Police Quest 2: The Vengeance

The Good
THE STORYLINE. What a riveting story line. Even as a 9 near old back in 1992, I could understand and become excited by the storyline.

An all-time classic. This game was nearly responsible for me becoming a police officer. Nostalgia galore, I put this up there with the Tupac albums that could have been, the Bruce Lee Flicks we should have seen. It actually makes me depressed that no-one has made a police "quest" game in years. I take personal pride in the fact that (especially since I'm a computer science undergraduate myself) such a dated and "unpretty" game.....is still one of the greatest ever written by humanity. In terms of story, playability and entertainment....it has only been matched by Monkey Island 2 or perhaps GTA3 Vice City.

The fact that by the age of 11, I could type at a rate of 32wpm at least and had a reading age of 17-- SOLELY DUE TO THIS GAME!!! It is fair to say that modern day computer game are abusive to concentration span and perhaps intellectual development, but this game proved that it doesn't have to be like that.

The Bad
The fact that it took me one full year when I was a kid to leave the police station!, because I didn't know you had to press F3 to get into the car and make your partner keith enter the car also!!!!! LMAO This was the biggest puzzle in the game. I still never have seen it written in the manual. (just like in police quest 1 the VGA version, I was stuck in the final scene for 6 months because I didn't know the number for the taxi - and still don't know where I was supposed to get it) Well of course, they're are many features which may be unbearable to users nowadays. The graphics are extremley dated. The input system means you must use exactly the correct "keyword" or "phrase" at times, even when you know the correct course of action.

The Bottom Line
If I were to be honest, I would have to admit that only a very patient person or a diehard fan could sit down and play this game today. Its simply too dated(and possibly too complex) for modern users. Modern computer players don't like to think, they just hit the fire button.

However, if I've just managed to convince you, yes YOU, well you can download the game absolutley free at any abandonware site, and it would nearly fit on your mobile phone these days.