Police Quest 2: The Vengeance

aka: PQ2, Police Quest II
Moby ID: 147
DOS Specs

Description official description

Little time has passed since the events of Police Quest, when Sonny Bonds climbed the ranks of the Lytton police department and became the key element in the arrest of Jesse Bains, the notorious drug lord. After the trial, Sonny's application to the Homicide division was accepted and proposed to Marie, who had her prostitution charges dropped and started a new life away from the streets. Life was good - until Bains escaped, taking advantage of a low-security prison and an inexperienced correctional officer. Sonny is now in danger from a vengeful Bains and is saddled with his new chain-smoker partner Keith. Sonny goes to the field again to capture Bains, but things are about to get awfully personal...

Using Sierra's new SCI engine, the graphics are more vibrant than in the first game, but gameplay remains basically the same, with the player ordering Sonny to move to a place in the scene (either using the directional keys or the new mouse interface) and a parser interface to interact with the game world. Game sequences are more varied, and include a shooting range, an underwater search or searching the inside of an escape vehicle. The driving sequences are gone, and the player can relax while reading the chatter between Sonny and Keith as they move from location to location. The approach to the game, however, is radically different. While the first (for a large part) is based on street police work, this sequel is oriented into forensics field work such as collecting evidences that link Bains into the happenings of the game.

Groups +

Screenshots

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (DOS version)

26 People · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 71% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 80 ratings with 11 reviews)

Police Quest goes from procedural to cop movie

The Good
Police Quest 2 starts off with a bang. Jessie 'the Death Angel' Bains escapes from jail & goes on a murder rampage through the city. Sonny Bonds, the player character, has been promoted to detective & must hunt down the murderous Bains & put him away -or down- for good. Many improvements have been made over its predecessor. Graphics are more detailed & the music helps establish that 80s Miami Vice vibe. You even have a partner who cracks wise but essentially does nothing. You must collect all the evidence on your perp. The strict adherence to procedure that was present in the first game has been abandoned. Now you are on your own to act as a homicide detective. Doing things wrong means getting reamed out by your stereotypical police captain or worse, death!

The Bad
SPOILERS This game breaks down towards the final act. In closing in on the bad guy, the story takes a few twists that contradict the series reliance on following police rules. In an airplane sequence you must kill 2 hijackers & defuse a bomb. After that you must corner the Death Angel, who has apparently gone full supervillain, in his hidden underground lair. Once again lethal force is the only solution. This seems strange considering that up to this point the game encourages you to avoid killing by following the proper rules of engagement. The whole hijacker plot seems to be there to pad out the game time as well. These sequences are jarring compared to the rest of the game.

The Bottom Line
Police Quest 2 is a good game that makes players feel like they are in a buddy cop movie but without the real-life routine of a police officer.

DOS · by Grumpy Quebecker (612) · 2023

A very in depth feeling of what it's like to be a detective.

The Good
When I was a kid, my neighbor was a cop. I always had this fascination with the police. Well, I did until I was a teenager and police would harass me just for be young and loitering around public. Having no idea what to do next is a feeling that will be lost on new generations of gamers. This game made me feel that way. It took me several months to complete simply because there were times when I was going around in circles not knowing where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do. Sounds boring, doesn't it? No it wasn't it just made you more aware of how much this game really got into your brain.

The Bad
If there was anything I didn't like about the game it was the suspense. Being a small child playing this, I felt more chills playing this game than I did watching Silence of the Lambs. That might explain my affinity towards Buffalo Bill. But the fact that my mother wouldn't let me see that movie until I was 16 but she let me play this game at 8 years old shows how much this game was underestimated for its impact. It was a real chiller for it's time.

The Bottom Line
I suppose that now-a-days there is a huge difficulty in trying to convey the scope of how Police Quest or even any of Sierra’s text games affected gaming history, but seeing as how I played these series of games since I was still having trouble crapping my pants, I sort of have more perspective. Police Quest 2 was the sequel to one of the most true-to-life adventure games, ever. It was so thorough that real police stations would have copies of the game on their computers to give rookies a feeling of what kind of mindset real police officers needed to have. This is the element of the game that made me feel uneasy playing it. This game puts you in the shoes of Sonny Bonds, Vice cop for the Lytton Police Department in Lytton, California. The murderous drug dealer, Jessie Baines, who we caught in the prequel to this game, has escaped and you mist hunt him down. You don’t hunt him down like a criminal mastermind in a buddy cop film. You have to take leads that you get from witnesses, you have to track him down like a real detective. Truthfully…This game was not very much fun. It was very official. It’s a bit slow, but very in depth. Every little nuance affected whether or not you could make it through to certain parts, so many times you found yourself reloading saved games just to inch a tiny bit further. One part comes to mind where you have to SCUBA dive to recover a corpse. I died so many times just getting caught up in the water’s current. Sonny Bonds is a good character that you grow to love, so when he dies you feel a sense of shame for your carelessness in letting him die. It’s not like Leisure Suit Larry where his failure or death seems more satirical. There is something more human about Sonny Bonds and his life splayed out in game format makes you connected to him as if he were a real person. I’m gonna open up to you a little bit here…When I was a child I had a terminal heart condition and I spent a huge chuck of childhood in the hospital befriending children who would later go on to die before they reached their teens. This gives you a screwed up sense of life and death. Police Quest 2 helped me get through this truly very painful time in my life, so it has a special place in my heart. Playing this game on PS1(not Playstation, but the IBM PS1) with three game disks was probably the best fun I could have ever had in a time where the few friends I had are dead now. Maybe this makes me morbid, but this also makes me think that if not for the physical requirements of police work, I’d make a damn fine detective.

DOS · by AL Bastard (3) · 2006

A worthy sequel and an exciting adventure.

The Good
Jim Walls' main skill as a game writer, besides making you feel like you ARE a police officer (through his experience), is giving the gamer great characters and a great setting with which to base his game upon. While elements of the game's theme may lack originality, it holds up well under the memorable people that you meet and interact with, and the environment of Lytton.

PQII is more forgiving than PQI. You don't lose the game on the spot when you accidentally leave a print un-dusted.

The soundtrack, composed and performed by Mark Siebert, is very nice. The music is appropriate and atmospheric, and some of the tunes will stay in your mind for a long time. There isn't enough of it, however! A good deal of the game is played in silence.

PQII is quite exciting. There is a little more action than in PQI, and parts will quite honestly have you on the edge of your seat.

I enjoyed the game's graphics. Sierra did some great stuff with 16 colors, and PQ2 is no exception. The colors are bright and defined, and the close-ups and in-game graphics are as nice to look at in 1999 as they were in 1988.

The Bad
Lacks the gritty realism of PQI. For its time, PQI was a very 'mature' game, not to be played by young children. PQII is a little more appropriate for kids - and while still quite exciting, as I mentioned, some of the original 'feel' is lost.

PQII is more forgiving than PQI. You can draw your gun anywhere you please, and even take a pot shot or two in the park.

The skyjacking scene. It simply doesn't belong.

The Bottom Line
Police Quest II is definitely worth your time, and I bet that Sonny Bonds will be one of your favorite game heroes by the time you're through playing.

DOS · by Eurythmic (2663) · 1999

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
About PC-98 version's 16 color mode Infernos (44016) May 25, 2023

Trivia

Easter Eggs

  • If you're clever enough to "hack" into the office computers, you discover that Laura Watts, Sonny's narcotics partner from PQI, was found out to be the "Gremlin" that antagonized Dooley. She quietly retired from the force after she was caught.
  • Look around in the airport, and you will see Larry Laffer (and hear a quick rendition of 'For Your Thighs Only').
  • Take a second look at the Victor Simms picture from the manual. Remind you of anything? ("Get your stinkin' paws off me, you damned dirty ape!")

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Police Quest Collection
Released 2006 on Windows
Police Quest 3: The Kindred
Released 1991 on DOS, 1992 on Amiga
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel
Released 1987 on Amiga, DOS, 1988 on Atari ST...
Daryl F. Gates Police Quest: Open Season
Released 1993 on DOS, Windows 3.x, Macintosh
Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest: SWAT
Released 1995 on DOS, Windows, Windows 3.x
Police Simulator
Released 2010 on Windows
City Patrol: Police
Released 2018 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Police: Destruction Street
Released 2017 on Windows

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 147
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Andy Roark.

Amiga added by POMAH. PC-98, Atari ST added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Echidna Boy, formercontrib, Picard.

Game added May 29, 1999. Last modified January 29, 2024.