Summary
Someone from SonnyÂ’s past is back with a vengeance
The Good
One year has passed since Detective Sonny Bonds brought Jesse Bains to justice, making the city of Lytton safe for its citizens. It was not long when Sonny found out while working for Homicide, that Jesse Bains had escaped from prison. And thatÂ’s not the worse of it: Bains will kill anyone who provided testimony at his trial. One of them will be Sonny if he doesnÂ’t find him first.
The game starts off when Sonny gets a message in his basket, requesting he will appear in court acting as a witness in BainÂ’s retrial. Later, his worse fears come true when Capt. Fletcher Hall, SonnyÂ’s boss, tells him of BainÂ’s escape, he also tells him that Bains kidnaps the jailer. He then orders Sonny and his partner, Keith Robinson, to collect a mug shot of Bains, then go to the jail to interview the substitute jailer and a witness. After that, they are required to go to the Oak Tree Mall to investigate a stolen vehicle that was used to aid his escape.
This is where Sonny plays forensic scientist for the first time. Besides questioning witnesses, he must use his field kit to collect blood samples, dust for fingerprints, get any items left at the scenes, and take pictures. He must then give the evidence to the evidence officer at the LPD at the end of the day. Yes, Sonny plays forensic scientist most of the game. He will also have to do additional work like present warrants, send a S.W.A.T team over to a motel, and disarm a bomb on board an airplane
There will be a couple of scenarios where Sonny will have to use his gun. Occasionally, he will have to do some target practice to make sure his gun isnÂ’t out of alignment. If Sonny follows correct police procedures, his investigation leads out of California, where he will confront Bains for the last time.
There is a huge improvement to the
Police Quest series: Since PQ2 was made using SierraÂ’s new SCI engine, the game boosts high-quality graphics than the original PQ. Better still, mouse & sound card support is added, which supports the Roland MPU-401 MIDI and the Adlib Music Synthesizer.
The Bad
The target practice aspect of PQ2 can be boring, as you have to repeatedly do the same actions – draw gun, fire gun, lower gun, view target, move target back, adjust sights, draw gun, fire gun, lower gun, view target, move target back, adjust sights, etc., etc. – until your gun is aligned properly. When you run out of two clips of ammo doing this, you must get two fresh clips of ammo.
The Bottom Line
If you like forensic work in a computer game, or just like to disarm bombs, then this game may be for you. According to some people, this game could be the best of the PQ series. ****
