Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* GenderFlip: The Hotel Bartender is a male in the original version of 1 and a woman in the VGA remake.
** GenderFlip and a RaceLift with the judge in 1 who goes from a white female to a black man in the VGA remake.
** GenderFlip and a RaceLift with the judge in 1 who goes from a white female to a black man in the VGA remake.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 22,23 (click to see context) from:
Jim Walls started a kickstarter for the Police Quest-like game, [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/precinctgame/precinct Precinct]].
to:
Jim Walls started a kickstarter for the Police Quest-like ''Police Quest''-like game, [[http://www.''[[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/precinctgame/precinct Precinct]].
Precinct]]''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
Jim Walls started a kickstarter for the Police Quest-like game, [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/precinctgame/precinct Precinct]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Hiding Zero Content Examples.
%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
Changed line(s) 29,30 (click to see context) from:
* BettingMiniGame
** Something of a ScrappyLevel in the original game. Thankfully, in the remake it's optional.
** Something of a ScrappyLevel in the original game. Thankfully, in the remake it's optional.
to:
%% * BettingMiniGame
%% ** Something of a ScrappyLevel in the original game. Thankfully, in the remake it's optional.
%% ** Something of a ScrappyLevel in the original game. Thankfully, in the remake it's optional.
Changed line(s) 35 (click to see context) from:
* CopyProtection
to:
%% * CopyProtection
Changed line(s) 42 (click to see context) from:
* DrugsAreBad
to:
%% * DrugsAreBad
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
* HandyCuffs: Be careful with those things.
to:
%% * HandyCuffs: Be careful with those things.
Changed line(s) 79 (click to see context) from:
* SolveTheSoupCans: {{Sierra}} game, but not nearly as bad as most.
to:
%% * SolveTheSoupCans: {{Sierra}} game, but not nearly as bad as most.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* WhatTheHellPlayer: In PQ4, try giving the candybar to Hal.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 40 (click to see context) from:
* DivorcedInstallment: The ''SWAT'' series.
to:
* DivorcedInstallment: The ''SWAT'' series.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: The people of Lytton. Failing to look both ways, press the button at the crosswalk, or approach a vehicle automatically results in you getting run over.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: The people of Lytton. Failing to look both ways, press the button at the crosswalk, or approach a vehicle automatically results in you getting run over.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 17,18 (click to see context) from:
Sonny Bonds does return to the ''Police Quest'' series, though, in ''SWAT 3: Close Quarters Combat'', where he is now SWAT leader, which seems a natural progression for him by then. In ''{{SWAT 4}}'' Sonny has a cameo as a veteran member of SWAT and trainer of new SWAT recruits. The ''SWAT'' subseries is peculiar in that the first entry was primarily an InteractiveMovie, the second an overhead RealtimeTactics game, and the latter two tactical {{FPS}}s, notorious since ''any'' downed civilian, suspect or bystander, costs points from your total score. SWAT teams ''really are'' the babysitters of the populace.
to:
Sonny Bonds does return to the ''Police Quest'' series, though, in ''SWAT 2'', as a selectable team member and in ''SWAT 3: Close Quarters Combat'', where he is now SWAT leader, which seems a natural progression for him by then. In ''{{SWAT 4}}'' Sonny has a cameo as a veteran member of SWAT and trainer of new SWAT recruits. The ''SWAT'' subseries is peculiar in that the first entry was primarily an InteractiveMovie, the second an overhead RealtimeTactics game, and the latter two tactical {{FPS}}s, notorious since ''any'' downed civilian, suspect or bystander, costs points from your total score. SWAT teams ''really are'' the babysitters of the populace.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Renamed one trope.
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
Police Quest is a series of {{adventure game}}s developed and published by {{Sierra}}. Similar to an interactive ''{{CSI}}'', the first three games had players take the role of Sonny Bonds, a police officer in the city of Lytton, California.
to:
Police Quest is a series of {{adventure game}}s developed and published by {{Sierra}}. Similar to an interactive ''{{CSI}}'', ''Series/{{CSI}}'', the first three games had players take the role of Sonny Bonds, a police officer in the city of Lytton, California.
Deleted line(s) 45 (click to see context) :
* EasilyAngeredShopkeeper: Try to steal from a store in ''Open Season'', and the shopkeeper will stop you. Persist anyway, and you'll be gunned down.
Changed line(s) 64,65 (click to see context) from:
** And to enter the {{Big Bad}}'s apartment without getting eaten by the dog, you have to [[CombinatorialExplosion glue a broken car mirror onto a drumstick]]. (TrialAndErrorGameplay and GuideDangIt moment)
*** And to TRAVEL to this {{Big Bad}}'s apartment you have to tame the aforementioned dog with pretzels, and then lasso it!
*** And to TRAVEL to this {{Big Bad}}'s apartment you have to tame the aforementioned dog with pretzels, and then lasso it!
to:
** And to enter the {{Big Bad}}'s BigBad's apartment without getting eaten by the dog, you have to [[CombinatorialExplosion glue a broken car mirror onto a drumstick]]. (TrialAndErrorGameplay and GuideDangIt moment)
*** And to TRAVEL to this{{Big Bad}}'s BigBad's apartment you have to tame the aforementioned dog with pretzels, and then lasso it!
*** And to TRAVEL to this
Deleted line(s) 73,74 (click to see context) :
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry''.
** Larry himself is sitting around the airport in the second game, waiting for you to talk to him.
** Larry himself is sitting around the airport in the second game, waiting for you to talk to him.
Added DiffLines:
* ShopliftAndDie: Try to steal from a store in ''Open Season'', and the shopkeeper will stop you. Persist anyway, and you'll be gunned down.
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry''.
** Larry himself is sitting around the airport in the second game, waiting for you to talk to him.
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry''.
** Larry himself is sitting around the airport in the second game, waiting for you to talk to him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 90 (click to see context) from:
*** It gets ridiculous when the suspects CHARGE at you with the guns and you are still not able to shoot them.
to:
*** It gets ridiculous when the suspects CHARGE at you with the guns and you are still not able to shoot them. Slightly less once you realize you can only open fire when suspects fire their guns first, whether at civilians or you, or even just aiming their weapons. Bizarrely your Snipers don't cause any penalties at all.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* LuckBasedMission: The poker segment of the original game.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Keith, on the other hand, [[AscendedExtra is a minor character in the first game and becomes your partner in the second]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 15,16 (click to see context) from:
The later games in the Police Quest series were ''Police Quest'' InNameOnly -- and only for the first two installments, after which it is most often known as the ''SWAT'' series. This series frees itself from the limits of a set character by placing the player directly in the role of a 'SWAT Pup' -- a trainee, on his first real assignment. Like the first games, the SWAT series adhered strictly to police procedure. You were trained in the basics of SWAT teamwork ('basics', because SWAT teams don't generally make their full tactical procedures known to the public), and expected to obey the rules. Even attempting to fast-forward through the first game's opening cutscene (where the Element Leader gives his welcome speech) has the Element Leader take you to task for interrupting him, and warns you ''very'' firmly that you should ''not'' do it again. ''Ever''.
to:
The later games in the Police Quest series were ''Police Quest'' InNameOnly -- and only for the first two installments, after which it is most often known as the ''SWAT'' ''{{VideoGame/SWAT}}'' series. This series frees itself from the limits of a set character by placing the player directly in the role of a 'SWAT Pup' -- a trainee, on his first real assignment. Like the first games, the SWAT series adhered strictly to police procedure. You were trained in the basics of SWAT teamwork ('basics', because SWAT teams don't generally make their full tactical procedures known to the public), and expected to obey the rules. Even attempting to fast-forward through the first game's opening cutscene (where the Element Leader gives his welcome speech) has the Element Leader take you to task for interrupting him, and warns you ''very'' firmly that you should ''not'' do it again. ''Ever''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* [[spoiler:SmoochOfVictory: When you save [[DamselInDistress Marie]] from Bains in the 2nd game.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
You cannot avert things hard.
Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard'' in ''Open Season''. [[spoiler: Within a few minutes of starting the game, you will find the gunned-down corpse of an 6-year-old in a dumpster]]. See also DarkerAndEdgier.
to:
* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard'' in ''Open Season''. [[spoiler: Within a few minutes of starting the game, you will find the gunned-down corpse of an 6-year-old in a dumpster]]. See also DarkerAndEdgier.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** In the finale of the ''SWAT 2'' terrorist campaign, the terrorist mastermind (Basho) betrays the player character (Dante) and is subsequently killed or arrested. Okay, good. But Dante and anyone else who escaped in the private jet are apparently forgiven for multiple instances of murder and kidnapping, just because Dante renounces the criminal life.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* DullSurprise: John Carey in PQ4 sure doesn't sound upset when he's supposedly expressing shock and upset that his fellow cop and best friend is dead. Then again, it could be said that he simply had no idea what he should be feeling.
to:
* DullSurprise: John Carey in PQ4 ''Police Quest 4'' sure doesn't sound upset when he's supposedly expressing shock and upset that his fellow cop and best friend is dead. Then again, it could be said that he simply had no idea what he should be feeling.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* DullSurprise: John Carey in PQ4 sure doesn't sound upset when he's supposedly expressing shock and upset that his fellow cop and best friend is dead. Then again, it could be said that he simply had no idea what he should be feeling.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 69 (click to see context) from:
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from LeisureSuitLarry.
to:
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from LeisureSuitLarry.''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* DyeOrDie: In the first game, part of your disguise for going undercover (as a pimp!) involves a blond dye job.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
disambiguation
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
* ConnectTheDeaths: In the third game. A GameBreakingBug in this puzzle, which was present in the early versions of the game, often caused the game to become UnwinnableByMistake and earned it DisContinuity status with many fans.
to:
* ConnectTheDeaths: In the third game. A GameBreakingBug in this puzzle, which was present in the early versions of the game, often caused the game to become UnwinnableByMistake and earned it DisContinuity FanonDiscontinuity status with many fans.
Changed line(s) 86 (click to see context) from:
--------
to:
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
justifiying edit.
Deleted line(s) 54 (click to see context) :
** In [[spoiler: Laura's]] defense, the employment file indicates numerous citations for excellent police work, so it may be a case of the good balancing the bad.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Police Quest 2 features one. A slight subversion is still that the air is less than fresh. There are pockets of methane gas in some sections that kill you if you stick around too long. And the gas isn't visible, only the messages about teary eyes and difficulty breathing are.
to:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Police Quest 2 features one. A slight subversion is still that It's played down as the air is less than fresh. There are pockets of methane gas in some sections that kill you if you stick around too long. And the gas isn't visible, only the messages about teary eyes and difficulty breathing are.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* VillainousCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Mitchell Thurman.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
** In the first game, failing to find the VIN on the blue Cadillac, which you are at no point given an indication is required, will lock you out of 100% completion.
to:
** In the first second game, failing to find the VIN on the blue Cadillac, which you are at no point given an indication is required, will lock you out of 100% completion.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* GameBreakingBug: ''Open Season'' came out just before the appearance of high-end 486 processors. These apparently messed up the internal clock so badly, that it became impossible to pass certain points in the game without dying (specifically the neo-nazi courtroom scene). Fortunately, even before a patch came out, Sierra realized that slowing the game to a crawl before such crucial scenes would solve the bug, and made this knowledge public.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* AscendedExtra: Keith, a minor character from the first game, becomes your partner in the second.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* RevolversAreJustBetter: The first game gives you a .357 magnum. Averted in later games, as you get different semi automatic weapons each time (a 10mm in 2 and a 9mm in 3).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* LookBothWays: And ''never'' approach a stopped car from the driver's side. Hilarious in 3, where you'll be run down by ''the same car every time''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
PoliceQuest is a series of {{adventure game}}s developed and published by {{Sierra}}. Similar to an interactive ''{{CSI}}'', the first three games had players take the role of Sonny Bonds, a police officer in the city of Lytton, California.
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
PoliceQuest is a series of {{adventure game}}s developed and published by {{Sierra}}. Similar to an interactive ''{{CSI}}'', the first three games had players take the role of Sonny Bonds, a police officer in the city of Lytton, California.
Reporting for his shift at the beginning of the first game, Bonds soon becomes aware of drug ring operating out of Lytton -- masterminded by one man, Jessie Bains. Known as the Death Angel, Bains is aggressively moving in on the territory of Lytton's local dealers, and things are getting messy.
Enlisting the help of a local HookerWithAHeartOfGold named Marie, he is assigned to an elaborate sting operation that ends with Bains behind bars and Sonny and Marie returning to day-in, day-out normality.
This doesn't last, however, because in the second game, Bains escapes from prison, murdering a prison guard in the process. After tracking down a couple of minor thugs, Bonds returns home to find that Bains has kidnapped Marie (now a ''retired'' HookerWithAHeartOfGold, and Sonny's girlfriend). Proceeding into the latter stages of the game, Bonds tracks Bains to his hideout, saves Marie, and (eventually) marries her on the plane ride home.
Several years later, Sonny and Marie are happily married, but there's more trouble to come from the Bains family. The Death Angel's brother has sworn revenge, and it's up to Sonny, now a Sergeant, to protect his beloved Lytton, which has grown into a city. This one pulls out all the stops, with situations ranging from dirty cops to sexual assault. (Strangely enough, the revenge plot ends up being an ''afterthought''.)
Police Quest 1-3 were produced by Jim Walls, a retired California state trooper, and the situations Bonds encountered were true-to-reality, following police procedures to the letter. If you stepped out of line during a bust, the judge would toss your case out of court. If you went crazy with your gun, or didn't properly maintain your vehicle, that was it -- game over.
Starting with Police Quest : Open Season (4), the series came under the helm of LAPD Chief Darryl F. Gates (Walls having moved on by that point). Open Season was the last to focus on a specific, named detective -- this time, an LAPD Homicide Detective, John Carey. Working from Parker Center, the player now had to cope with much more violent, graphic crimes. The player is introduced to Carey on the first screen, with a body in a dumpster -- which, when moved aside so the Criminal Investigative Division can photograph it, reveals the body of a six-year-old boy.
The later games in the Police Quest series were ''Police Quest'' InNameOnly -- and only for the first two installments, after which it is most often known as the ''SWAT'' series. This series frees itself from the limits of a set character by placing the player directly in the role of a 'SWAT Pup' -- a trainee, on his first real assignment. Like the first games, the SWAT series adhered strictly to police procedure. You were trained in the basics of SWAT teamwork ('basics', because SWAT teams don't generally make their full tactical procedures known to the public), and expected to obey the rules. Even attempting to fast-forward through the first game's opening cutscene (where the Element Leader gives his welcome speech) has the Element Leader take you to task for interrupting him, and warns you ''very'' firmly that you should ''not'' do it again. ''Ever''.
Sonny Bonds does return to the ''Police Quest'' series, though, in ''SWAT 3: Close Quarters Combat'', where he is now SWAT leader, which seems a natural progression for him by then. In ''{{SWAT 4}}'' Sonny has a cameo as a veteran member of SWAT and trainer of new SWAT recruits. The ''SWAT'' subseries is peculiar in that the first entry was primarily an InteractiveMovie, the second an overhead RealtimeTactics game, and the latter two tactical {{FPS}}s, notorious since ''any'' downed civilian, suspect or bystander, costs points from your total score. SWAT teams ''really are'' the babysitters of the populace.
You can play the first game free and legally in HTML5 [[http://www.sarien.net/ here]].
-----
!!This series contains examples of:
* AbortedArc: pretty much every location, plotline, and character from the first game is dropped for the second, except for Marie and Jessie (many of the locations were retooled and still around, though: the Blue Room from the first game closed and is under renovation, Cotton Cove is still around, and the courthouse is still the same, you just never go there).
** Dooley is still around, having been promoted from Sergeant to Lieutenant and running the Narcotics division. Another character from the first game appears in the second [[spoiler: before he gets killed.]]
** The gremlin arc from the first game is also wrapped up in the second, albeit only if you read all the files in the computer, which reveal that [[spoiler: Sonny's Narcotics partner Laura Watts was the gremlin, as it shows up as a reprimand in her file]].
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Police Quest 2 features one. A slight subversion is still that the air is less than fresh. There are pockets of methane gas in some sections that kill you if you stick around too long. And the gas isn't visible, only the messages about teary eyes and difficulty breathing are.
* BettingMiniGame
** Something of a ScrappyLevel in the original game. Thankfully, in the remake it's optional.
* ByTheBookCop: Enforced by the gameplay mechanics. Half the puzzles in the games consist of knowing the proper procedure and following it.
* CallBack: Remember "The Gremlin" who tormented Sgt. Dooley in the first game? If you look at the personnel records in the second game, you get to find out who it was. [[spoiler: Laura.]]
* CityOfAdventure: Lytton, the location used in the first three games. Its described variously as being a relatively small city, whose crime rate is only ''just'' beginning to catch up with that of bigger ones... but on the same token, it certainly seems to have more criminal activity than is typical for a town of its size.
* ConnectTheDeaths: In the third game. A GameBreakingBug in this puzzle, which was present in the early versions of the game, often caused the game to become UnwinnableByMistake and earned it DisContinuity status with many fans.
* CopyProtection
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Open Season'' is this. Despite previous games steadily escalating in this direction, ''Open Season'' manages to top them all in its portrayal of truly sick criminals.
* DeathByIrony: Try going through the metal detector at the airport while carrying your gun in Police Quest 2.
** This is if you ''don't'' show the guard your badge, of course. If you do, then he will let you through and allow you and Keith to keep your guns, apparently confident that cops won't try to hijack the plane.
* DiabolusExMachina: There's a really ''evil'' example of this that can occur in PQIII: [[spoiler: One of the first actions you do in the game is to evaluate a fellow officer due to her belligerent behavior. If you don't choose to sustain the complaint put against her here, you can breeze through the rest of the game perfectly, only to have her gun you down ''immediately before the end of the game''.]]
* DivorcedInstallment: The ''SWAT'' series.
* DrugsAreBad
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Sonny Bonds suffers quite the emotional turmoil across the first three games, but each one gives him a genuinely happy ending.
* EasilyAngeredShopkeeper: Try to steal from a store in ''Open Season'', and the shopkeeper will stop you. Persist anyway, and you'll be gunned down.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: As a lot of {{Sierra}}'s games, this is the case. A particularly egregious example: If you forget to inspect your squad car properly, you get a flat tire. This is game ending, as instead of being on patrol and seeing all the plot-critical elements, you're stuck waiting for a tow truck (presumably, someone other than Bonds goes on to save the day).
* GuideDangIt: ''Open Season'' had several of these, as told below.
* HandyCuffs: Be careful with those things.
* HaveANiceDeath: Your adviser informs you, in no uncertain terms, how you screwed up and what happens next.
** One of the best game enders is if you pull your gun and fire it without reason in the second game. If (and ''only'' if) you fire it at the Cove, you'll get a message about "Wow! That was loud!". If you fire it again, or fire it ''once'' anywhere else, the game immediately cuts to a front page news story showing Bonds ''in a straitjacket'' (apparently, he cracked and went crazy by firing his gun ''once'').
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Marie Wilkins, a friend of Sonny's from highschool, who agrees to help out with an investigation and later becomes his girlfriend [[spoiler: and his wife]].
* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard'' in ''Open Season''. [[spoiler: Within a few minutes of starting the game, you will find the gunned-down corpse of an 6-year-old in a dumpster]]. See also DarkerAndEdgier.
* InNameOnly: ''Open Season'' and ''SWAT''. ''{{SWAT 4}}'', in which Sonny Bonds from the original trilogy returns, is still InNameOnly since it's not an adventure game any more.
** He was available for selection in ''SWAT 2'' with his backstory being that he was loaned to the LAPD from Lytton so he could start a SWAT team in Lytton.
* KarmaHoudini: Among The Gremlin's pranks was spraying a memo to Sgt. Dooley with mace. When he read it, the effect was pretty much the same as if he got sprayed in the eyes with the stuff. Fast forward to the second game, and a computer search through the personnel files reveals not only the identity of the culprit, but that the individual was punished by being given a written reprimand and being forced to write an apology to Dooley. And after that, [[spoiler: Laura]] was able to retire at the age of forty.
** In [[spoiler: Laura's]] defense, the employment file indicates numerous citations for excellent police work, so it may be a case of the good balancing the bad.
* LastLousyPoint: there are a lot of easily-missed pieces of evidence that aren't required to win, but are needed for OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** In the first game, failing to find the VIN on the blue Cadillac, which you are at no point given an indication is required, will lock you out of 100% completion.
** The second game has a couple: failing to find the bomb-making guide, failing to read the mugger's rights (even though your partner already did that), failing to closely examine the note you find on Marie's door, and most easily missed: not checking the bulletin board at the beginning of the game to see you're behind on your shooting scores.
* MacGyvering: Near the end of ''Open Season'', the BigBad knocks you out and empties your pockets. To defeat him, you need to macgyver a [[AerosolFlamethrower flamethrower with a lighter and hairspray]].
** And to enter the {{Big Bad}}'s apartment without getting eaten by the dog, you have to [[CombinatorialExplosion glue a broken car mirror onto a drumstick]]. (TrialAndErrorGameplay and GuideDangIt moment)
*** And to TRAVEL to this {{Big Bad}}'s apartment you have to tame the aforementioned dog with pretzels, and then lasso it!
* MotorcycleDominoes: "Someone has to answer to four angry people!"
* OlderAndWiser: Sonny Bonds from ''[=PQ1=]'' is the SWAT team leader in the game ''{{SWAT 4}}''
* PeekABooCorpse (As noted above)
* PressXToDie: SWAT is full of this, as well as PressXToNotDie. Go around a corner without slicing the pie? You're dead. Fail to cover a door? You're dead. Take a wrong turn? You're dead. Enter the Eastman building on the wrong side or without proper sniper cover? RocksFallEveryoneDies.
* PygmalionPlot: Not ''exactly'' an example of the trope being played straight, but close. In the first game, Marie is a hooker who's in love with Sonny. In the second game, Sonny has "helped her turn her life around" by somehow convincing her to give up prostitution and (presumably) get a legal job. While Sonny was clearly attracted to her in the first game, he doesn't enter into a serious relationship with her until after he's changed her. Perhaps justified, since it wasn't the safest line of work and he probably didn't want to have to worry about her getting arrested all the time[[hottip:*:Not to mention he would have lost his badge for compromising his integrity]].
* RevengeOfTheSequel: ''Police Quest 2 - The Vengeance''.
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from LeisureSuitLarry.
** Larry himself is sitting around the airport in the second game, waiting for you to talk to him.
* SchmuckBait: After you arrest the drug pushers in the first game, you get a prompt saying it would be a good idea to question them before you take them to jail. Doing so without reading their Miranda rights first (which you are NOT prompted to do) will net you a game over. However, if you choose not to question them, the game will continue (but you get less points).
** Players who read [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]] and remember proper procedure for questioning suspects won't fall into the trap, of course.
* SolveTheSoupCans: {{Sierra}} game, but not nearly as bad as most.
* SorryOciffer: In the first game, you pull over a drunk man who is a textbook example of this trope, "ociffer" and all.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Many argue that ''LANoire'' is this.
** Older still was the Jim Walls produced ''BlueForce''.
* StopOrIWillShoot: Played straight, but read your manual carefully and follow procedure exactly, or you're done. Yes, procedure contains "stop or I will shoot", but that's not all there is to it.
** One pivotal scene in the first game has you pulling over a known violent suspect, wanted in at least two murders. The procedure here is actually ''very'' involved: you have to call for backup, tell backup what you're going to do, order the suspect out of the car, order him to get on the ground (twice, the first time he ignores you and he ''will'' shoot you if you don't order him again; you can skip this requirement by using the right command[[hottip:*: "Get out of the car with your hands up" instead of "Get out of the car" will make him note that there's two guns on him and put his hands up as soon as he gets out of the car]]), ''and'' keep your gun on him until you cuff him. Fail to do ''any'' of this, and you're a dead man. Oh, and don't forget to read him his rights.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: There are several situations where you can shoot a criminal. In almost all of them, that is the wrong response and will get you a GameOver. The few exceptions to this rule appear in the second and third games. In two cases in the 2nd game, Sonny will be [[spoiler:ambushed by a gun wielding Jessie Bains]] and must return fire in self defense. In the third game, Sonny is storming the hideout of drug runners and several armed suspects jump out from behind cover, and the correct response is to shoot them.
** Lampshaded in the remake of the first game if you decide to shoot the biker in Wino Willy's.
-->''"You pull out your revolver and shoot the unarmed biker right between the eyes. (No, we're not going to reward your violence with animation of blood and brains hitting the back wall.)"''
* ViolationOfCommonSense: You can fire your gun without drawing it first, with predictable results. On the other hand, except for a single scene, you can leave your gun at the jail locker for the entire game and proceed unarmed.
** In {{SWAT 4}}, you fail on points for shooting a suspect regardless of whether they were going to attack you, one of your team, or surrender. Sadly TruthInTelevision. Though police and SWAT officers are entirely justified in killing someone who attacks them with lethal force, the game distorts the responsibility of the police to the public's perceived standard (and, in some ways, what professional organizations like SWAT are supposed to do) to protect and serve while doing as little harm as possible.
*** It gets ridiculous when the suspects CHARGE at you with the guns and you are still not able to shoot them.
* WretchedHive: In the first game, Lytton is turning into one.
--------
Reporting for his shift at the beginning of the first game, Bonds soon becomes aware of drug ring operating out of Lytton -- masterminded by one man, Jessie Bains. Known as the Death Angel, Bains is aggressively moving in on the territory of Lytton's local dealers, and things are getting messy.
Enlisting the help of a local HookerWithAHeartOfGold named Marie, he is assigned to an elaborate sting operation that ends with Bains behind bars and Sonny and Marie returning to day-in, day-out normality.
This doesn't last, however, because in the second game, Bains escapes from prison, murdering a prison guard in the process. After tracking down a couple of minor thugs, Bonds returns home to find that Bains has kidnapped Marie (now a ''retired'' HookerWithAHeartOfGold, and Sonny's girlfriend). Proceeding into the latter stages of the game, Bonds tracks Bains to his hideout, saves Marie, and (eventually) marries her on the plane ride home.
Several years later, Sonny and Marie are happily married, but there's more trouble to come from the Bains family. The Death Angel's brother has sworn revenge, and it's up to Sonny, now a Sergeant, to protect his beloved Lytton, which has grown into a city. This one pulls out all the stops, with situations ranging from dirty cops to sexual assault. (Strangely enough, the revenge plot ends up being an ''afterthought''.)
Police Quest 1-3 were produced by Jim Walls, a retired California state trooper, and the situations Bonds encountered were true-to-reality, following police procedures to the letter. If you stepped out of line during a bust, the judge would toss your case out of court. If you went crazy with your gun, or didn't properly maintain your vehicle, that was it -- game over.
Starting with Police Quest : Open Season (4), the series came under the helm of LAPD Chief Darryl F. Gates (Walls having moved on by that point). Open Season was the last to focus on a specific, named detective -- this time, an LAPD Homicide Detective, John Carey. Working from Parker Center, the player now had to cope with much more violent, graphic crimes. The player is introduced to Carey on the first screen, with a body in a dumpster -- which, when moved aside so the Criminal Investigative Division can photograph it, reveals the body of a six-year-old boy.
The later games in the Police Quest series were ''Police Quest'' InNameOnly -- and only for the first two installments, after which it is most often known as the ''SWAT'' series. This series frees itself from the limits of a set character by placing the player directly in the role of a 'SWAT Pup' -- a trainee, on his first real assignment. Like the first games, the SWAT series adhered strictly to police procedure. You were trained in the basics of SWAT teamwork ('basics', because SWAT teams don't generally make their full tactical procedures known to the public), and expected to obey the rules. Even attempting to fast-forward through the first game's opening cutscene (where the Element Leader gives his welcome speech) has the Element Leader take you to task for interrupting him, and warns you ''very'' firmly that you should ''not'' do it again. ''Ever''.
Sonny Bonds does return to the ''Police Quest'' series, though, in ''SWAT 3: Close Quarters Combat'', where he is now SWAT leader, which seems a natural progression for him by then. In ''{{SWAT 4}}'' Sonny has a cameo as a veteran member of SWAT and trainer of new SWAT recruits. The ''SWAT'' subseries is peculiar in that the first entry was primarily an InteractiveMovie, the second an overhead RealtimeTactics game, and the latter two tactical {{FPS}}s, notorious since ''any'' downed civilian, suspect or bystander, costs points from your total score. SWAT teams ''really are'' the babysitters of the populace.
You can play the first game free and legally in HTML5 [[http://www.sarien.net/ here]].
-----
!!This series contains examples of:
* AbortedArc: pretty much every location, plotline, and character from the first game is dropped for the second, except for Marie and Jessie (many of the locations were retooled and still around, though: the Blue Room from the first game closed and is under renovation, Cotton Cove is still around, and the courthouse is still the same, you just never go there).
** Dooley is still around, having been promoted from Sergeant to Lieutenant and running the Narcotics division. Another character from the first game appears in the second [[spoiler: before he gets killed.]]
** The gremlin arc from the first game is also wrapped up in the second, albeit only if you read all the files in the computer, which reveal that [[spoiler: Sonny's Narcotics partner Laura Watts was the gremlin, as it shows up as a reprimand in her file]].
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Police Quest 2 features one. A slight subversion is still that the air is less than fresh. There are pockets of methane gas in some sections that kill you if you stick around too long. And the gas isn't visible, only the messages about teary eyes and difficulty breathing are.
* BettingMiniGame
** Something of a ScrappyLevel in the original game. Thankfully, in the remake it's optional.
* ByTheBookCop: Enforced by the gameplay mechanics. Half the puzzles in the games consist of knowing the proper procedure and following it.
* CallBack: Remember "The Gremlin" who tormented Sgt. Dooley in the first game? If you look at the personnel records in the second game, you get to find out who it was. [[spoiler: Laura.]]
* CityOfAdventure: Lytton, the location used in the first three games. Its described variously as being a relatively small city, whose crime rate is only ''just'' beginning to catch up with that of bigger ones... but on the same token, it certainly seems to have more criminal activity than is typical for a town of its size.
* ConnectTheDeaths: In the third game. A GameBreakingBug in this puzzle, which was present in the early versions of the game, often caused the game to become UnwinnableByMistake and earned it DisContinuity status with many fans.
* CopyProtection
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Open Season'' is this. Despite previous games steadily escalating in this direction, ''Open Season'' manages to top them all in its portrayal of truly sick criminals.
* DeathByIrony: Try going through the metal detector at the airport while carrying your gun in Police Quest 2.
** This is if you ''don't'' show the guard your badge, of course. If you do, then he will let you through and allow you and Keith to keep your guns, apparently confident that cops won't try to hijack the plane.
* DiabolusExMachina: There's a really ''evil'' example of this that can occur in PQIII: [[spoiler: One of the first actions you do in the game is to evaluate a fellow officer due to her belligerent behavior. If you don't choose to sustain the complaint put against her here, you can breeze through the rest of the game perfectly, only to have her gun you down ''immediately before the end of the game''.]]
* DivorcedInstallment: The ''SWAT'' series.
* DrugsAreBad
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Sonny Bonds suffers quite the emotional turmoil across the first three games, but each one gives him a genuinely happy ending.
* EasilyAngeredShopkeeper: Try to steal from a store in ''Open Season'', and the shopkeeper will stop you. Persist anyway, and you'll be gunned down.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: As a lot of {{Sierra}}'s games, this is the case. A particularly egregious example: If you forget to inspect your squad car properly, you get a flat tire. This is game ending, as instead of being on patrol and seeing all the plot-critical elements, you're stuck waiting for a tow truck (presumably, someone other than Bonds goes on to save the day).
* GuideDangIt: ''Open Season'' had several of these, as told below.
* HandyCuffs: Be careful with those things.
* HaveANiceDeath: Your adviser informs you, in no uncertain terms, how you screwed up and what happens next.
** One of the best game enders is if you pull your gun and fire it without reason in the second game. If (and ''only'' if) you fire it at the Cove, you'll get a message about "Wow! That was loud!". If you fire it again, or fire it ''once'' anywhere else, the game immediately cuts to a front page news story showing Bonds ''in a straitjacket'' (apparently, he cracked and went crazy by firing his gun ''once'').
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Marie Wilkins, a friend of Sonny's from highschool, who agrees to help out with an investigation and later becomes his girlfriend [[spoiler: and his wife]].
* InfantImmortality: Averted ''hard'' in ''Open Season''. [[spoiler: Within a few minutes of starting the game, you will find the gunned-down corpse of an 6-year-old in a dumpster]]. See also DarkerAndEdgier.
* InNameOnly: ''Open Season'' and ''SWAT''. ''{{SWAT 4}}'', in which Sonny Bonds from the original trilogy returns, is still InNameOnly since it's not an adventure game any more.
** He was available for selection in ''SWAT 2'' with his backstory being that he was loaned to the LAPD from Lytton so he could start a SWAT team in Lytton.
* KarmaHoudini: Among The Gremlin's pranks was spraying a memo to Sgt. Dooley with mace. When he read it, the effect was pretty much the same as if he got sprayed in the eyes with the stuff. Fast forward to the second game, and a computer search through the personnel files reveals not only the identity of the culprit, but that the individual was punished by being given a written reprimand and being forced to write an apology to Dooley. And after that, [[spoiler: Laura]] was able to retire at the age of forty.
** In [[spoiler: Laura's]] defense, the employment file indicates numerous citations for excellent police work, so it may be a case of the good balancing the bad.
* LastLousyPoint: there are a lot of easily-missed pieces of evidence that aren't required to win, but are needed for OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** In the first game, failing to find the VIN on the blue Cadillac, which you are at no point given an indication is required, will lock you out of 100% completion.
** The second game has a couple: failing to find the bomb-making guide, failing to read the mugger's rights (even though your partner already did that), failing to closely examine the note you find on Marie's door, and most easily missed: not checking the bulletin board at the beginning of the game to see you're behind on your shooting scores.
* MacGyvering: Near the end of ''Open Season'', the BigBad knocks you out and empties your pockets. To defeat him, you need to macgyver a [[AerosolFlamethrower flamethrower with a lighter and hairspray]].
** And to enter the {{Big Bad}}'s apartment without getting eaten by the dog, you have to [[CombinatorialExplosion glue a broken car mirror onto a drumstick]]. (TrialAndErrorGameplay and GuideDangIt moment)
*** And to TRAVEL to this {{Big Bad}}'s apartment you have to tame the aforementioned dog with pretzels, and then lasso it!
* MotorcycleDominoes: "Someone has to answer to four angry people!"
* OlderAndWiser: Sonny Bonds from ''[=PQ1=]'' is the SWAT team leader in the game ''{{SWAT 4}}''
* PeekABooCorpse (As noted above)
* PressXToDie: SWAT is full of this, as well as PressXToNotDie. Go around a corner without slicing the pie? You're dead. Fail to cover a door? You're dead. Take a wrong turn? You're dead. Enter the Eastman building on the wrong side or without proper sniper cover? RocksFallEveryoneDies.
* PygmalionPlot: Not ''exactly'' an example of the trope being played straight, but close. In the first game, Marie is a hooker who's in love with Sonny. In the second game, Sonny has "helped her turn her life around" by somehow convincing her to give up prostitution and (presumably) get a legal job. While Sonny was clearly attracted to her in the first game, he doesn't enter into a serious relationship with her until after he's changed her. Perhaps justified, since it wasn't the safest line of work and he probably didn't want to have to worry about her getting arrested all the time[[hottip:*:Not to mention he would have lost his badge for compromising his integrity]].
* RevengeOfTheSequel: ''Police Quest 2 - The Vengeance''.
* ShoutOut: if you stop your car some place at random in the first game, one of the locations you could end up is the disco from LeisureSuitLarry.
** Larry himself is sitting around the airport in the second game, waiting for you to talk to him.
* SchmuckBait: After you arrest the drug pushers in the first game, you get a prompt saying it would be a good idea to question them before you take them to jail. Doing so without reading their Miranda rights first (which you are NOT prompted to do) will net you a game over. However, if you choose not to question them, the game will continue (but you get less points).
** Players who read [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]] and remember proper procedure for questioning suspects won't fall into the trap, of course.
* SolveTheSoupCans: {{Sierra}} game, but not nearly as bad as most.
* SorryOciffer: In the first game, you pull over a drunk man who is a textbook example of this trope, "ociffer" and all.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Many argue that ''LANoire'' is this.
** Older still was the Jim Walls produced ''BlueForce''.
* StopOrIWillShoot: Played straight, but read your manual carefully and follow procedure exactly, or you're done. Yes, procedure contains "stop or I will shoot", but that's not all there is to it.
** One pivotal scene in the first game has you pulling over a known violent suspect, wanted in at least two murders. The procedure here is actually ''very'' involved: you have to call for backup, tell backup what you're going to do, order the suspect out of the car, order him to get on the ground (twice, the first time he ignores you and he ''will'' shoot you if you don't order him again; you can skip this requirement by using the right command[[hottip:*: "Get out of the car with your hands up" instead of "Get out of the car" will make him note that there's two guns on him and put his hands up as soon as he gets out of the car]]), ''and'' keep your gun on him until you cuff him. Fail to do ''any'' of this, and you're a dead man. Oh, and don't forget to read him his rights.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: There are several situations where you can shoot a criminal. In almost all of them, that is the wrong response and will get you a GameOver. The few exceptions to this rule appear in the second and third games. In two cases in the 2nd game, Sonny will be [[spoiler:ambushed by a gun wielding Jessie Bains]] and must return fire in self defense. In the third game, Sonny is storming the hideout of drug runners and several armed suspects jump out from behind cover, and the correct response is to shoot them.
** Lampshaded in the remake of the first game if you decide to shoot the biker in Wino Willy's.
-->''"You pull out your revolver and shoot the unarmed biker right between the eyes. (No, we're not going to reward your violence with animation of blood and brains hitting the back wall.)"''
* ViolationOfCommonSense: You can fire your gun without drawing it first, with predictable results. On the other hand, except for a single scene, you can leave your gun at the jail locker for the entire game and proceed unarmed.
** In {{SWAT 4}}, you fail on points for shooting a suspect regardless of whether they were going to attack you, one of your team, or surrender. Sadly TruthInTelevision. Though police and SWAT officers are entirely justified in killing someone who attacks them with lethal force, the game distorts the responsibility of the police to the public's perceived standard (and, in some ways, what professional organizations like SWAT are supposed to do) to protect and serve while doing as little harm as possible.
*** It gets ridiculous when the suspects CHARGE at you with the guns and you are still not able to shoot them.
* WretchedHive: In the first game, Lytton is turning into one.
--------
