Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel
- Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (1992 on DOS)
Description official description
Sonny Bonds is a small town policeman who must fight against the rising tide of drugs in his city. The game is based on real police procedure and adheres carefully to following the rules of police work. Beginning as a patrol officer and working into detectives, Sonny will chase down the infamous Death Angel and put an end to his criminal underworld.
A typical Sierra parser game built with the popular AGI engine, Police Quest differs from the others release by the company in the realism of the setting and travelling, that is done by car, controlled by the player using a overhead view (instead of the cabbie of Leisure Suit Larry or walking around in Space Quest). Some sections of the game require the player to be efficient driving the car (as there are a fair number of chases, and traffic rules also apply to the player).
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Credits (Amiga version)
11 People
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 75% (based on 22 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 109 ratings with 12 reviews)
Police Quest 1: A legendary start to a legendary series
The Good
I liked the story of this game very much, when you start your given a basic introduction to your avatar. an average cop (Sonny Bonds) in an average town. after you attend a briefing, and get ready to patrol in your car (car is driven by you in Realtime on a city screen). you hear of the case of "Death Angel" an infamous drug dealer. and after a few side-missions) you start to get leads for the death angel case. As this game was written by an ex-cop its packed full of realism and is one for any fan of any cop show or anyone who is interested in a good action&puzzle adventure game
This game combined the "text to action" format with the amazing story(s). You had to type "walk east" to walk east or "Pickup Radio" to pickup the radio, it wasn't a point and click adventure game (Flight Of The Amazon Queen, & Monkey Island style).
The Bad
If you didn't type it correctly it wouldn't work. and sometimes you had to type very fast. But all that does add to seriousness of being a cop, it helps the game become more real.
Sometimes when driving around the city screen, you could be waiting a long time for a case to happen.
The Bottom Line
This is a great adventure game to start you off. Or even one for the seasoned pro. This game has a decent point scoring system and different speeds (Speeds come in handy when your in your car and in certain dangerous times)
Amiga · by phil buckley (19) · 2006
It's Still a Very Fun Game to Play
The Good
Police Quest was the first adventure game I played and it's still one of my favourites.It's quite long for a game of this age and the story takes a few twists.Some scenes can get quite intense including one where you have to make a drug bust.There's lots to do in Lytton City so you never actually feel like your on a linear path,even though you are.There's actually an ending to this game and it's the best one I've seen in a game this old.
The Bad
The graphics are starting to get a little outdated.You can still play with them,but it might seem annoying at first.Sometimes,it can be very hard trying to figure out exactly what you have to type to do something.I had trouble pulling someone over in the game even though I had my siren on.Finally,there's a poker scene near the end of the game that's pretty tough and requires patience and time.
The Bottom Line
If you were ever interested in what a cop does,play Police quest 1-4 and learn the basics.While 2 and 4 have you playing detectives,1 and 3 have you playing more of a cop on his beat.All of them are good and should all be played.
DOS · by SamandMax (75) · 2001
If you ever REALLY wanted to know what being a cop was like, this game is well worth a look.
The Good
As the game that made me interested in law enforcement, and eventally led me to a career in the field, this game holds a very special place for me. Instead of the normal images of cops (shooting anything that moves and always getting the bad guys), this game presents a more realistic image of the job. The attention to actual police procedure, while not perfect down to the details, is very accure and to my knowledge, the most accure to be presented in a computer game to date. Beginning as a patrol officer, making traffic stops and arresting drunks, you slowly work through small leads to start to gain a picture of what is really going on in the town you work in. A good deal of the first part of the game is actually spent driving a car around the city. And a lot of the time, nothing happens. This is actually real. There is not a blazing gun battle every two minutes and if you are not careful you might miss that drunk on the road or that woman who ran the red light.
The latter part of the game gets a little more fantastic, but is still believable. While adding in elements of what I call "Hollywood" cop movies, you are selected for an undercover job and have to penetrate the underworld of a criminal. This usually is not how police work is done, at least in my experience, but it still presents this in a beleivable manner in which you still have to do things "by the book".
The Bad
The dounut shop. For God's sake, we get a bad enough reputation for this as it is. Give me a break.
The Bottom Line
Anyone who ever wanted to just get a small glimpse of what being a police officer is like should check this game out. Written by a former police officer, Jim Walls, this game shows some things that have never been touched on before or since. How often do you see cops just driving around looking for something, praying that something will happen before they die of boredom? While it is still a computer game, I would recommend someone check this out before they watch "Cops". In addition to that, this is one of the Sierra classic adventure games and shows the reason that Sierra became a great game company.
DOS · by Andy Roark (263) · 1999
Trivia
Cell Block Love
The love story between Sonny and Marie is retold - from Marie's point of view, and tongue-in-cheek - in the song Cell Block Love in Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out.
Development
The game was written by Jim Walls, a former California State Police Officer, who also wrote the following two Police Quest games.
Humour
- The unmarked cadillac used by the narcs is said to be confiscated from a recent arrest when Sonny looks at it personally, but if the player selects "See Object" and selects the key to the cadillac, the game will inform him that it is a government issued, unmarked car.
- If Sonny trades his integrity for some quick sex with Helen Hots, she will give him a telephone number to call her at. If he calls this number, he may reach the Police Commissioner's wife. It doesn't end well for his career.
References
- When the feathers of the chicken on the desk fall on the ground and the player types "pick up feather" the reply will be "Do that in King's Quest III"
- When the chicken is in Dooley's office, the Astro Chicken tune from Space Quest 3, 4 and 5 is played.
- Entering certain words in the crime computer comes up with amusing results. Some that work are programmers 'Al Lowe,' 'Ken Williams,' and 'Jim Walls.' Various dirty words also have listings.
- Another King’s Quest III reference can be found in the beginning of the game. Enter the briefing room and pick up the newspaper lying there. Browse through it until you stumble upon an article about a town called Daventry under siege by a three-headed dragon. Daventry is the town in which the fantasy adventure King’s Quest III is played. In the article, a gnome is mentioned as well. This could well be the one sitting on a chair in front of a cabin at the end of King’s Quest III.
- The pimp from Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards makes a cameo appearance in the game. He can be found behind bars at the Lytton City Jail.
Information also contributed by -Chris, B14ck W01f, Erwin Bergervoet, Jason Mugrave, Ju, just Ju..., Sciere and uclafalcon
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Crap Shoot
A humorous review on PC Gamer -
Hints for Police Quest 1
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supports the DOS, Macintosh, Amiga and Apple IIgs versions of Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel under Windows, Linux, Macintosh and other platforms.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Andy Roark.
Amiga added by POMAH. Apple IIgs added by Kabushi. Apple II added by Terok Nor. Atari ST added by Belboz. Macintosh added by lampadario.
Additional contributors: Trixter, Jeanne, Jayson Firestorm, Macs Black, Patrick Bregger.
Game added May 29, 1999. Last modified January 29, 2024.