I finished my replay of "Police Quest III: The Kindred"!

I wasn't even tailing him so close...

Police Quest III: The Kindred was a replay for me, so I remembered most of the game, which is the only reason I could finish it in three hours time. And even then I had to restore several times, because I got killed or because I forgot to take along essential items.

What an ominous shadow...

After that first day on the job, things picked up pretty fast, resulting in a couple of very short days. I thought it very peculiar that Sonny leaves for work when it's already 1 pm, reaches the office in 6 minutes, then quits again around 4 or 5 pm only to get back home at 10! I really wonder what the guy is doing in those missing hours...

There goes my evidence...

As far as the case is concerned, turns out there are some pentagram-loving serial killers on the loose. I was able to locate a witness of the mall attempt, found my suspect in a bar but then the following chase went awry. Then suddenly a ghost from the past popped up, leading to a final showdown with lots of driving back and forth, followed by some treachery as well though luckily I came prepared for that (though I did get shot down for not paying enough attention first).

Incoming!

I finished the game with 447 out of 460 points. It's so easy to miss stuff in this game! It's not always obvious where to go and what to do, the clues are very subtle, and it's all very procedural. Before playing you really should read through the entire manual and study the police procedures described there, and then when you encounter something hopefully you realize how you have to act. I don't recall how long this game took me when I played it for the first time in my teens, but I can imagine it was quite a while before I figured out every little aspect.

You can find the Police Quest Collection on Steam!
It's also available on GOG!

Classic replay: "Police Quest III: The Kindred"

New game!

It's been ages since I played Police Quest III: Kindred. I used to love this series, and I kinda still do, even though growing older I've learned about all the discrimination, prejudices, stereotypes and racism that hangs above it like the sword of Damocles. You just don't see those things as a kid... I know it's not the most popular series Sierra ever released, but I've always preferred games in more realistic settings and characters above fantasy and sci-fi games.

The struggles of leadership diplomacy...

In this third title in the series, Sonny Bonds has been promoted to Sergeant and thus has to take on a leadership role. The game starts with you giving that day's briefing, then interviewing one of the officers about a complaint against her. Said officer also needs help later on when a chauffeur she pulled over refuses to sign her citation, and procedure calls for a superior on the scene.

Never heard of this field sobriety test before...

This first day in Lytton you need to take care of an almost naked man upsetting some people in the park, and then patrol the highway. You need to pull over a couple of speeders, one guy driving too slow and holding up traffic, and another swerving from one lane to the other and back. Nothing truly exciting happens until at the end of the day you get called to the scene of an assault on the mall's parking lot. 

Uh-oh...

After one hour of playing, I reached day two. It's a replay for me, but I was a bit rusty and I had to restore my game a couple of times. First I forgot to pick up my nightstick in the changing room. Then I forgot to retrieve my gun after leaving it in the locker outside the prison. Finally I got run over on the highway.

A cop's salary seems to do you okay...

At the start of day two, I'm assigned back to homicide to investigate the previous night's murder attempt. So bye bye uniform, we're ready to hit to street plainsclothed! I found some evidence on the crime scene, so let's see if we can figure this case out again!

I finished my "Police Quest II: The Vengeance" replay in 2,5 hours!

I don't think he's presenting the safety instructions...

SPOILER WARNING!

Last time, I left Sonny and Keith at the Lytton airport right before they boarded the plane to Steelton in an attempt to catch up with escaped convict Jesse Bains, the Death Angel from the first game, working his way down a hit list of people who testified against him. He already kidnapped Sonny's girlfriend Marie, and now he's got his eyes on one Donald Colby (I didn't realize at first, but that's the guy Laura and I arrested at Bert's Park back in the first game, where he was dealing drugs).

Should I cut the red wire, or the blue one?

My last playing session of this replay of Police Quest II: The Vengeance confronts me with something I encountered before in this game, namely having to wait and sit around for something to happen. I'm just sitting in my seat, looking out the window, watching the stewardess, trying to talk to Keith, with nothing useful to do. But when something finally happens, all hell breaks loose. The plane is hijacked, I have to shoot the bad guys and then disarm a bomb. I remember the plane blowing up a couple of times when I first played this game, but for this replay I already knew where to look and how to go about it.

Wouldn't mind spending some time in this park. It looks lovely.

Once the plane lands in Steelton, we're taken to the police station for an update on the Bains situation, and then to a park where he was last sighted. Keith takes off again on his own, as he's wont to do. One of these days I swear I'll catch him taking a nap somewhere while I'm doing all the hard work!

The Sewers of a Thousand Deaths

I find my way into the sewer system and what is easily the hardest part of the replay. You have to walk across small ledges and bridges, I fall in a couple of times of course, and when I pass a pipe a huge gush of water blows me down at that exact moment. I walk into a pocket of methane gas and I'm not fast enough to walk back out of it. And I'm sure if I walk around the wrong corner I'll be eaten by a crocodile or some mutant rats or something. It's a bit of a maze down there...

Kissy, kissy, again!

But everything turns out alright, after being shot by Bains a couple of times when Marie was too loud and alerted him, I didn't have enough cover, or didn't shoot fast enough. I finally free Marie and we get out of there ASAP! I thought this final part would take me longer, and indeed I died several times, but I guess I still remembered enough to make quick work of this replay. I finished the game with a final score of 263 points out of a total 300. I also remember there was a time when someone was allegedly working on a remake of this game, in the similar style of the first game's remake, posting a couple of screenshots of the new background art, but then the project died apparently.

For my next classic playthrough I was going to go with King's Quest V: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, which I once started but quit when I died in a tavern after 30 minutes or so, so I really want to give this another guy, but then someone started encouraging me to play through the Space Quest series as well, of which I only ever played the first game because I'm not that into the sci-fi theme, but yeah, perhaps I should revisit that series as well... I don't know yet!

You can find the Police Quest Collection here!

Two hours into "Police Quest II: The Vengeance" and I'm a bit worried

Kissy, kissy!

I'm two hours into my replay of Police Quest II: The Vengeance and a lot has happened since last time. Remember: SPOILER WARNINGS!!!

Bains lured me to the airport and made me believe he was on a plane to Houston, but he only bought the tickets, he never boarded, that rascal! I did lose lots of time at the airport because I couldn't come up with the right phrasing in the text parser to ask where he went (apparently there's a list...) So back to the office we went, where my girlfriend Marie left me a message to call her. After searching for her phone number along time (I thought her surname was Wilkins but turns out in this game it's Wilkans...) she wanted to have dinner, so of course we went, got me some nice smooching, and the day ended. The next morning we got a report of a dead body found at an industrial site. The poor guy was shot in the head and stuffed in the trunk of a car. Turns out it was someone who testified in the Bains trial, as did Sonny and Marie themselves. I found an envelop with an address in the trunk, together with a death threat aimed at yours truly. So of course we drive to that address to see what's what.

I'm so glad there's no autopsy mini-game or anything like that...

Turns out Bains set up a trap at an inn, with a shotgun firing automatically when someone opened the door. I was lucky and Sonny could fling himself to the side just in time. After searching the room I find his hit list and indeed, but Marie and Sonny are on there, together with some other guys, and I even find the business card of one of them, Donald Colby. I'm starting to get a bit worried about Marie by now, so I head over to her home but the place has been ransacked, there are signs of a struggle, and Marie is nowhere to be found. There's even a fake note on the door that doesn't like anything like her handwriting.

Probably not the kind of action that manager is used to seeing at his place...

We return to the office and I call the number on that business card I found. Colby isn't too worried though, stating he's in the witness protection program in the city of Steelton. Just to make sure, I call the local cops there and they plan to tap his phone, just in case. I'm running around a bit lost, with nothing else to do than worry about Marie, so finally I say to hell with it, and I drive back to the airport to get me a flight to Steelton and talk to Colby personally.

Like I said before, this is replay, so I'm moving through the game a lot faster than a first-timer. I know what's coming next, so one more gaming session should wrap things up...

You can find the Police Quest Collection here!

Classic time: "Police Quest II: The Vengeance" playthrough

New game!

I've started my replay of Police Quest II: The Vengeance, and I'm 1 hour into it!

It's been a year since officer Sonny Bonds helped take down a notorious drug trafficker and murderer known as The Death Angel. The city of Lytton has returned to its old days of relative peace and quiet. Sonny remains at the job steadfastly, coming in every morning to take on the bad guys, chatting with his colleagues, and keeping his target practice scores up to snuff.

Let me try to aim for that headshot...

One of those mornings, however, the station is in an uproar when the news comes that Jessie Bains, The Death Angel, has escaped from jail. Sonny and his colleague Keith jump into their car to investigate. During this first hour of my playthrough I learned that Bains is holding a jailer hostage and that he took the poor man's car; that he then switched cars at a local mall parking lot; that he got rid of the jailer at Cotton Cove Park; and that he vamoosed to the airport.

Too bad you can't drive yourself in this game...

Police Quest II isn't a point 'n click adventure game but instead uses the text parser the early Sierra games were famous for. If you haven't played a text parser game (in a while), it takes some getting used to (again). You can't simply click and look at something you see; you need to describe the hotspot and hope it fits the programmers' descriptions, like you would in a text adventure (without graphics). My strategy is to first look around in a new environment. Normally you then get a list of all points of interest. Then you can look at those in detail and thus find items or information. Though often the game relies on general knowledge. To give a simple example: the game starts with Sonny sitting in his car in the police station's parking lot. Looking around will only tell you he's in that car, it won't give a description of the interior. So you have to realize the car has a glove box, and that there might be something important in there...

Ooh, a witness!

Walking around can be a bit clunky, especially when you have to maneuver around obstacles. At one point I had to restore my game because I had wandered into a phone booth (do young gamers today still know what that is, a phone booth?), but my partner Keith was following me and effectively blocking the way when I wanted to get back out, and the silly git just didn't move out of the way.

Something seriously spooked that jogger...

It's a pretty fast-paced game. At the start I was wandering around the police station for a while because I didn't have anything to do, just basically waiting for that call to come in about the escape. Then the ball gets rolling at quite the brisk pace. You drive from one location to another, getting call after call through dispatch whenever you try to return to the station thinking you've finished. Then you encounter what I guess could be called an action sequence at the park, where it's very possible to die in more ways than one.

This creepy scene is basically a pixel hunt...

These old Sierra games work with a point system, awarding you when you've done something right. Doing the necessary actions to "win" the game amounts to a huge percentage of the total points, but there are also hidden achievements, so to speak, which don't really matter in the big picture or the further course of the game but awards you those final points you might otherwise be missing in the end. I'm never playing to get a perfect score, anyway, just going through the general story...

A free space so close to the entrance? No way!

I left the game after one hour of playing and being stuck at the airport. I discovered Bains got rid of the gun he took off the jailer, then bought a ticket, but I don't know where to and I'm having some trouble handling the text parser to ask the right questions, it seems. At least I can't get anyone to tell me what ticket he bought exactly, so I'm not really sure what it is I'm missing, or what I have to do next. But so far I feel like this game is more worthy of the subtitle In Pursuit of the Death Angel than the first game was. I feel like I'm always going to be two steps behind this guy for a long time...

You can find the Police Quest Collection here!

I finished “Police Quest 1 (VGA)” in 4,5 hours!

Well, not really… I got tired of the poker games after an hour, so I reloaded and let the game win them for me so I could get my final screenshots for this playthrough post! Then I went back and spent another half hour to finally win the first poker game on my own! Now I still should play and win the SECOND poker game; I’m stubborn like that… I think I got a handle on it now, so I’m sure that will only take me another half hour or so…

Also, this was a replay for me, people! I’m no speedrunner, but it wasn’t a normal playthrough either. I know this game almost inside out – though I did only get 191 out of 225 Sierra points in the end…

I love how the walking cursor changes depending on your outfit

But anyway, how did I end up in these poker games to begin with? Well, after returning to the station, my boss had devised a complete plan where I had to go undercover and team up with my high school sweetheart turned “courtesan”. Of course when you go undercover, you need to make sure people don’t recognize you. So I had to dye my hair blonde (5th time in the locker room? I lost count...) and wear a white leisure suit. But I’m perfectly fine driving the car I’ve done all my previous police errands in to the hotel.

Lytton PD does have some fancy cars...

Once there I booked a room and met up with Marie in the bar. She introduced me to the bartender and we played our part to get me invited to the late night poker game. But first I return with Marie to my hotel room. Basically she wants to jump you, but you have to call her a cab. And this is where I was stuck for years in my childhood, because 411 isn’t common knowledge outside of the USA, people! I restarted the game dozens of times, looking for that phone number for the cab company all over the place. Only years later, when the internet came into existence and brought us online walkthroughs, did I figure out what the idea was.

This phone is the cause of YEARS of being stuck in this room...

So I call the cab, inform my boss about the situation, and return to the poker game. Which I lost. And kept losing. Seriously, if you’re looking for some easy money, invite me for a poker game. I’ll bring the pizza. Anyways, after a successful poker game (at the start you can actually choose to play yourself, not to play and lose, or not to play and win) you’re invited to ANOTHER game later on, with higher stakes. So I head back to my room to inform my boss by phone, and he sends a backup team with extra cash and a transmitter so they can find me. I head back to the bar, of course win that second game, and the big shot at the table takes me up to his penthouse suite and shoots me.

Yep, poker definitely isn't my game... Uno, anyone?

Okay, I got a little time before he does so, but I’m not immediately sure how I can prevent him from shooting me after he’s informed of my true identity with a phone call in the back. Didn’t I have a backup team somewhere? Where are they? Is my transmitter malfunctioning? No, turns out I have to tell them exactly where I am myself, and then the game’s finale plays out. I’m hero of the city, but I don’t really know why. Basically I was just following orders all the time, I don’t really had to solve any puzzles, and all the plans to take down the Death Angel were made by my superiors, I didn’t really have an active part in that, I was just a pawn.

Yay, the big finish!

I'll definitely be playing the other games in this series, but first some other things. "A Twisted Tale" will be released tomorrow, so I'll be posting about my playthrough. Then I'll be leaving Sierra for a bit to "crack my whip" at Lucasfilm Games! for my next classic playthrough!

You can find the Police Quest Collection here!

I'm 2 hours into "Police Quest 1 (VGA)" and things are picking up!

I'm not completely sure they're pointing their guns in the right direction....

During my second shift as officer Sonny Bonds, patrolling the streets of the city of Lytton, I ran into a stolen vehicle driving by a guy who was up to no good. So I arrested him and arranged a no bail warrant at the court house.

 

Objection!

 

Suddenly my new partner Laura takes me to the scene of a drug deal we've been informed about by anonymous tip. After arresting these guys, I get a message that Jack wanted to talk to me. Turns out his daughter Kathy took an overdose...

 

He he, I'm in the bushes and they don't know I'm here!!!

 

After my boss asked me to review some evidence, he apparently came up with a plan to infiltrate a hotel where some shady business is being done. I need to drive to the jail (for the 5th time in this game by now!) to make a deal with Marie Wilkans, the girl I saw at Wino Willy's, who has been arrested as well.

 

I always love in-game computer systems...

 

Driving back to the station, I'm called to a park where they found a dead body. Turns out it's the guy from the stolen vehicle, who escaped jail but has now been killed himself.

 

This ain't Lake Ponchartrain...

I have a bad feeling about this...

You can find the Police Quest Collection here!

Classic time: "Police Quest 1: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (VGA)" playthrough

New game! And showing off my big box ;)

I’ve started playing “Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel” and I’m 1 hour into it!

 

This is one of the first adventure games I ever played when I was a teenager, probably the first Sierra game too. I remember back then I was stuck for ages in the hotel room, because I didn’t know the number to call a taxi. Apparently you need to call Information, which is 411, a well-known number in the United States, like 911 for emergencies, but living in Belgium I had absolutely no idea. I replayed the game, scouring every corner of very location for any sign of a phone number, but without luck. It was only years later, when the internet came and online walkthroughs, that I could finally complete this game.

 

So I started another playthrough! As a beginning adventurer, I always liked this game because of its linearity, where you just have to follow orders, go where you’re told to go, there’s not much exploring involved, not much actual puzzling either. Of course later I progressed to more elaborate adventure games taking place in larger worlds, but replaying “Police Quest” is like watching a favorite cop movie, it only takes a couple of hours.

Ah, the driving interface! Crank it up to 55, then manually brake just in time to 35 before you take the corner, otherwise the game automatically lowers it to 30.

 

I’m Sonny Bonds, and I start my shift at the Lytton Police Department. First I have to go change in the locker room. It’s amazing how many times you have to change clothes and take a shower in this game… Then I attended the morning briefing. Apparently there’s a huge problem with drugs in this city (like everywhere in the world…) and we have to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. Then I’m send onto the streets, but not before I notice a notice on the noticeboard stating I can request a transfer from Traffic to Narcotics. Since drugs seems to be the theme in this game, I decide that’s a good decision, so I fill out a form before heading outside.

Deanna's very lucky that pole was there...

So I’m driving around when suddenly I get the call there’s been an accident somewhere. I look up where I’m supposed to go on the paper map that came in the big box of the game, and find the victim of a drive-by. The case is quickly taken out of my hands by my superiors, though, and they send me to continue my patrol. It doesn’t take long before dispatch reminds me I’m supposed to meet Steve at a Café somewhere. So I go there, chew the fat with Steve, until I get a call informing me of the identity of the drive-by victim, which turns out to be a low-level dealer.

Oh, you know how it is, Steve. I showered, I changed, I drove around some...

Then it’s back to the streets. While I wait for dispatch to send me somewhere, Sonny automatically slams on the brakes when a red convertible shoots past a stop sign right in front of me. I flick on the siren and start the chase. The woman driving tries to flirt with me, but no cigar, here’s your ticket, ma’am! I’m one who writes out imaginary tickets in real life as well, noticing all kinds of traffic inflictions, so yeah, warnings my rear bumper!

Two against one, eh? That calls for the extendable baton! Oh wait, it's the 90s, the medieval-like "nightstick" then...

After letting her yell at me some, I get back on the streets when suddenly Carol, the owner of the café where I met Steve, calls in a complaint. Turns out some bikers park their rides right in front of her door, so I seek them out and gently persuade them to move. After they’re gone, I chat a bit with Marie, who was some info on the local drug trade as well though she can’t really recall the correct names. Looks like she meets LOTS of men, can’t expect her to remember all their names…

Looks like he's here for comic relief or something. Where I live, a drunk driver just killed two cyclists. And he was already driving without a licence even; they'd revoked that a while back for a previous offence...

Anyways, back on the streets, I encounter a drunk driver, who I take in to jail. I have to resort to the newspaper that came with the box again, with all the penal codes I need to register him. Turns out I’m called back to the station after this, where Lieutenant Dooley, whose office is being vandalized by a chicken, tells me my shift is over. So I go change, again, and drive to another bar for the birthday party of another colleague. The guy is depressed, however, and he tells me he thinks his daughter is on drugs.

I never had such a girl dance on any of MY birthdays...

Okay, I get it now. Drugs are bad. And this game is all about finding and stopping the people responsible for getting it out there.

 

One of my other colleagues at the party suddenly tells me I promised I’d take over his shift, so it’s high time to return to the station and try to keep the streets safe! I wonder if they already processed my transfer request…

You can find the Police Quest Collection here!