PQ: The Best/Worse Part Of This Game Was...

[Tawmis]

The Best/Worse Part Of This Game Was...

Well - the idea here is - every game (or series, where there was more than one) had some GREAT moments, but there were some, no matter how great the rest of the game was - that had some stinkers. (For example, GK3 over all was an amazing game; but ask anyone about the mustache puzzle of the game, and they will probably all groan).

So I want to see what everyone's Best/Worse moments were for a game... and if there's a series - name Best and Worse for each one, if you're so inclined.

[notbobsmith]

PQ1 (AGI):
GOOD: I loved the final confrontation at the end.
BAD: Probably the driving.

PQ2:
GOOD: Encountering Bains at Cotton Cove
BAD: Keith is useless as a partner. A one point he leave and tells you that he's just going to smoke!

PQ3:
GOOD: Marie's attack is brutal and jarring
BAD: I never really understood the Morales sub-plot

PQ4:
GOOD: The attention to detail of a homicide investigation at the beginning of the game
BAD: Having that go out the window by the end

[Tawmis]

PQ1 (AGI):
GOOD: I loved the final confrontation at the end.
BAD: Probably the driving.

Agreed on both. I thought PQ did a great job of making this pixelated villain really stand out.

PQ2:
GOOD: Encountering Bains at Cotton Cove
BAD: Keith is useless as a partner. A one point he leave and tells you that he's just going to smoke!

Well it was either go smoke or get donuts... being a cop is stressful!

PQ3:
GOOD: Marie's attack is brutal and jarring
BAD: I never really understood the Morales sub-plot

I need to eventually replay PQ3... I can't remember the Morales story.

PQ4:
GOOD: The attention to detail of a homicide investigation at the beginning of the game
BAD: Having that go out the window by the end

[MusicallyInspired]

PQ1: In Pursuit of the Death Angel
Best: Such a great story blended perfectly with procedure. Though procedure was still fairly heavy. But it has so many elements from patrol, to stakeouts, to undercover work. Really spanned a lot. Probably the most out of all of them?
Worst: Poker.

PQ2: The Vengeance
Best: This game seems a little more approachable than the first. A little easier to get into and more forgiving. Somehow. I really enjoyed the progression, the locations, the characters. It just feels like it had more life and really felt like Lethal Weapon or something. It feels most like a cop movie and the least like Police Simulator. But procedure is still present. I still think PQ2 is the model to follow for a good Police Quest game.
Worst: It feels short? I don't know. It's pretty good.

PQ3: The Kindred
Best: I love the surprise plot twist and ties to the previous two games. I wasn't expecting that. But that's the hand of Jane Jensen at work. The soundtrack by Jan Hammer was also fantastic. Perfect use of the MT-32. Was really in its element as an 80s synth module.
Worst: Going back and forth to get court orders to break into the crackhouse at the end and the anticlimactic finish once you finally get inside. I understand that Police Quest is all about procedure, but maybe that could have been mentioned it in a box of text or something instead of making you go back and forth so many times. "You're relieved at the routine of it all" Um, no, Jim Walls. I'm not.

PQ4: Open Season
Best: It looks beautiful.
Worst: It's not in the slightly more charismatic and engaging universe of Sonny Bonds. It feels more like CSI or something. More gritty. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but I just miss Sonny Bonds and his continuing story.

[Tawmis]

PQ4: Open Season
Best: It looks beautiful.
Worst: It's not in the slightly more charismatic and engaging universe of Sonny Bonds. It feels more like CSI or something. More gritty. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but I just miss Sonny Bonds and his continuing story.

This is perfect. Because I enjoyed PQ4... but as it's own game. As you said, it was WAY darker and more of a CSI type game... which was enjoyable... But definitely didn't have the ... home feeling... that Police Quest had.

[MusicallyInspired]

I liked the idea of Lytton being a fairly wholesome city that is slowly starting to be eaten away by more and more crime poisoning your fair town and you're part of the force (police force, if you will) that is attempting to fight it off. It really gets you motivated and sits you squarely in Sonny's mindset. Open Season just takes place in crime-ridden LA. Nothing redeeming about it lol. Just being a detective in a trash city. At least, that's how it portrays it. Which has a sense of fascination about it. But hey, I just miss Lytton. It felt like Mayberry being taken over by druglords, even though it's a larger city than Mayberry of course.

[Tawmis]

I liked the idea of Lytton being a fairly wholesome city that is slowly starting to be eaten away by more and more crime poisoning your fair town and you're part of the force (police force, if you will) that is attempting to fight it off. It really gets you motivated and sits you squarely in Sonny's mindset. Open Season just takes place in crime-ridden LA. Nothing redeeming about it lol. Just being a detective in a trash city. At least, that's how it portrays it. Which has a sense of fascination about it. But hey, I just miss Lytton. It felt like Mayberry being taken over by druglords, even though it's a larger city than Mayberry of course.

I agree - that's why I was saying that PQ4 was cool for what it was... but PQ1-3 had a ... home feeling. A Mayberry feeling is probably a better way to say it!

[notbobsmith]

PQ3:
GOOD: Marie's attack is brutal and jarring
BAD: I never really understood the Morales sub-plot

I need to eventually replay PQ3... I can't remember the Morales story.

She betrays and almost kills you in the end. Throughout the game you are apparently suspicious of her, even stealing her keys so you can make a copy, but there's no reason for your suspicion. Early on, you learn that she's not a very good cop, but the betrayal comes completely out of nowhere.

[notbobsmith]

PQ4: Open Season
Best: It looks beautiful.
Worst: It's not in the slightly more charismatic and engaging universe of Sonny Bonds. It feels more like CSI or something. More gritty. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but I just miss Sonny Bonds and his continuing story.

This is perfect. Because I enjoyed PQ4... but as it's own game. As you said, it was WAY darker and more of a CSI type game... which was enjoyable... But definitely didn't have the ... home feeling... that Police Quest had.

I never really liked PQ4. Like I said, the beginning had a lot of promise, but the conclusion just left a lot of unanswered questions. Det. Carey is too wooden, which may have been an homage to "Dragnet" but makes him hard to relate to.

I also like Lytton as the setting. It's a relatively quiet small city where you get the impression that what you are doing makes a difference. I said my "worst" part of PQ1 was the driving, but that is only because of the tedium and the frequent crashes (the car kind, not the computer). The city map with residential, commercial and industrial areas really gives the town a lot of character. The areas even seem to flow together naturally considering someone had to create a fictitious city with only so many screens. That was one thing about PQ3 that bugged me. You just get a few green lines on a black screen.

[notbobsmith]

PQ1: In Pursuit of the Death Angel
Best: Such a great story blended perfectly with procedure. Though procedure was still fairly heavy. But it has so many elements from patrol, to stakeouts, to undercover work. Really spanned a lot. Probably the most out of all of them?
Worst: Poker.

I think the variety of things is why I like the original the best.

PQ3: The Kindred
Best: I love the surprise plot twist and ties to the previous two games. I wasn't expecting that. But that's the hand of Jane Jensen at work. The soundtrack by Jan Hammer was also fantastic. Perfect use of the MT-32. Was really in its element as an 80s synth module.
Worst: Going back and forth to get court orders to break into the crackhouse at the end and the anticlimactic finish once you finally get inside. I understand that Police Quest is all about procedure, but maybe that could have been mentioned it in a box of text or something instead of making you go back and forth so many times. "You're relieved at the routine of it all" Um, no, Jim Walls. I'm not.

I thought PQ2 had better ties to the original. Many of the officers return. You revisit places like Cotton Cove. They even explain what happened to Sonny's Corvette (why is he dating Marie again?). All of the officers in PQ3 are new. Why couldn't the homicide captain be the same character from PQ2?

[MusicallyInspired]

He wasn't dating her at all in PQ1. She was just an acquaintance. He helped get her out of that scene and put her life together and by PQ2 they were dating. That's another good thing about Bonds-verse Police Quest that had an overarching feeling of progression that what you did mattered with helping Marie, falling for her, dating her, and then by PQ3 having married her.

It is confusing why they didn't bring certain characters back. But then again, PQ2 always felt more like the fun 80s buddy cop movie while PQ1 and PQ3 were more realistic and formal. I can't see cigarette-smoking useless-partner Keith or the shouting J. Jonah Jameson-like captain in PQ1 or PQ3's universe lol.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm... I wasn't sure what to make of PQ1 and PQ2. Some bits of it struck me a little like the "Police Academy" movies (especially in PQ1, when the "Gremlin" leaves a live chicken on the Commanding Officer's desk). On the other hand, the budding romance between Sonny and Marie could have come from any police movie (but credit to the writers that they wrote it in a different way).

MI, I'm not sure what you mean by "fun 80s buddy cop movie". Are you referring to "Police Academy"? Or "48 Hours"? Or "Lethal Weapon"? Or...

Yes, I'm really not sure what happened to Keith. He goes for a smoke and never comes back. (Maybe he had a coughing fit?)

PQ1
Best part: the many deaths of Sonny Bonds. (Favourite one: drop uniform). The Gremlin and his chicken.
Worst part: Poker is a little repetitive. Driving is a little monotonous, but made easier if you know how to control the car. (Thank goodness that Sonny parks his car himself).

PQ2
Best part: the writing. (Leisure Suit Larry makes a cameo!) The plot (and subplots - e.g. Sonny and Keith foil a hijacking!)
Worst part: diving in the lake. Kept dying because I wasn't sure what to do.

Haven't played the others; at least, I started PQ3 but never finished it.

[Tawmis]

MI, I'm not sure what you mean by "fun 80s buddy cop movie". Are you referring to "Police Academy"? Or "48 Hours"? Or "Lethal Weapon"? Or...

I think he mentions Lethal Weapon in one of the posts.

[MusicallyInspired]

Yeah, I don't know. PQ2 just feels a little more "Hollywood-esque" than the others. If there were a spectrum, PQ1 would be in the middle between the "Hollywood-esque" vibe of PQ2 and the rigid procedure-laden PQ3. It's a great balance, actually.

Nice image, Tawm lol.

[Tawmis]

Nice image, Tawm lol.

Thank you, sir.

LETHAL WEAPON ranks up there as some of my favorite movies... couldn't pass on a chance to do this.