History Sandbox / PoliceQuestSingularGames

* AmbiguousDisorder: Mitchell Thurman has problems. He stutters a lot, is anti-social, and is fixated on his long-dead mother [[spoiler:(whom he dresses as when killing)]].
* AntiClimax: A jarring example. The first third of the game builds up the investigation about the murder behind a cop: Bob Hickman, and a child: Bobby Washington. Emo called John about information he'd like to share about the murders, [[spoiler: only to get caught in a shoot out. After the scene, everything is suddenly resolved off screen, as Emo survives in the hospital and reveals that Spiff wanted to use Bobby to ship his guns, killed him in cold blood, and tried to kill Emo to shut him up. Spiff will be charged swiftly for a couple of attempted murders, and the murder of Bobby.]] The only thing that wasn't so anti-climatic is that [[spoiler:Spiff is not responsible for Bob's murder.]]

* BitchAlert: Yo Money's manager. The first thing that leaves her mouth is accusing the police department of planting the body there to hurt Yo Money's sales. She will also actively berate John for asking helpful questions. Gets somewhat funny when you inquired about the phone call on the topic of Yo Money's enemies, and even though you got all the info, at the end of each phone call made, they tell you it's personal business and said it requires no police intervention, ''[[WhatAnIdiot despite clearly desiring police intervention, is being constantly being harassed which calls for said intervention, and having JUST given info about the guy.]]'' On top of that, you find out that the person calling them happens to be a racist. A potentially violent one at that.

** Timed in the sewer level. Walking into an area filled with methane gas will warn you within seconds of entering, saying that you're having trouble breathing. Then a second warning stating that your vision is starting to go out. Then a few more before Sonny passes out fatally. [[AluminumChristmasTrees Concentrated methane really ''is'' that dangerous.]]

* TheyFightCrime: Sonny Bonds is a ByTheBookCop who assess most (if not all) situations according to procedure and is known to having played a key role in capturing a serial killer and drug runner, and then killing him in self-defense when he broke out, and has gained the reputation of being Cop of the year following Bain's arrest. Pat Morales is a female CowboyCop who is a loose cannon and doesn't always do things by the book and believes in harsh justice and that her partner is too soft. [[spoiler:Sonny fights crime. [[AvertedTrope She]] [[EvilAllAlong doesn't!]]]]

* RareGuns: Sonny carries a 10mm 1911 variant. Presumably, when the game was released, [[ThisIsGoingToBeHuge the 10mm Auto cartridge was expected to be widely adopted by law enforcement]]. [[AluminumChristmasTrees It did end up getting picked up by the FBI, but police departments generally stuck with the significantly less expensive 9mm.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: You can call Sierra customer support and let them know that you'd like help. Then the guy on the line will inform you that it actually isn't a support line and tells you to [[RealityEnsues use a real phone instead.]]

* ConnectTheDeaths: 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 FanonDiscontinuity status with many fans.

* PixelHunt: For a Sierra adventure game, it's inevitable that this will show up, though it's easier to make out compared to other examples. You will need to get batteries for your flash light and use it to find a piece of evidence under the car. Otherwise, [[UnwinnableByMistake it's unwinnable.]]

* MotorcycleDominoes: "Someone has to answer to four angry people!"

* MoodWhiplash: In PQIII, you can beat the game, all triumphantly [[spoiler: going to the hospital to check on Marie. If you haven't been visiting at the appropriate times, the game will cut the ending music and go straight to game over before telling you that she's a vegetable.]]

* SomethingWeForgot: Forget to search the crazy man (even if he is in his underwear) and turned him into the jailer? He ends up murdering the jailer, and gets you sent to the game over screen. Oops.

* NoGearLevel: [[spoiler: John is knocked out by Michael at the end and had his whole inventory confiscated. Thankfully, a can of aerosal and a lighter is not far off.]]

The game runs on the SCI 2 engine. The point-and-click interface is similar to the previous game, though there are many more responses to player actions. Graphics use fully recorded and almost unedited digitised actors. There was also a release on CD with 10000 voiced lines of dialogue and SVGA (which admittedly hasn't improved most enviroments and sprites, but some things like the items look better).

** Also, the final part of [[spoiler: the game just ends. You find who the killer is, which becomes more obvious at this point, follow a linear path, and the game just ends with Mitchell killed while in the process of murdering(?) his newest victim, and the game abruptly ends with John in city hall, with the mayor loving him and giving him the medal of valor, and credits! Not even a "I did it, Bob" line of any kind?]] This should just be called ''Anti-Climax: The Video Game!''

* PeekABooCorpse: A nightmare inducing example.

The game runs on the SCI 0 engine. Sonny's movements are controlled with the arrow keys and graphics must be typed into a text parser. Graphics receive an update from the predecessor, showing more natural sprites. There are also additional minigames, like a shooting range and cutting bomb wires.

[[folder:VideoGame/PoliceQuestOpenSeason]]

''Police Quest: Open Season'' is a video game developed and published by Creator/{{Sierra}} and produced by Daryl F. Gates in 1993. It's the fourth installment in the ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest'' series.

The game runs on the SCI 2 engine. The point-and-click interface is similar to the previous game. Graphics use higher-quality digitised actors.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Mitchell Thurman has problems. He stutters a lot, is anti-social, and is fixated on his long-dead mother [[spoiler:(whom he dresses as when killing)].

* ChekhovsGunman: Sherry Moore is pretty much just a pretty face working at the morgue. [[spoiler: Oh, and she ends up revealing everything about the case in an interview to a reporter, who in turn reported her story on national television, and as a result, it got the whole townspeople in fear and even buying out gun stores! Naturally, John is not happy, and neither is the chief.]]

* ShopliftAndDie: Try to steal from a store in ''Open Season'', and the shopkeeper will stop you. Persist anyway, and you'll be gunned down.

The protagonist is now 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 dead cop in an alley by a dumpster -- a dumpster which, when opened so the Criminal Investigative Division can photograph it, reveals the body of a six-year-old boy.

* BitchAlert: Yo Money's manager. The first thing that leaves her mouth is accusing the police department of planting the body there to hurt Yo Money's sales. She will also actively berate John for asking helpful questions.
** Gets somewhat funny when you inquired about the phone call on the topic of Yo Money's enemies, and even though you got all the info, at the end of each phone call made, they tell you it's personal business and said it requires no police intervention, ''[[WhatAnIdiot despite clearly desiring police intervention, is being constantly being harassed which calls for said intervention, and having JUST given info about the guy.]]'' On top of that, you find out that the person calling them happens to be a racist. A potentially violent one at that.

* CallBack: There is apparently a server in the LAPD named SONNY.

* DullSurprise: John Carey 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.
** It's hardly that it was a dull surprise. It was the fact that he had to be ''told'' that he was Bob, his friend. Apparently, John didn't recognize his own best friend in the whole wide world whom he's known the family for quite a while. Still, he just might not know how to react to all this.

* RecycledSoundtrack: The elevator music in the Parker Center is the same music heard at the [[VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry La Costa Lotta health resort.]]

* ShootEverythingThatMoves: You can do this early in the game [[spoiler: including Valerie]] however it won't be possible later on except for certain places [[spoiler: like the cigarette machine or the real killer]].

* WhamLine: "Darling, I think that [[spoiler: red shoe]] would fit ''you'' better than it would fit me."

* PeekABooCorpse: A nightmare inducing example. See InfantImmortality in the general tropes section.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Mitchell Thurman has problems. He stutters a lot, is anti-social, and is fixated on his long-dead mother (whom he dresses as when killing).
* AntiClimax: A jarring example. The first third of the game builds up the investigation about the murder behind a cop: Bob Hickman, and a child: Bobby Washington. Emo called John about information he'd like to share about the murders, [[spoiler: only to get caught in a shoot out. After the scene, everything is suddenly resolved off screen, as Emo survives in the hospital and reveals that Spiff wanted to use Bobby to ship his guns, killed him in cold blood, and tried to kill Emo to shut him up. Spiff will be charged swiftly for a couple of attempted murders, and the murder of Bobby.]] The only thing that wasn't so anti-climatic is that [[spoiler: Spiff is not responsible for Bob's murder.]]

** Lassundra Washington apparently [[spoiler: witnessed Bob Hickman's murderer. She mentioned a woman in a red dress when you talk to her after Spiff's been apprehended.]]
** [[spoiler: Except... [[DudeLooksLikeALady that wasn't a woman.]]]]

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: In Mitchell's apartment, you can find a decapitated head and a bathroom with an empty medicine cabinet. Check those areas again, and suddenly, there is a lighter inside the head's mouth, and a hair spray can in the medicine cabinet. And Michael is in the next room down.]]

* ImpliedLoveInterest: Some pieces of dialogue involving Chester implies that John is trying to hook up with her. She can be monotone and blunt towards John's otherwise friendly and caring remarks.
** Of course, Sam (at the Short Stop) pretty much told John that he and Chester might have been an object before.

* VillainousCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Mitchell Thurman.]]
* WhamLine: "Darling, I think that [[spoiler: red shoe ]] would fit ''you'' better than it would fit me."
* WhatHappenedtotheMouse: After [[spoiler: killing Mitchell Thurman in self-defense]], the fate of the female victim is never truly revealed, and the game seems to imply that she did survive. What happened to her, who is she, and if she ''even survived'' is left ambiguous.
* WhiteGangBangers: We only got to see two, but Dennis Walker and his girl friend both happen to be this, and really racist too. [[spoiler: Both of them also attempted to kill John, for presumably... [[HandWave helping Yo Money?]] ]]

** Emo Jones expresses some mild sympathy about Bobby Washington, likely because he loves baseball as much as Bobby did and may have bonded with him at some point. [[spoiler: He is ultimately the one who is able to help John close the case on the murderer, and he nearly got killed doing so.]]

* TheyFightCrime: Sonny Bonds is a ByTheBookCop who assess most (if not all) situations according to procedure and is known to having played a key role in capturing a serial killer and drug runner, and then killing him in self-defense when he broke out, and has gained the reputation of being Cop of the year following Bain's arrest. Pat Morales is a female CowboyCop who is a loose cannon and doesn't always do things by the book and believes in harsh justice and that her partner is too soft. [[spoiler: Sonny fights crime. [[AvertedTrope She]] [[EvilAllAlong doesn't!]] ]]
* UnwinnableByDesign: A ''cruel'' example. [[spoiler: If you don't sustain the complaint against Morales in the very beginning, then at the end of the game she'll shoot you.]]

* ABirthdayNotABreak: Jack, Sonny's fellow officer, talks about how his life is screwed up (his daughter is doing drugs (a foreshadowing for a related event), he has a drinking problem, and his wife is ready to leave him). Subverted shortly after as his depression faded with the surprise party and the gag dancer showing up to lift his spirits. [[spoiler: Things do not get better for him, though: his daughter dies of the drug overdose, and the second game personnel files show that he quit.]]

* 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.

* TheStoic: In the remake, Sonny has even more speaking parts, and his portrait is shown in a weird, robotic looking expression that never changes [[spoiler: even when he's disguised]]. Try to imagine him talking like a robot the whole time.

* DeathByIrony: Try going through the metal detector at the airport while drawing your gun.
** 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.
* TheDeterminator: Jesse Bains will make good on his end statement in the original PQI and go after everyone involved in his conviction. Including [[OhCrap Marie.]] Getting shot won't stop him at all.

** [[spoiler: It gets even worse as the dead bodies pile up, Marie gets captured, and you learn that Bains has a hit list. Bonds is the last name on the list, presumably because Bains wants Bonds to suffer.]]

* 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''.]]
** It also occurs literally right before the ending in the same game. [[spoiler:If you don't bring Marie's inadequate treatment to the attention of the hospital, she remains a vegetable.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[FromCamouflageToCriminal Bain's brother used to serve in the army]], but turned to drug dealing and [[spoiler: setting out for revenge]] when he learned that [[spoiler: Sonny killed Jessie.]]
** [[spoiler: Pat Morales has done this some time before the game began.]]

* ReligionOfEvil: [[spoiler: Michael Bains runs it.]] The killings appear ritualistic and connected to one another (in which the victims have satantic carvings). They also deal drugs too. The only exception is the assault on [[spoiler: Marie]], which has been done for personal reasons.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The fact that Morales isn't on the up and up in any way at all. You find bags of cocaine she stole from the crime scene, behavior consistent with the case files against her. Learning about this pretty much makes it inevitable that her pulling a gun on you will occur at some point.]]
** In another twist of events: [[spoiler: Finding a photo of the Bains brothers!]]
* ShellShockedVeteran: [[spoiler: Michael Bains]] experienced PTSD after hearing about [[spoiler: Jessie's]] death, eventually getting discharged due to psychological instability.

*** [[spoiler: Except... [[DudeLooksLikeALady that wasn't a woman.]] ]]
* ClusterFBomb: There is a Character named Dennis Walker in the apartment that will use the word "Fuck" if you ask him about the music. He will use the word "Fuck" if you touch his stuff or if you show him your items from your inventory.

** GoLookAtTheDistraction: This is interrupted and ended abruptly when Walker attempts to assassinate John Carey during questioning.

** There is a [[spoiler: decapitated head waiting for you in the fridge.]] And yet, the narrator finds a way to downplay this.

** Near the end, [[spoiler: the BigBad knocks you out and empties your pockets. To defeat him, you need to macgyver a [[AerosolFlamethrower flamethrower with a lighter and hairspray]] ]].

*** [[spoiler: Spiff.]]

* BettingMiniGame / LuckBasedMission: You are required to play a game of poker against three other characters twice, in order to progress. In the remake, you have the option to skip this and choose to win, or even [[SchmuckBait lose.]] Of course, [[LastLousyPoint you won't win the points you get for playing and winning legit]].

* ABirthdayNotABreak: In PQI, Jack, Sonny's fellow officer, talks about how his life is screwed up (his daughter is doing drugs (a foreshadowing for a related event), he has a drinking problem, and his wife is ready to leave him). Subverted shortly after as his depression faded with the surprise party and the gag dancer showing up to lift his spirits. [[spoiler: Things do not get better for him, though: his daughter dies of the drug overdose, and the second game personnel files show that he quit.]]
* BribeBackfire: Helen Hots (the woman who ran the red light) will attempt to buy you off if you don't give her a ticket (and this includes sex). Telling her no is the correct course of action. She will immediately and flamboyantly lose her temper.
** Of course, you could accept the offer for sex, which the [[WhatTheHellPlayer narrator berates you for.]] You can follow up with it late in the game, only to get the wrong number [[HumiliationConga that gets you in trouble with the mayor.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Jason/Marvin has a tattoo on his left nipple. This becomes important twice in the game.
** For the villains of PQI, [[spoiler: the newspaper that shows Sonny's face. One of them manages to inform Bains sometime after the card game.]]

* DyeOrDie: In the first game, part of your disguise for going undercover (as a pimp!) involves a blond dye job. Apparently Sonny (or Marie) liked the look: he keeps it for the second game, going back to brown in the third.

* MeaningfulName: A minor character in PQI is named Helen Hots. She's the only character in the game to have a fully rendered human portrait, and is also the only character who you can ask for sex from (even though it will never happen).
** This could be a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'', where when interacting with women, you are treated with a full portrait. Considering Creator/AlLowe did uncredited work on the game, this shouldn't be that surprising.

* PoorCommunicationKills: A non-lethal example is not keeping Laura informed during a drug bust, which can result in the dealer running away.

* TakeOffYourClothes: Can be invoked on command in PQI, where you can walk out of the locker room naked, or even type in the right command to immediately strip. You will get a game over either way.
** You can even ''give'' your clothes to the front desk!
--> "Sure, we'll take it. But ''you'll never get it back!''"

* UselessItem: Enforced by PQI with messages, which the game will remove almost any papers containing useful information, only to toss it immediately, forcing you to note it down or remember beforehand. The only truly useless item in the game is the briefcase, which only serves to hold your ticket book, notebook and pen (if you put the briefcase back in your locker, the game automatically returns all three items to it, so you ''must'' keep the briefcase on you through most of the game).

* CaptainObvious: "Griffiti is often left behind by gangs."
* CatchPhrase / VerbalTic: "You're <insert emphasis if any> damn lucky <insert why>. Damn lucky." -Hal Bottoms

[[caption-width-right:350:Experience what it's really like to be a cop!]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Armed and dangerous!]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Almost too real.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Created by the nation's most experienced cop. (Not Jim Walls.)]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Mitchell Thurman has this.

[[folder:Police Quest (including VGA remake)]]
!!Police Quest (and it's VGA remake) contains examples of:

[[folder:Police Quest II: The Vengeance]]
!!Police Quest II: The Vengeance contains examples of:

[[folder:Police Quest III: The Kindred]]
!!Police Quest III: The Kindred contains examples of:

[[folder:Police Quest IV: Open Season]]
!!Police Quest IV: Open Season contains examples of: