POLICE QUEST



    This solution allows you to step through each stage of the adventure by

    pressing RETURN. If you press the space bar you will be presented with

    a full screen of clues in order. To quit at any time press Q.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Fighting crime in the streets of Lytton used to be a mostly nice &

    friendly job with just the occasional serious offence that comes with

    the territory - or so Jack says. Fact is, he's been a member of the

    department much longer than me - I never thought of my job as merely

    "nice & friendly". What with dope dealers, murderers, rapists and other

    hoodlums on the streets these days Lytton is no longer a nice quiet

    town. So it's up to us to keep it as much of a safe place as is humanly

    possible.



    It was the morning of what might have been just another day in the

    field and I was waiting for Dooley's briefing to help me & the public

    safely through another day. I went into the locker room, took my gun

    and ammo, loaded, took my briefcase and walked into the briefing room

    to get the latest news.



    Hi everyone to another glorious day in the business of solving

    adventures. Not a fantasy or s.f. role-playing simulation this time,

    but the latest text/graphics adventure from the guys that created

    Leisure Suit Larry,



    Sonny Bonds is the name of the blue-uniformed police officer that

    you're supposed to guide through traffic accidents, arrests, seductions

    and many other situations that will prove a definite health hazard if

    not properly executed. Police Quest is a "typical" Sierra game that

    features a good deal of variation, a reasonable deal of dry wit (not as

    much as Larry but then this is supposed to be a more or less serious

    challenge) and all the advantages and disadvantages inherent to this

    particular kind of game. You are advised to make a lot of different

    save positions and keep them on a (backup) disk because you may find

    that a fatal mistake is not always obvious at once; and when you find

    out that you made an error two hours of play before and you don't have

    a save position prior to that point you can get very frustrated.

    Believe me.



    Now, Sonny Bonds, must you always be late for briefing?



    Briefing was short and if it wasn't for the Lytton Tribune and the

    other note my time there would have been wasted. So I read the news,

    got myself a radio and the keys to my patrol car and checked a couple

    of things on the computer. Then, ready...set...go! checked the car and

    its contents and boy, driving sure is a hard thing in Lytton these

    days. But as usual I survived and after driving aroun town for a while

    looking around a bit I got a call from the station about a traffic

    accident. I called in, responded to the news and shortly arrived at the

    scene where some silly dude (who later on appeared to have been shot)

    had tried to enter a building with a car - and without bothering about

    such things as an entrance.



    I reported the situation and, while waiting for help, talked to an

    anxious looking young man who seemed positive that the accident was not

    an accident at all but the result of a brutal murder. The news he gave

    me neatly fitted some other scraps of information but it wasn't enough

    to build a case on so I waited for my relieve and subsequently drove to

    Carol's Coffee Castle where Steve was waiting for me. Good coffee and

    an interesting telephone conversation kept me thinking while I hit the

    streets again, ready to write a million tickets.



    I hadn't gone two miles when some hot red sports car jumped a red light

    and disappeared around a corner. I followed that car for a long time

    before finally the driver realised it wasn't going to work and slowly

    drove over to the curb. I took my ticket book and pen, called in, and

    walked to the little red car.



    And found a spoiled rich girl with the looks and manners of a 20th

    century Cleopatra. She tried to talk me into something but a

    professional man doesn't yield to temptation (aargh!) so I kept cool

    and checked her license, wrote a ticket, ignoring all kinds of abusive

    language and finally making it back to my own car where I discovered

    that I was profusely sweating and had completely forgotten to sign the

    ticket and hand it to her. Well, you can't win 'em all.



    After that poor excuse for a policeman's work I decided to make up for

    it first chance I got - and that chance came all too soon. When I

    entered Carol's I saw some bikes standing in front of the door and I

    just knew there was going to be trouble. I talked to Carol and got

    invited (instructed is more like it) to ask the guys to be less liberal

    in using up her parking space. So I went next door into Wino Willy's

    beer joint and was immediately provoked by some unshaven beer-drinking

    half-human motorgang hoodlums but the good use of my nightstick quickly

    reminded them of the "force of the law" and with a polite excuse they

    removed themselves. And their bikes.



    The next chapter in crime-fighting Sonny Bond's short & daring career

    was the prolonged pursuit of a very erratically driving very drunk dude

    whom I merely had to give a test to convince him of better places to be

    than on the street in his own car. I checked his license and read him

    his Miranda rights and witnessed how the jailer shared my opinion and

    when I left the drunk in his custody, replaced my gun and went to my

    car I really felt like I'd done a good job protecting the public - but

    much more was to come.



    I called in and realised that now was as good a time as any to drop a

    request for promotion to narcotics, so I left a memo in the basket and

    did all the things necessary to change clothes and hit the streets in

    my Corvette. I was still thinking about the infamous Gremlin's actions

    (kind of funny so I didn't even bother to find out who it was) and made

    my way to the Blue Room.



    Inside, I played some music and drank some wine and listened to a sad

    story from Jack and suddenly I didn't feel like dancing and drinking

    anymore. Luckily someone reminded me that it was my turn for late duty

    so I got out fast and returned to the police station just in time for

    another visit to the briefing room where I located an interesting note

    and (once outside) also established that my memo was "under

    consideration". How nice.



    I hit the streets once more and before long I was in pursuit of that

    Cadillac - a very dangerous driver and a very hard job but after many

    attempts to escape he finally realised he wasn't going to shake me and

    parked his car. Seeing that we were supposed to be dealing with a very

    dangerous criminal here I called in and requested backup.



    Following the entire procedure and not forgetting to take the man's

    weapon from him I booked one Marvin Hoffman but we both knew that this

    was not his real name. Found some interesting things in his car before

    I brought him to jail on a charge of Drug Trafficking - hoping he would

    stay there for an indeterminate time.



    A message from Morgan (I had been promoted!) convinced me that an

    indeterminate time would prove to be no time flat if I didn't find some

    way to prove that Hoffman was dangerous and should be denied bail. I

    checked some notes and files and found that one Hoffman was the same as

    one Jason Taselli (not only the faces matched but also the tattoo) and

    quickly went to court where I boldly asked the clerk to let me in for

    an emergency.



    Judge let me in and gave me a chance to offer her the file and the

    poster and explain my case, I told her something about that flower

    tattoo and when I left the courtroom I had a no-bail warrant for Mr.

    "Hoffman". I went to jail and arrived just in time to prohibit

    Taselli's premature release from custody. I think I made the jailor's

    day there; he was real friendly to me.



    My next operation in the field of narcotic warfare was breaking up and

    busting two dudes dealing in the park. With gorgeous but professional

    Laura as my backup, and never forgetting the correct procedure to

    follow, we found lots of interesting stuff (not sugar!) and booked both

    suspects. After this little success, things rapidly went downhill.

    First of all, I got the news that Jack's daughter had died of an

    overdose, and another thing was that the guy I'd booked earlier on,

    Jason Taselli (alias "Hoffman") had escaped from jail and was later on

    found dead in the grove - I had to identify him and once more saw that

    tattoo. Then Sweet Cheeks Marie got busted but Morgan had a good idea

    and in order to nail the infamous Death Angel who was responsible for

    most of the bad news spreading around town it was suggested I got Marie

    released from jail - if she agreed to help the hotel operation, which

    she did.



    The things you have to do to be a narcotics agent; I even had to bleach

    my hair. So, after thorough briefing, I left everything that might give

    me away in the police station and kept the things that might come in

    handy and went on my way to the Place of the Clue: the Hotel

    Delphoria.



    I got a room there, made some calls and soon found myself playing poker

    with two illegal gamblers and - oops! - the Death Angel himself. He

    seemed impressed with my play and asked me to join in for a private

    game later on; I accepted. But first I got myself a voice transmitter

    so as to be able to keep my backups informed.



    Later that night I played some more poker, won, and was invited to join

    Frank "Death Angel" in his private room. What I didn't know was that

    he'd found out my true identity - as I soon discovered when he aimed a

    gun at my undervalued hulk. But right then my backups arrived and in

    the heat of the firefight the Death Angel was severely wounded.



    Strange, he didn't even try to fly away. Must not have been an angel

    after all.



    Medals, decorations, praise, and a 97-year no-parole sentence for

    Jessie "Death Angel" Bains were the result of my short but eventful

    career as Lytton Police Officer. Not bad for a few days' work; I'll

    make Captain yet. Perhaps I'll see you on the team soon.



    Okay, Sonny Bonds, well done, but now's the time for some serious

    reflection. Those of you who are familiar with Sierra's line of

    adventures will know what to expect, but those who are new to this kind

    of game should be informed of some of the peculiarities related to

    text/graphics arcade adventures.



    For one thing, keep in mind that you will be dealing with a very

    "modest" and simple parser (the parser being the programming structure

    that analyzes typed-in commands), which means that you can't give

    complex orders. In fact, many words that are being used in the

    descriptions of certain locations are not recognised by the program -

    this can be frustrating, but on the other hand is should be obvious

    that a word that isn't recognised is unnecessary to solve a particular

    situation.



    Example: if you type "look table" and the computer responds with

    something like "There's an oak table with four chairs next to it" then

    it's quite likely that "look chairs" or "examine chair" will result in

    "What's a chair?". Illogical but that's the way it works.



    Another feature inherent in these games is the "one solution only"

    symptom. Although various commands me be used to the same effect

    ("look", "check" and "examine" are the same thing, so are "take" and

    "get") each situation needs a particular phrase to solve. So when you

    wish to get the drunk into your custody and he starts giving you a

    hassle about not having done anything wrong you need to test his

    sobriety (or lack of it). If you type "test man", nothing happens. But

    "give test" does the job for you - you'll see that finding the right

    command can be a bummer.



    Last but not least, this kind of game is not logical. A perfect

    example: once you've arrested "Hoffman", you can do everything that's

    necessary to take him to jail - cuff him, read his rights, bring him to

    jail. But when you're at the city jail and you take off his cuffs he'll

    shoot you - unless you've taken his gun away while he was on the ground

    in the spot where you arrested him. If you wish to take away his gun

    ("search man") outside of the county jail where's there's all the room

    in world and nothing to keep you from searching your suspect, the

    program says "you should have thought of that when you had him on the

    ground". And although a whole parking place is at your disposal, you

    can no longer put the man on the floor and get his gun. Which means

    that, if you've saved your game after putting the suspect in your

    patrol car, you can start all over again. And this, my friends, is what

    I truly and positively dislike about any game: Lack of logic.



    And yet, all in all, Police Quest is an o.k. game to play because

    there's lots of variation and a good deal of interesting stuff to do.

    That, and some witty remarks and situations (big dude in jail cell:

    "Hey man, get me outta here, I didn't know copying disks was illegal!")

    should keep Sierra fans happy.



    Good luck with Police Quest and when you're on the streets, remember

    that there's small choice in rotten apples.



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