Police Quest chatter (was The Mysterious King's Quest IV Cover.)

[envisge0ne]

It also has that alternate Gold Rush cover with different lettering and a different era-appropriate image of the designers on the front underneath the title. I remember seeing all of these as a kid . Wasn't there also a difference between PQ3 boxes where the "3" was handcuffs in one design but a red number "3" in another?

Yes, the 1991 Sierra Catalogue shows the 3 in red, while the final box has the 3 in a clear silver look. I thought there was a box where the 3 looked like handcuffs, but I couldn't find it. The 3 kinda looks shaped like handcuffs, so that's probably what they were going for

[MusicallyInspired]

The handcuffs seem to only be on the spine of the box, according to MobyGames. Weird. Maybe it was too confusing to see what it is on the front though.

https://www.mobygames.com/images/covers ... -sides.jpg

[Tawmis]

How it might have looked. :)

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. I wonder if, when this came out, some clueless person looked at the box and said, "What's Police Qust"?

Meanwhile, the quote at the top of the box made me laugh. "Reality role playing". There are some aspects of PQ3 (not to mention PQ1 or PQ4) that are very unrealistic -- but hey, it's fun.

[Tawmis]

Meanwhile, the quote at the top of the box made me laugh. "Reality role playing". There are some aspects of PQ3 (not to mention PQ1 or PQ4) that are very unrealistic -- but hey, it's fun.

Well, the idea is it takes place in a reality (as in present Earth), is how I read it.

And really, other than clues being immediately accessible (something NCIS, CSI, etc., all do) - I can't think of anything that's too far out there?

[Rath Darkblade]

Well ... Sonny dressing up as "Whitey" in PQ1 is very out there. Plus, his willingness (and even eagerness?) to involve Marie in the operation, when it could put here in real danger, is jarring. (Surely, if he cared about her, he'd say "ABSOLUTELY NO FRIGGIN' WAY!!! Stay out of this and let the professionals handle this!")

PQ2 has fewer "out there" moments, but I found it hard to swallow Sonny and Keith battling terrorists on the plane and disabling bombs. I'm no police officer myself, but I thought both of those are specialised skills? I mean, they're not something that a beat-cop-with-a-year's-experience-as-detective like Sonny could do. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

PQ3 ... well ... it was fairly obvious from the get-go that your partner was up to no good. Bad attitude, frequent pauses to take personal calls ... not professional. How does she stay on the police force? *shrug*

[Tawmis]

I guess when you said "unrealistic" I was expecting like doing outlandish, not of this world stuff...

Sonny as "Whitey" isn't out there, to me. Police Officers are known to go undercover.
As for terrorists on a plane, yeah - may be unusual, but certainly not impossible.
And as for the partner, there's a lot of bad cops on the force. Just turn on the news today and you'll see that.

[Rath Darkblade]

Fair enough, I agree that police officers sometimes go undercover. It's just ... Sonny Bonds as a Larry Laffer look-a-like (just with blond hair and a hat)? And Sonny acting as Marie's *ahem* procurer/pimp?

Also, in real life, the police wouldn't allow a civilian (Marie) to be in an undercover operation. Not to mention that if Sonny cares about her, he certainly wouldn't allow it. (Maybe the order comes from up on high and he can't overrule it, but still...)

[Tawmis]

Also, in real life, the police wouldn't allow a civilian (Marie) to be in an undercover operation. Not to mention that if Sonny cares about her, he certainly wouldn't allow it. (Maybe the order comes from up on high and he can't overrule it, but still...)

I don't think it's as rare as you think... a quick google...
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj ... _5/p8.html

Especially since Marie was already in the business of prostitution and had been arrested as such, and had information - so flipping her to become an informant and a part of the undercover work doesn't seem so unlikely, if it helps sell the undercover story. She wasn't actually doing anything out of the ordinary - since it was her who knew the folks.

[notbobsmith]

Tawmis is right. The police use informants all the time to help with undercover operations. One of the most notorious cases is that of "White Boy Rick".

Probably the most unrealistic things about PQ are the transmitter pen in PQ1. No way you can have something that small with '80s technology. The other thing is the tracking device in PQ3. The best you could do with transmitters in the early '90s is use triangulation. Now we have GPS transmitters that work the way you see in the game, but that would not have been available to the police at the time.

[Rath Darkblade]

Tawmis is right. The police use informants all the time to help with undercover operations. One of the most notorious cases is that of "White Boy Rick".

I've never heard that story before, but it's incredible what he had to go through. Of course he's not a saint, but he doesn't sound half as bad as he was painted.

Probably the most unrealistic things about PQ are the transmitter pen in PQ1. No way you can have something that small with '80s technology. The other thing is the tracking device in PQ3. The best you could do with transmitters in the early '90s is use triangulation. Now we have GPS transmitters that work the way you see in the game, but that would not have been available to the police at the time.

Hmm. Are there transmitter pens nowadays? I've seen similar things on google, but they're used in treating deafness.

Thanks for correcting me.

[notbobsmith]

Hmm. Are there transmitter pens nowadays? I've seen similar things on google, but they're used in treating deafness.

Thanks for correcting me.

I'm sure you could get something that would function as a transmitter pen now. Actually, you could use just a smart phone to record a conversation. You could also use one as a tracking device too.

One thing about the tracking device in PQ3: I seem to remember similar things appearing in TV shows and movies at the time. I always assumed that they worked like that.

[DeadPoolX]

PQ2 has fewer "out there" moments, but I found it hard to swallow Sonny and Keith battling terrorists on the plane and disabling bombs. I'm no police officer myself, but I thought both of those are specialised skills? I mean, they're not something that a beat-cop-with-a-year's-experience-as-detective like Sonny could do. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Police Quest 2 was actually the least realistic game in the series. Personally, I found PQ2 to be the most fun, but it really played out as a 1980s cop flick and as such, the realism that was present in PQ1 and to some extent PQ3 was notably absent.

[MusicallyInspired]

I agree. PQ2 is the most approachable for this reason IMO. It really does have the most out of this world cop TV show vibe, lightly peppered with real police procedure. PQ1 certainly has a bit of that as well to the story itself, but it's far more gritty and is a lot more down to earth in terms of procedures. PQ3 takes procedural gameplay to extremes if you ask me.

[Rath Darkblade]

I agree. PQ2 is the most approachable for this reason IMO. It really does have the most out of this world cop TV show vibe, lightly peppered with real police procedure.

Lytton PD Blue, perhaps? or maybe Lytton Vice?