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
Interesting Police simulation, a different kind of adventure
The Good
Although I had played nearly all of Sierraâs "big" titles â the 'Space Quest's, the 'Kingâs Quest's, the 'Leisure Suit Larry's, etc. back in their heyday, 'Police Quest' was one title that for whatever reason, I didnât get to play for some years. Having only got to finally play it only in more recent years, itâs interesting to see how this game holds up without the nostalgic tint that somewhat biases so many reviews, including my own.
Whilst the majority of other Quests from Sierra concentrated more on fantasy elements, the sometimes over-looked 'Police Quest' deals in real-life Police procedure, with the only way to win being doing things âby the bookâ, step-by-step, as if you were a genuine cop. The fact that it was written by Jim Walls, a former real-life cop in California helps give the game it's more "realistic" approach, as opposed to the glamorous, not-stop-shootout image of policing given in so many other games, and moviesâŚ
This adventure sees you as law officer Sonny Bonds, starting off as an âon the beatâ cop responding to routine calls. As the adventure develops, you find yourself climbing the promotion ladder as you set off in pursuit of the murderous, drug running âDeath Angelâ. This is most probably Sierraâs most down-to-earth and realistic adventure game ever. Most of it is quite serious, with just the odd line of humour thrown in here or there.
While LucasArts generally surpassed Sierraâs adventure games in later years, PQ shows that when Sierra tried, they could come up with something really original. A shame this creativity waned slightly in later releases, but thatâs another story.
The graphics⌠hard to decide whether this should be under âgoodâ or âbadâ; a little of both, really. They are adequate for their time, looking typically Sierra-ish of the era â anyone whoâs ever played a couple of Sierra adventure games will know what I mean; they all have a very similar design look. While looking very dated and hardly pushing the limits of EGA gaming forward, the graphics do the job, I guess.
The realism and insistence of getting every little thing right and âby the bookâ can be awkward to get to grips with at first, but once Iâd got into the early stages of play, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself drawn into it much, much more than I had at first expected.
I found part of the game's appeal was for it's variety of situations and places to visit in the course of your day-to-day Police work, giving the game a far less linear feel that in many other adventure games.
The Bad
The game insists you follow Police procedure (as described in the game manual) to the letter, and is VERY harsh in insisting on this. Many, MANY times during play, if you forget to do one small thing, the game is over. For example, if you forget to check over your squad car EVERY TIME before going out on patrol⌠you loose.
I consider myself a hardened adventure gamer, eventually being able to find my way through most situations that present themselves in adventures, but I must confess that I consulted hint and walk-though guides quite a few times when playing this game! I defy anyone to get maximum points on this game without playing through at least a dozen times! Even with aid of walk-through I was some points short of a perfect score at the end.
But the game's meanness doesnât end there. Itâs really HARSH at times. For example, at some points in the game, you must shower before changing clothes - if you forget to turn the shower off after you, the game docks you a point!!
Driving around the city of Lytton with little coloured lines representing cars - itâs very awkward, and even for the era, it looks pretty tacky! Whatâs more, driving badly (wrong side of the road, etc.) is fine, but jump a red light (in normal drive mode, not pursuit) and youâre scolded for breaking procedure and have to restore.
Itâs very easy to miss something vital or to mess things up, so a LOT of saving and restoring, with a long back-list of saves, is needed (even by Sierraâs standards!)
All this can make the game a little hard to get into, and itâs certainly not to everyoneâs taste.
The graphics, whilst they do they job and are actually quite good in places, are a little unimaginative in others, and are just so very Sierra-ish! Sonny looks practically identical to Gwydion, the lead in âKingâs Quest IIIâ, not to mention a passing resemblance to early renderings of 'Leisure Suit Larry', and several other Sierra game characters
The early text interface doesnât ease matters any, either. Whereas later gamesâ interfaces would, for example, open doors for you automatically, here you have to manually type âopen doorâ every time, making play seem a little long-winded sometimes. (Oh, and one trivial thing that niggled me: The text cursor at the bottom of the screen. Normally the text input line begins with a >, but for this adventure is was <, back to front. A teeny thing, but it bugged me none-the-less!)
Personally, I found the game's ending was a little flat, and almost an anti-climax after some of the scenes earlier in the game. The last few actions are done on "autopilot", which I found rather disappointing; I would have liked to have been more involved.
Oh, and the Poker game. For some reason, Sierra went through a long phase where they for some reason felt obliged to stick in some sort of gambling game as part of there adventures, and here is no exception. Having to play the damned game once is enough, but to have to play it twice⌠grrr! All-in-all, things really did feel like they began to run out of creativity towards the end of the game, a few more ideas would have been welcome.
While I believe that some of Sierraâs later VGA remakes were pointless, this game is one that does benefit in many ways, with some of the more obscure, over-picky bits toned down for that release, though the lack of text interface does take away from a lot of the feeling of involvement.
The Bottom Line
A game that won't be to all adventure players' tastes, but if youâre looking for something a little different and more realistic, this oneâs not a bad bet. If youâre willing to forgive the very dated graphics and have a walk-through handy to help you through the numerous over-harsh and obscure areas, there is some enjoyment to be had. Youâll either like it or loathe it, but if you like it, youâll probably like it A LOT.
(However I do feel that it's one of the very few Sierra games where the later VGA remake is generally a better play, even if it does loose the user input interface.)
DOS · by Jayson Firestorm (143) · 2004
One of the best text adventures
The Good
Regardless of the game, I like the idea of a text adventure about police work. So you're "fighting evil" like in any other game, but in a more realistic, procedural way. Doing all the preparations, considering safety etc. But I think the game might have been boring if Sonny Bonds hadn't been a bit like Roger Wilco. Sonny is supposed to be a 15 year veteran, but because the average player isn't, Sonny is treated more like a rookie, mocked and told off for making mistakes. Also, there's some light mockery of the police in general, good for those who have run-ins with the cops and I guess, acknowledging that sometimes the law sucks and deserves a bit of mockery. Undoubtedly, any mockery is balanced with deadly seriousness. The encounter with gunman "Marvin Hoffman" was probably the height of the tension in the game, you had to follow step-by-step procedure or be shot dead.
The Bad
The more I played the game, the more I started to feel that, as faithful to police work and police life it might be, it's a bit too black and white when it comes to cops and robbers. There's a bit of a "time to clean the filth from the streets" attitude. As the only villain in the game of any real depth, I think Jason Taselli/Marvin Hoffman is pretty respectable, he doesn't come quietly. One of the biggest problems with the game is Jessie "The Death Angel" Bains. As far as I'm concerned Taselli/Hoffman is the real death angel. Bains is only introduced late in the game as a friend of Taselli's and there's nothing to suggest he's bigger and badder than Taselli.
The Bottom Line
Well I still think it's one of the best text adventures, regardless of what one thinks of the cops. Maybe Space Quest 1 is a little better, because you're playing a very average fellow who is somehow given the chance to become the savior of his race.
DOS · by Andrew Fisher (697) · 2018
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 Kingâs 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 Kingâs 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 Kingâs 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
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.