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The PQ games are the only ones I can think of that were fun games that put you in the role of a regular cop. Not only that, the role you played was that of a cop that AVOIDED killing people. These days, games that put you in a police or “police-like” role tend to be mindless click-fests where the only decisions you make have to do with weapons load-out and shot placement.
I would love to see someone reinvent PQ somehow into another single-player or MMO game. Put the player in the role of a regular beat cop, not some anti-terror-counter-agent-super-beefcake-coolguy. Then give the player an in-depth playable tutorial that touches on things like driving, search, arrest, investigation, weapons, tactics, and radio useage. Then, let the player loose on the town responding to calls and maybe following a storyline of some sorts.
If this sounds similar to True Crime: Streets of LA, it is but it isn’t. TC really let me down. I was expecting a more realistic, accurate game like PQ. What I got was a smarmy, arrogant superjock punk detective who ran around town shaking down people and shooting at everything. The game wasn’t fun for me at all. I was especially dismayed that one could improve their “good cop” rating by shooting suspects in the leg and beating the hell out of them instead of outright killing them. Restraint, right? 😛 I guess use of force doctrine is a bit skewed in gameland.
Don’t get me wrong…I do like some games that revolve around killing stuff (GTA). I would just like to see PQ come back in original form with better graphics, more real policework, and more complex challenges. I want to have to THINK…and think about the “right” thing to do instead of the easiest or “not as violent” thing to do.
Unfortunately, with the gaming marking being the way it is, I don’t see a company having the cojones to put out a product like this. Violence sells; a game that encourages a player to avoid violence probably wouldn’t sell. Oh well.
At any rate , there’s my two cents. I wonder what some of you might want to put in a game like this. How would you reinvent Police Quest?
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I second the notion for the series to be reinvented. It is because of these games that I dreamed of graduating high school to become a police officer, and am currently waiting until January when my academy will begin. I have searched the internet for years in hopes that somebody would remake or make an unnofficial sequel to the games (similar to some of the Kings Quest and Space Quest games) however it looks pretty grim. I am not a programmer, and have no experience doing this, so all I can do is pray that somebody will someday.
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I think your loyalty to Jim Walls is very misplaced. You may not be aware that, at least as far as I understand, he had almost nothing to do with Police Quest 3.
I don’t wish to speculate on needless tabloid gossip, and I’m sure if Ken wished for any of the details to be told he would share it himself, but I am led to believe from numerous sources through the years that Jim left PQ3 in a total state of disarray when he abruptly quit and almost the entire game had to be redone. He had nothing to do with the PQ1 remake either.
So I wouldn’t go making Jim Walls king of the world or anything. I like the Police Quest series as much as the next guy, probably more, just trying to make sure we keep some perspective here. The greatness of the PQ games is the product of a whole lot more people than Jim Walls.
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By the time PQ3 was produced, a great amount of people worked on each of Sierra’s games. That is obvious. However, Jim Walls has (and still is) always been perceived as the brain behind Police Quest – the invidual from which spawned the chief creative drive behind that franchise. That didn’t happen by accident, which is why I find it impossible to attach much weight to your statements.
Anyway, I don’t believe we will ever know the truth behind Walls’s split from Sierra. A few months ago I was related an explanation that with some thinking makes a whole lot of sense. (For fear of offending anyone, I don’t intend on repeating it. Don’t ask.)
And regarding the PQ1 remake – it was a sad, unnecessary remake (i.e. ripoff) of a glorious game. As with the SQ1 and LSL1 remakes it failed to make any money. And to further strengthen Jim Walls’s position, we may also point out the quite unplayable (i.e. not much fun) Open Season. It clearly lacked the sparkling wit of the Walls Police Quests.
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You are free to attach weight to, and believe, whatever you choose. I would advise against using the financial success of the PQ1 remake to defend your position, though–as would I also suggest that perhaps Police Quest was about more than “sparkling wit” and that calling Open Season “unplayable” is not far from ignorance. I suppose you’re going to tell me that Blue Force was a genre-defining masterpiece next.
But hey, ignorance is bliss, and no one said you can’t live in your happy little world, don’t let me rain on your parade with reality. 🙂
~ Evan Dickens
~ http://www.adventuregamers.com/ -
Johann, the OP asked how to reinvent Police Quest, not remake it. There is a big difference between the meaning of those two words.
My opinion here: The problem with having a non-violent Police game is that the majority of the commercial gamer market is made up of teenage boys with short attention spans and limited intelligence. So the only games that keep them happy are simple click and shoot games like FPS games where no-intelligence is required. If you die just reload from your save game 30 seconds ago and keep on trying until you finally succeed. They do not have the attention span to actually work at a problem to solve it. And judging from various message boards, most of them do not have the basic literacy skills to actually understand an adventure game properly.
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Evan, there is nothing in my post to warrant the animosity in your reply. We’re just having a friendly conversation here!
And no way in hell am I ignorant with regard to adventure games.
Please realise that your opinion is in no way “better” than mine. Regardless of whether you run your own adventure game website. Certainly, that doesn’t make your opinion more “qualified” than mine, or bestow you with some kind of almighty authority, right?
And I don’t mind if you rate Open Season. That’s fine with me. I just don’t agree with you. I suggest you go and read over some of the hotly debated threads on this site. We’re all (or most of us, at least) big fans of classic Sierra. And we’re all just giving our opinions on various matters pertaining (chiefly) to the games of that era. In that way, each of us is doing his or her little bit to keep the history, the emotions, the dream alive.
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I’m just a bit concerned with your slavish devotion to Jim Walls when there really is no evidence of any sort to support such a position rationally, and I’m merely suggesting that there may be a lot you don’t realize about the situation with Jim. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the actual writing in Police Quest 1 VGA was a hundred times more coherent, more substantial, and truer to the story than any of the previous three PQ games. And as much as you may believe Open Season was a failure at strong storytelling–which I can sorta agree with–Blue Force wasn’t much better so why would you try to tie that back to Jim?
I’m really not trying to start a fight here, I promise. Your post just threw up a red flag for me.
p.s. Thank you for acknowledging Adventure Gamers, but it’s not “my” site–it belongs to the adventure community. 🙂
~ Evan Dickens
~ http://www.adventuregamers.com/ -
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Johann – I can understand why you would prefer Walls as a designer on a new police game. I find that his design with PQ1 has been the most true to life portrayal of a cop’s daily grind than any other game since. I chuckle when I remember that you even had to remember to shower before suiting up and remember to perform a vehicle inspection before driving out into the field otherwise it was game over. The humor was great too…some of the jokes are funnier to me now that I’m older and can apprectiate them better. And how often in any game do we see such tragic events unfold such as Jack Cobb’s daughter OD’ing on cocaine?
Ants – I agree with you to a point. Yes, I agree that there are lots of click-happy dolts out there that have a hard time spelling the word “a”. What I don’t think is that these people comprise the majority of gamers. Unfortunately, it is the rude, 133t d00d who is the most vocal about his play experience and therefore, the most influential to the marketing boys who keep tabs on this stuff.
All of that is kind of inconsequential though. Why not make a game that, in a way, caters to both crowds? Lets say, we make the gameplay open-ended where a player can fire up the game and just vehicle patrol for drunk drivers, speeders, crimes in progress, and stuff like that? Of course, good tactics and attention to detail would be a must because a situation could get hairy at any time. That kind of thing could be a fun, quick kind of play, especially if you throw in a co-op feature in there where you roll an adam unit with your buddy.
For someone who likes to get deeper into things, maybe let the player get into the investigations side of the house. Let the player properly collect and analyze evidence and use that evidence to build a case. With both scenarios, teach the player about good police work and reward the player when they use their skills properly. Maybe the rewards would entail unlocking a SWAT mode of play or allowing you to drive an interceptor vehicle or have a K9 unit or something.
I dunno…I’m just rambling. As I’m sure you can tell, I really dug PQ and would camp out at the game store if someone came out with a cop game that had the authenticity of PQ with an updated look and feel and a visceral play style. -
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