over unlawful drivers, and taking coffee breaks at Carol’s Caffeine Castle. Successfully navigating these basics of being a patrol officer will eventually help you earn a promotion to the narcotics division in order to pursue local drug lord Jesse Bains, the “Death Angel” mentioned in the title.
I love games that take place on Earth with real-world situations, because I can relate to the characters better and put myself in their shoes. Police Quest was created by police officer Jim Walls while on leave related to an on-the-job injury. The game’s depiction of accurate police procedure is so thorough that some precincts used it as a training tool to highlight the importance of following protocol. Yet the emphasis on correct police procedure is ridiculously high considering this is a regular ol’ adventure game. The most obnoxious example leads to a game over if you fail to check your squad car for flat tires. If you do a walk around, the tires will be fine; but if you ignore this protocol, the tire will magically end your career. And you must do the slow walk around EVERY SINGLE TIME you leave the police station (but not when you leave any other location!).
Thankfully, failure to do things correctly (such as correctly filing items into evidence) will often result in merely losing points rather than becoming stuck. And some procedures (like remembering the proper way to cuff a suspect) are a perfect example of how following the police manual is not only important but also enjoyable to learn and execute. While at times it can become mundane, driving Sonny around town and looking for suspicious vehicles gives the game a suspenseful, realistic feel. That is, until you run a red light or crash into a curb and hope you’ve saved your game recently.
Driving is fairly intuitive, which entails simply using the arrow keys and a keyboard shortcut to turn on your siren. The process for loading, aiming, and shooting your firearm is also slick; while you can use the parser, keyboard shortcuts make it less tedious while retaining the tension involved in the process. Even the copyright protection puzzles in the manual aren’t too annoying, as they are simply things that your average cop may need to look at a manual for anyway.
The typing parser is excellent for its time, understanding most obvious commands. The graphics are generally detailed, with impressive animations for handling your weapon and suspects. And while the sound effects are blips and bloops from the internal speaker, there are several scenes that are greatly enhanced by simple yet suspenseful background music. Even today, when Sonny approaches a suspect in a dangerous situation, the music gives me chills.
While I have played this game many times, I can find few faults. There is one ridiculous way to lock yourself out of a part of the game, but it only prevents you from completing that optional section. And if you choose to restore, it will only set you back about ten minutes or so. One annoying part is a poker game you must join. If you lose, you have to restore the game, and considering how much luck is involved, it can become irritating. There are also a few times where figuring out what to do next becomes tedious guesswork, visiting locations you’ve been, hoping it will advance the game.
While I am in the prime target audience for Police Quest, it really does have a lot that most adventure gamers appreciate. Every character has their own personality, even if they get little screen time. Captain Whipplestick becomes the victim of multiple pranks that you will take part in. There’s a sub-plot involving a colleague that tugs at the heartstrings. And your love interest Marie Wilkans (who was apparently Sonny’s high school sweetheart and is now unequivocally portrayed a sex worker) adds some much needed heart into this otherwise serious story. Add to that the realistic tension and intriguing arc of Sonny’s career, and you have yourself an all-around engaging gaming experience.
Publisher: Virgin Interactive
Developer: Westwood Studios
Year: 1997
Platform: Windows
Based on the cult-classic movie of the same name–starring Harrison Ford–this cyberpunk adventure is one licensed title that doesn’t disappoint. I unabashedly feel this is better than the source material. Being as that the movie is currently ranked #123 at IMDb, I am sure to be in the minority. Good news is if you liked the movie it is doubtful you’d be disappointed by the game.
In the future, where buildings rise above the city, crime is rampant, and man has colonized the moon, a mega corporation has developed replicants, super-humans with a predetermined lifespan. Naturally, some of the more advanced replicants have begun to become self-aware and are pissed that they have been essentially subjected to slavery for moon colonists. And some of them have come back to Earth in order to meet their maker with the intention of reversing their fate. Blade runners have been employed by the city to terminate all replicants before the bloodshed spreads. However, it’s not so simple, as determining who is and who isn’t a replicant is not a foolproof process and there is considerable sympathy for the replicants. It’s even possible some of the blade runners are replicants and don’t know it!
This premise is the same for the movie and the game. The designers of the game were smart in creating a new storyline, sharing only a few characters from the movie made fifteen years earlier (of which Sean Young and William Sanderson reprise their roles!). Not only does this keep the game from becoming stale, I felt the movie’s story was plodding with poor dialogue. To be fair, the plot of the game is no Oscar-winner, but I actually did enjoy the script significantly more, feeling the characters on my desktop were more sympathetic than the wooden personae on the silver screen. They did, however, keep the Voight-Kampff testing, and you can whip that out whenever you feel it’s appropriate.
I keep discussing this game as if it’s a movie, which is only because that’s what it feels like. There are very few puzzles and it is incredibly difficult to become stuck. Atmosphere and exploration rule the game, with gorgeous sights and beautiful sounds lifted straight from the movie. There is certainly detective work to be done, but a significant portion is optional, shedding a light on the finer points of your case. What gives Blade Runner the feel of a game (and not just an interactive movie) is that there are multiple paths, stories, and endings dependent on several factors. Every time you start a new game, character motivations change, which in turn changes some puzzles, dialogues, and eventually plot branches. In addition, whether or not you decide to terminate or sympathize with the replicants will also change the story. If you like this sort of thing, you’re in for a treat. Personally, I did not have a desire to replay the game multiple times, but I did reach a few endings on my own before downloading some save files to see the others. Blade Runner has incredible production values and it is worth trying to find everything there is to see.
Oh, and you can use your gun. Good times.
Contemporary Rating: Medium. Some modern timing issues in action-scenes.
Cruelty Rating: Polite. You can die, so saving is necessary. If you “screw up” the worst that happens if you take an alternate path through the game.
Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Year: 1991
Platform: DOS, Amiga
Score: 6
Another game, another promotion, another hair dye, another bad day for your significant other. Your wife Marie has been stabbed in a parking lot while leaving work. Well, she will be stabbed after you’ve played for a few hours, but once again Sierra spoiled this turn of events on the box cover, so whee! And now she’s in a coma. Though you are now a sergeant supervising the street cops, Captain Hall has authorized you to work as a homicide detective, acknowledging that you are particularly motivated to solve Marie’s stabbing and some recent murders that might also be related.
The production values are a mixed bag. The music and sound effects feel a bit understated compared to the energetic soundtrack of Police Quest 2. Even the chime for scoring a point feels embarrassed to be intruding. But the graphics once again take a leap forward thanks to the transition to VGA. Beautiful hand-drawn backgrounds help immerse you in the game world. Real actors are used for digitized character graphics, though sadly the conversations are not supplemented with any voice acting. Slick animations abound, from using your nightstick in close combat to pulling your firearm.
Speaking of which, firing your weapon remains intuitive while also coming with a targeting reticle. Driving is also back, though it is less intuitive and less useful than in Police Quest 1. While you do chase some perps, driving becomes tedious fairly soon and damn near impossible on fast computers without a slowdown program.
The plot, which entails investigating connected murders around Lytton, unfolds over a six-day period, though it’s not as tightly wound as the previous two games. You’ll be deep into uncovering the plot to murder Marie, and then have to take a break to go to court to defend a speeding ticket you gave out earlier in the week. While realistic, it feels tacked on and stalls the tension that had been building. Despite this, Sonny meets many interesting characters, such as a cheeky homeless lady who witnessed a murder and the office tech guy who’s perpetually annoyed that you need anything. You will visit some beautiful and some dreary locations, including Aspen Falls and the Old Nugget Saloon, and must once again use logical thinking and correct police procedure to track down the killer.
Though it saddens me to admit it, designer Jim Walls makes two significant mistakes here. First, you are assigned a partner that has zero personality outside of being super obviously slimy. She has no sense of humor, which might otherwise deflect from her shady dealings. She obviously does not belong on the police force, especially in a department requiring the professionalism of homicide. From the very start, she is up to no good, and the player can figure out the hows and whys fairly quickly. What’s irritating is that Sonny won’t even realize anything is suspicious until very late in the game. Meanwhile, the player has to watch the contrived charades for the duration.
case in point
Possibly even worse is that Sonny has lost all of his personality. Granted, he is in a serious position, and his wife is in the hospital, but he may as well have been a cipher with how flat and straightforward he’s portrayed. Thus, while it should be easy to sympathize with his plight, I wasn’t really feeling the feels.
The programmers also made a significant “We had to hurry to get this game out by Christmas” mistake. Day 6 is chock-full of some serious police work and intense situations. However, there is a bug that makes the entire day repeat if you return to the station unexpectedly; the opening scene is triggered, and you’re left doing everything over from the beginning.
Thankfully, there are some delightful new features worth pointing out. There are several potential endings, which would give the game even more replay value than the forerunners if it weren’t for the subpar plot. Also, when you die (which will be quite often, mostly in entertaining ways), Jim Walls will appear on the screen, mocking you. He provides what little humor is left in the series.
Definitely play this game if you liked the previous two, as it nicely wraps up the Bonds saga (assuming you get the good ending!). However, the game isn’t strong enough on its own to warrant a playthrough without the history attached to the characters. I fully admit my love for this game is mostly nostalgia.
Contemporary Rating: Medium. All the repetitive driving is annoying, plus it’s tied in to your computer’s processing speed, so getting it to work properly today is a chore.
Cruelty Rating: Polite. There is one walking-dead situation, but it’s only for about two minutes, so as long as your only save file isn’t at a ridiculous spot, you’ll be fine. Considering you can die frequently, you’ll be saving plenty anyway.
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