Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel

Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel is an adventure game (and police simulation) produced by Jim Walls for Sierra On-Line, and originally released in 1987 built on their AGI. It was remade in 1992 using 256 color VGA graphics and the SCI engine, which dramatically improved the appearance and audio of the game, and replaced the command line interface with point and click.

Police Quest: In Pursuit of The Death Angel, is an adventure game whose gameplay is centered around interacting with the environment to resolve a series of scenarios. These largely revolve around typical police work, such as securing crime scenes and recovering stolen vehicles, plus some important duty procedures. The original release of the game required the player to type in the desired actions, such as opening doors, pressing buttons or firing one's gun, while the remake allows the player to use the mouse to select actions from a menu and objects in the environment.

The lack of 'traditional' puzzles made the game stand out at the time of release, although it also resulted in some criticism of the dry police work. Unlike many games of this genre, the style of play depends largely on a strict adherence to standard police rules and procedure. Failure to abide to proper procedure typically leads to the player being penalized on points, or having his character killed. For instance, if Sonny neglects to store his side arm in a gun lockers before entering the jail to book a prisoner, the prisoner will take the gun from him the moment his handcuffs are removed and shoot him with it, ending the game.

Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel casts the player as Sonny Bonds, a police officer assigned to traffic duty in the fictional town of Lytton, California. His supervising officer, Sergeant Dooley, reveals in the morning briefing that the local teenagers are getting out of hand and are using cocaine, as well as a report of a stolen 1983 black Cadillac which Bonds and his fellow officers are ordered to keep a lookout for.

During his regular patrol, Bonds is sent to investigate a car crash. Upon investigation of the accident, Bonds discovers that the deceased driver of the vehicle (a drug dealer named Lonny West) has been shot in the head. After Sergent Dooley arrives on the scene and takes control of the investigation, Bonds returns to his regular patrol. After a coffee break with fellow officer Steve, Bonds goes back on duty and gives a speeding ticket to a beautiful woman named Helen Hots (In the remake her name is changed to Tawnee), handles some bikers who are troubling a local eating establishment, and arrests a drunk driver. The shift finishes and Bonds visits 'The Blue Room', a local hangout for off-duty police officers, where he talks with his friend Jack Cobb about Jack's daughter's drug problem.

After returning to duty, Bonds locates the stolen Cadillac and pulls it over. With the help of Officer Jack, Bonds arrests the driver, Jason Taselli, and identifies the car as the stolen vehicle with a new light blue paint job. Further investigations reveal drugs which help to link Taselli with the murder of Lonny West. Partly due to his work on the case, Bonds is promoted to Acting Detective with the Narcotics division. Further investigations reveal the name of the drug lord to be Jessie Bains, 'The Death Angel', and that he is also involved in an illegal gambling operation at the Hotel Delphoria.

Going undercover, Bonds infiltrates the gambling ring at the Hotel Delphoria with the help of prostitute Marie Wilkins, and is taken to a card game with Jessie Bains. Gaining Bains' trust, Bonds is taken to Bains hotel room where Bonds calls in his backup who gun Bains down.