Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel

Gameplay

Police Quest: In Pursuit of The Death Angel, is an adventure game whose gameplay is centered on interacting with the environment to resolve a series of scenarios. These largely revolve around typical police work, such as securing crime scenes and recovering stolen vehicles, plus some important duty procedures. The original release of the game required the player to type in the desired actions, such as opening doors, pressing buttons or firing one's gun, while the remake allows the player to use the mouse to select actions from a menu and objects in the environment.

The lack of "traditional" puzzles made the game stand out at the time of release, although it also resulted in some criticism of the dry police work. Unlike many games of this genre, the style of play depends largely on a strict adherence to standard police rules and procedure. Failure to abide to proper procedure typically leads to the player being penalized on points, or having his character killed. For instance, if Sonny neglects to store his side arm in a gun lockers before entering the jail to book a prisoner, the prisoner will take the gun from him the moment his handcuffs are removed and shoot him with it, ending the game.

Setting and characters

Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel is based in the fictional town of Lytton, California. The player character is Sonny Bonds, an officer with the Lytton Police Department. The exact date it takes place is unclear, though dates mention in the game range between 1983 and 1986; it includes references to 1983 (Sonny arrests Jason Taselli on 9/7/83), 1985 (mentioned in an FBI warrant #, and the year-make of a motorcycle), and 1986 (A gun was stolen by Jason Taselli on 12/4/86 in Chicago) In Police Quest 2 the events of the first game took place between 1983-1987. Police Quest 2 includes conflicting dates for events of the first game (for example according to information in the game, Jessie Bains was arrest/conviction is listed as both 1983 and 1987, and the arrest/death of Jason Taselli is listed in 1983 and 1987 as well). According to Police Quest 3 (set during 1991), the events of the first game (or at least Jessie Bains arrest) occurred in 1987. Police Quest 1 is stated as taking place in 1992 in the remade version of the game, despite Police Quest 3 being set in 1991. The exact dates vary between each game.

Plot

Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel casts the player as Sonny Bonds, a police officer assigned to traffic duty in the fictional town of Lytton, California. His supervising officer, Sergeant Dooley, reveals in the morning briefing that the local teenagers are getting out of hand and are using cocaine, as well as a report of a stolen 1983 black Cadillac which Bonds and his fellow officers are ordered to keep a lookout for.

During his regular patrol, Bonds is sent to investigate a car crash. Upon investigation of the accident, Bonds discovers that the deceased driver of the vehicle (a drug dealer named Lonny West) has been shot in the head. After Sergeant Dooley arrives on the scene and takes control of the investigation, Bonds returns to his regular patrol. After a coffee break with fellow officer Steve, Bonds goes back on duty and gives a speeding ticket to a beautiful woman named Helen Hots (In the remake her name is changed to Tawnee), handles some bikers who are troubling a local eating establishment, and arrests a drunk driver. The shift finishes and Bonds visits "The Blue Room", a local hangout for off-duty police officers, where he talks with his friend Jack Cobb about her daughter Kathy's drug problem.

After returning to duty, Bonds locates the stolen Cadillac and pulls it over. With the help of Officer Jack, Bonds arrests the driver, Jason Taselli, and identifies the car as the stolen vehicle with a new light blue paint job. Further investigations reveal drugs which help to link Taselli with the murder of Lonny West. Partly due to his work on the case, Bonds is promoted to Acting Detective with the Narcotics division. Further investigations reveal the name of the drug lord to be Jessie Bains, "The Death Angel", and that he is also involved in an illegal gambling operation at the Hotel Delphoria. After learning about Kathy's death, the department vows to bring Bains to justice.

Going undercover, Bonds infiltrates the gambling ring at the Hotel Delphoria with the help of prostitute Marie Wilkins, and is taken to a card game with Jessie Bains. Gaining Bains' trust, Bonds is taken to Bains hotel room where Bonds calls in his backup. Jesse discovers Sonny's true identity but before he can kill him, the backup arrives and guns Bains down.

Development

The game is the most realistic of those developed by Sierra by the late eighties (when compared to Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, or Space Quest), and featured many puzzles where proper police procedure is required to succeed. It was released for the IBM PC, Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, and Apple IIGS. A SCI 1.1 enhanced version in 256 color VGA was released in 1992.

Reception

Computer Gaming World recommended Police Quest, praising some of the graphics as "the most terrific this reviewer has ever seen". Macworld was less positive, stating that the game "plays like a long version of a routine cop TV show, and you can't lose if you just follow the manual. The game begs for a challenging mystery".

Police Quest I was reported to have been used as a training tool for police officers:

[Police Quest] has proven to be a practical, effective training tool officers enjoy using. It safely demonstrates to rookies the consequences of failing to observe proper police procedures and can serve as a valuable refresher course for experienced officers.