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)
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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
The Good
This game recreates the life of police officer Sonny Bonds on the job patrolling the mean streets of Lytton. It is fun to patrol the streets in your cruiser, responding to alerts, giving tickets to bad drivers & arresting offenders. The graphics are the standard Sierra pixels with more detailed drawings for close ups. The plot ramps up when you have to entrap...err, perform a sting operation on the local drug kingpin, Jessie the Death Angel Bains. Along the way, romance your high school girlfriend who is now a street hooker. This is not a typo.
The Bad
Much of the game play is directed by following proper police procedure as described in the manual. Failure to follow these procedures results in very bad things each & every time. It can be monotonous to do these steps every single game day but you must or you die! Also this game implies that cops have a weird double life. They uphold the law and arrest transgressors while following stringent rules but they also date prostitutes & have birthday parties with strippers. There is a subplot where a police sergeant is being harassed at work by a prankster known as the Gremlin (which is never resolved). To be clear, I am not saying cops are doing these things, the game is telling me cops are doing these things. Since Police Quest was written by a retired police officer, Jim Walls, I am left with some questions.
The Bottom Line
This game was the first Sierra adventure game I ever played so I have nostalgia for it. It is not the greatest adventure ever made but it is fun & interesting. Just make sure you perform vehicle inspection before driving your hooker girlfriend to your favourite sleazy dive bar or you WILL crash.
DOS · by Grumpy Quebecker (614) · 2023
The Good
Lots of stuff to do. (Also, lots of ways to die heh, heh) I mean, how many games do you come across where you can shower with your clothes on, or take off your clothes anywhere? I doubt there are many, if any others. That's what I like about text command games! Now, back to Police Quest. I like how you have to do things right. For instance, if you don't read people their rights before arresting them,
you lose. I really like the part where you intercept and crash the drug pass. I thought that was really cool. I also like how when you're driving, if you turn on your
sirens, you can go through red lights. Driving's tough though--that's how I've died the most.
The Bad
All Sierra adventure games are too short, this one included. Lots of play/replay value, though!
The Bottom Line
A good cop game.
DOS · by J. David Taylor (27) · 2003
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 Kingās 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 Kingās 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 Kingās 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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Related Sites +
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Crap Shoot
A humorous review on PC Gamer -
Hints for Police Quest 1
These hints will help you solve the game. -
ScummVM
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.