Video Game / Police Quest 4: Open Season

Police Quest 4: Open Season (known officially as Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest: Open Season or Police Quest: Open Season). It’s the only Police Quest game to not have Jim Walls involved since he left Sierra due to unknown circumstances. Instead, it has (former) Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Daryl F. Gates with Tammy Dargan writing/producing/directing the story, the latter known for working in America's Most Wanted. It was released in 1993 for the PC (via MS-DOS) and Macintosh.

It takes places in Los Angeles where LAPD Robbery Homicide detective John Carey heads to South Central due to an incident where bodies were found. It turns out that among the bodies found was ex-LAPD officer (and Carey's friend) Bob Hickman, next to the body of a 8-year old boy. The LAPD initially assumes gangs are behind the deaths. But as more bodies turn up, Carey begins to investigate the cases as the work of a serial killer.

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Police Quest 4: Open Season provides examples of:

• Aerosol Flamethrower: Captured and stripped of his possessions by the killer, Carey must create one with a lighter and hairspray to vanquish him.
• Anti-Climax: 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, 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 Spiff is not responsible for Bob's murder.
  • The conclusion with Dennis Walker and his girlfriend also ended as quickly as it came.
  John: Geez, the feds are talking with Walker right now. Apparently, he is a real special case.
  • Also, the final part of 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?
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that this city is full of dirt-bags, creeps, and losers!"
• As You Know: The beginning of the game has Sam Nobles inform John all about him and Bob together for the past five years, and talking about how John is practically a god-father to Bob's daughter.
• Bitch Alert: 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.
• But Thou Must!: A reporter will stop John to ask some questions, which he cannot answer. You cannot do anything about it besides shove her to the side, which earns her reporting physical abuse and giving the LAPD a bad name.
• Call-Back: There is apparently a server in the LAPD named SONNY.
• Camp Gay: There is a male prostitute that attempts to flirt with John the moment he arrives at Pine Hollywood Avenue. He also attempts to break open your car, but walks away when he sees you.
• Captain Obvious: "Griffiti is often left behind by gangs."
• Catchphrase / Verbal Tic: "You're <insert emphasis if any> damn lucky <insert why>. Damn lucky." -Hal Bottoms
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Sherry Moore is pretty much just a pretty face working at the morgue. 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.
  • Lassundra Washington apparently witnessed Bob Hickman's murderer. She mentioned a woman in a red dress when you talk to her after Spiff's been apprehended.
• Cluster F-Bomb: 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.
• Cool Old Guy: Beavis, the tow guy. Or is it Danno?
• Da Chief: Lieutenant Block. Funny enough, it's the only Police Quest games that has this trope played out.
• Desk Jockey: Hal Bottoms. See Old Cop, Young Cop below.
  "They're (the criminals) just god damn lucky that I'm a desk jockey. When I was on the street, I'd whip their collective disrespectful butts.
• Deus ex Machina: 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.
• Don't Try This at Home: When you combine the aerosol can with a lighter, the narrator says this word for word.
• Dropped-in Speech Clip: The floppy version has one of Adolf Hitler's speeches playing in Dennis Walker's house, since he is a Neo-Nazi member of the Aryan Brotherhood. It has been removed from the CD version, even though a much more spacious CD would have less problems with storing audio, though this is presumably because the characters speak and it wouldn't want the audio to clash.
• Dull Surprise: John Carey sure doesn't sound upset when he's supposedly expressing shock and sadness 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.
• Exactly What I Meant to Say: Carey can question another 'witness' on the first scene named Raymond, who will constantly tell him that "I ain't seen nothin'"
  John Carey: (questioning for the third time) So Mr. Jones, what you're telling me is you don't have anything to tell me. Is that correct?
  Raymond Jones: That's straight up. Ain't seen nothin'. Done nothin'. Know nothin'.
• Fake Longevity: While it's excuseable to have to note anything relating to criminal activity just so you can fill out a report later, where is the excuse in forcing a player to loosen out every slug lodged into a wall, while hearing the same line "You loosened a slug from the wall" followed by a DING! for every slug loosened off? Fifteen times? Also, you will have to bag every single slug afterward. The game is also picky where you click your mouse at.
• Force Feeding: John can literally force feed a dog some pills to knock him out.
• Game-Breaking Bug: 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.
• Generic Graffiti: There is some of this in the opening of the game and you can investigate which Gangbangers it belongs to. Also attempting to use the chalk on any wall will cause the narrator to accuse you of being a graffiti artist.
  "Lieutenant Block doesn't want his walls covered in graffiti."
  "Graffiti at the Police Academy? Not a chance in hell!"
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Later, the city counsel and the mayor begin to question John Carey, and by extension, the LAPD's competence in dealing with a Serial Killer. In fact, John gets bombarded by questions by the general public the moment he steps up in city hall.
• Hypocrite: Depending on your interpretation of Hal Bottoms. Of course, he might just be trying to look out for John considering what happened prior to this line.
  "Playing cowboy will only take you so far in this damn job. If you wanna make it as long as I have, you're gonna have to curb your appetite for action."
• Implied Love Interest: 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.
  Chester: Sam, I think you had enough to drink.
• In-Series Nickname: Hal refers to John as Junior, likely due to how he's the older partner compared to John.
• Intrepid Reporter: There is a reporter who is actively trying to learn of the murder cases. John can shove her to the side, and give her quite a word, though this earns quite a lecture from his chief.
• Irony: Look inside the LUCKY MINI MART dumpster...
  • Try throwing Hickman's funeral notice in the garbage can at the coroners office.
• Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Attempting to take a flyer advertising a bake sale from the wall in Lt Block's office will meet with the narrator telling you "Remove and face certain death".
• Jump Scare:
  • How does PQIV begin? If you open up that dumpster...
  • If you enter a suspect's home without checking who's inside, a dog will ambush the player at blazing speed, followed by the screen fading red and the audio being the player being mauled. It happens so fast too.
  • There is a decapitated head waiting for you in the fridge. And yet, the narrator finds a way to downplay this.
• Lemony Narrator:
  • The narrator can sound enthusiastic, berating, easily amused, sound like he's either asking a question when there isn't one, or simply say a sentence that is clearly incomplete by his voice. He also has a nasty habit of point out the obvious. He's also unintentionally amusing in this regard.
  "You turned the knob and opened the door, Detective."
  • Also, in attempting to do something that could be considered criminal, the narrator will prevent you from doing it (most of the time; he won't stop you shooting the candy machine) and make a comment about you being a Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop.
• MacGyvering: In this series of Guide Dang It! moments:
  • Near the end, the Big Bad knocks you out and empties your pockets. To defeat him, you need to macgyver a flamethrower with a lighter and hairspray .
  • To enter the Big Bad's apartment without getting eaten by the dog, you have to glue a broken car mirror onto a drumstick. (Trial-and-Error Gameplay and Guide Dang It! moment)
  • To travel to this Big Bad's apartment you have to tame the dog with pretzels, and then lasso it!
• No-Gear Level: 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.
• Non-Linear Sequel: In a change from the original trilogy, the setting is moved to Los Angeles and focuses on a new protagonist.
• Not a Date: When Chester invites John to a bar, John jokingly asked if she was asking him out. She returns with "Not in your wildest dreams."
• Note to Self: It is more important to use the notebook on any piece of the crime scene, evidence, victims, and witnesses. You will also be recording what you recorded onto different forms for extra points.
  "Recording information of the crime scene ensures accurate reports later."
• Not What It Looks Like: When John had to shove the reporter out of the way, he attempts to explain to others that it wasn't what it looked like. No one bothers to believe him.
  • Later, John will walk into Sam "checking up" on Sherry. Sam claims that he was check for a chest cold.
• Off the Record: Barbie politely refuses to talk to John, officially out of fear that her business may get in trouble. When he plead that they'll "talk like friends," she warms up to him.
• Old Cop, Young Cop: Hal Bottoms, who is a veteran cop who got pushed to a desk job and takes care of whatever paper work he has to do for John. He also refers to John as Junior.
• Old-Timey Cinema Countdown: When Carey is offered to watch a movie in the Third Eye Theater, the film screen shows 5 and 4 (and potentially even a 3, depending on game speed) before the screen goes black and it starts.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: A nightmare inducing example.
• Product Placement: There is a D.A.R.E. ad in the lobby of the police department.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The elevator music in the Parker Center is the same music heard at the La Costa Lotta health resort.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: The stray dog is fiercely loyal to his master. If at the apartment, he's willing to kill. If at anywhere else, he just waits patiently.
• Shirtless Scene: There is a stripper in the background who appears to be topless. Appears because her top is so pixelated, it's hard to tell.
• Shoplift and Die: Try to steal from a store in Open Season, and the shopkeeper will stop you. Persist anyway, and you'll be gunned down.
• Shoot Everything That Moves: You can do this early in the game including Valerie however it won't be possible later on except for certain places like the cigarette machine or the real killer.
• Shoot the Dog: You can choose to shoot the dog. Obviously, the game won't let you get away with that. Overlaps with Force Feeding, but that one is justified.
• Shout-Out: You can find a scrap of newspaper in Morales' patrol car. On one side, there's an ad for a topless bar - on the other, one for a movie theater that just so happens to be showing Dirty Harry.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: You can get one out of your trunk during a shoot-out.
• Side Quest: The local police academy is holding a marksmanship challenge, which is good if you want to earn extra points and kill some time.
• Sir Swearsa Lot: The game is best known for the profanity used in this game. For example, the character Hal Bottoms will use the word "Goddamn" and "Bitch" in the game. Also Dennis Walker will use the word "Fuck" and "Shit" if you touch his stuff or show him items from your inventory.
• Standard Cop Backstory: Talking to Chester at the Short Stop reveals that she became a cop because her dad was one.
• Take Our Word for It: For a heavily tortured man, Bob Hickman sure looks well perserved. Brutually inverted for the little boy though...
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Invoked. Several developers working for Sierra at the time have stated on record that the decision to hire former Police Chief Daryl Gates, hot off the Rodney King controversy and the L.A. Riots, as a consultant for the game was by all appearances motivated by the hope that his own infamous reputation would attract some additional publicity to the project.
• Undercover Cop Reveal: That guy at the rainbow cafe who told you the police is unwelcome inside? He's working undercover, and had to blow it to provide you cover during a shoot out.
• Villainous Crossdresser: Mitchell Thurman.
• Wham Line: "Darling, I think that red shoe would fit you better than it would fit me."
• What Happenedtothe Mouse: After 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.
• White Gangbangers: We only got to see two, but Dennis Walker and his girl friend both happen to be this, and really racist too. Both of them also attempted to kill John, for presumably... helping Yo Money?
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: "What kind of name is Emo?"
• Would Hurt a Child: Bobby Washington (the child in the beginning) was found murdered and hidden in a dumpster.
  "He's just a child, Sam. What's happening on our streets?!"
  • 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. He is ultimately the one who is able to help John close the case on the murderer, and he nearly got killed doing so.