Rating POLICE QUEST

[Tawmis]

So - if you had to rate the games from best to worse - what order would you put them in?

Maybe say what you liked or disliked, to explain the order, to generate some conversation?

[MusicallyInspired]

1) Police Quest II - This is just a fun game. Great 80s music by Mark Seibert and a nice story. IMO it's a little easier on the police procedures than any other PQ game and it feels slightly more charismatic than the others as well. It has procedure but it's all camouflaged behind its presentation which just feels like a good 80s cop movie. I know Keith doesn't do anything, but just having him there smoking his cigarette and his cracking attitude and the Captain who sends you on your missions (missions? what word am I looking for here?) made it feel a little larger than life than the other titles. Loved all the locations and the story developments.

2) Police Quest I - This PQ has it all. Starting from the bottom with your average street beating speeding ticket-punching, driving shootouts, car accidents, work up to stake-outs and eventually going undercover as a detective in Narcotics. So much variety and it's all paced very well escalating in tension each time. And I loved finding out how many of the events I dealt with earlier were all leading up to a showdown with the Death Angel himself and I got to be the one to deal with him. Fantastic. The only reason it's under PQ2 is because I think PQ2 has more colourful atmosphere (figuratively speaking). There are a couple themes in the remake soundtrack that I like, but on the whole it was a bit disappointing. I get what it was going for but it just doesn't translate well to MIDI. Actually, it's been a dream of mine to rerecord the score with real guitars and a rock band-type approach. Many of the themes are all too similar, though, and not very interesting.

3) Police Quest III - I like the realistic art shift. Music is great as well. Very fitting to nab Jan Hammer for a Police Quest game composing with the MT-32 no less! The story is gripping in some parts but it's obvious its development was troubled. I heard Jane wanted to make it more dramatic while Walls was pushing for stricter and more regimented police procedure-driven style gameplay. It all falls apart at the very end, however, with the extremely anti-climactic back and forth to the courthouse for various court orders to get into the crackhouse. And then just a quick little shootout. And bam. Done. "You're relieved at the routine of it all." Nope. Not even close, Jim Walls. I love the world you've created and your games, but this one was a disappointment.

4) Police Quest: Open Season - I never really played it. However, I watched my dad play it when it was brand new and I was younger. When he first played it with a friend/relative they couldn't even get past the first night. months later he played with someone else and they finally did and played it through. It looks very dreary and rather even more boringly procedure-driven (if that's possible). Somehow PQ1-3 were more fun and "colourful". I can't explain it any other way. Figuratively and literally. They were just more fun and approachable. I suppose it accomplished just what it meant to, but it's not an interesting thing to go back to. The soundtrack is nothing to speak of either.

[notbobsmith]

1. Police Quest 1:
I loved the progression of things you get to do as a street cop: writing a ticket, the first time your life is in danger, your first arrest. All before you get involved in the main plot of the story.

2. Police Quest 2:
3. Police Quest 3:
It's easier if I compare these two. Both have Sonny as a homicide detective. One thing that bugged me about PQ3 is when you encounter the victim mid-way through the game, all you do is collect some evidence and write some notes. You don't talk to witnesses. You don't try to figure out where he was the last few hours before he died. I realize that as a game there are limitation with what you can do, but PQ2 actually had a pretty clever way around this. You have a murder investigation, but no mystery. You are hunting Bains. Any evidence collection is for making sure you have a solid case. So PQ2 lets you have a murder investigation and gives a reason for not having to go through all of the other steps like interviewing witnesses. Other things: I liked that PQ3 brought back the patrol stuff, but again I really didn't understand the point of the Morales subplot.

4. Police Quest 4:
I liked the idea of the game. The first day was a detailed murder investigation which I thought PQ3 was lacking. Unfortunately, it steadily drifted away from that. It's like the Uncanny Valley. The more realism they tried to put in, the more I noticed the flaws. Plot points remained unresolved. What was the killer's motivation? How did he pick his victims? What was the point of the drug/poison that they keep saying they couldn't identify? Det. Carey was also uninteresting. I realize that they were going for a Dragnet-esque character, but it just didn't work for me. There were times when he needed slang explained to him ("booty") as if he's been living under a rock. It doesn't help having not very good dialogue being delivered by not very good actors (Coroner: "I can tell you how he died. The why and by whom are up to you."). And to top it off, the finale had me saying "Ummmm, where's your warrant?" Something Police Quest has always handled well.

[Tawmis]

Police Quest III - I loved this game because it felt like your typical "Satanic Cult" 80's kind of movie!

Police Quest II - This was a large jump in improvement over Police Quest I, which all things considered was already amazing!

Police Quest I - Loved this game, but it took some serious time to remember all the procedures required when arresting someone to make sure they don't kill you ("He's got a knife!") or don't get out of court ("You were not read your rights.") But over all, I thought it was an amazing game!

[Rath Darkblade]

PQ2, PQ1, PQ3 (but only because i never finished PQ3).

I won't touch any of the later ones. I've seen lots of bad reviews there.