Police Quest III: The Kindred
Police Quest III: The Kindred (also known simply as Police Quest III) is an adventure game produced by Jim Walls for Sierra On-Line, and released in 1991. It is the sequel to Police Quest II: The Vengeance and is part of the Police Quest series.
| Police Quest III: The Kindred | |
|---|---|
 MS-DOS cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Director(s) | Mark Crowe |
| Producer(s) | Guruka Singh-Khalsa |
| Designer(s) | Jim Walls |
| Programmer(s) | Doug Oldfield |
| Artist(s) | Mark Crowe |
| Composer(s) | Jan Hammer |
| Series | Police Quest |
| Engine | SCI |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Amiga |
| Release | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
Police Quest III uses a point and click interface common to adventure games of the time. The mouse is used to select and interact with objects from the game world and the player's inventory, as well as to direct the player character around the various environments. For the most part the player is able to take their time in examining clues and solving puzzles, though there are also several time sensitive combat situations, in which the player must quickly access and use their side arm to shoot a suspect before being shot first.
The game also features a manual driving minigame whenever the player travels from one location to another; it is similar to that found in the original Police Quest, though the interface has been simplified and streamlined. In order to complete the driving sequences, the player must refer to a printed map which was packaged with the game, a gameplay element which was intended as a form of copy protection. There are also several points in the game in which, after arresting a suspect, a five digit "offense code" must be given correctly; they are only available from the game's physical manual.
Plot
Sonny Bonds, the protagonist of the previous two games, returns to Lytton with his new wife, Marie. While she takes work in the local shopping mall, Bonds resumes work in the Lytton Police Department as a newly promoted Sergeant. On his first day, while handling traffic duty and dealing with a mentally disturbed man, Bonds becomes concerned over the actions of Pat Morales - a female police officer in the department who has received complaints over her behaviour and attitude. Shortly before his day is over, Bonds is dispatched to the mall, and is horrified to find that Marie had been stabbed during an assault. Despite surviving, his wife falls into a coma. Distraught and angered, Bonds vows to bring her attacker to justice, and finds a few pieces of evidence to help him.
The next day, Bonds is assigned to Homicide to investigate a connection between the assault and another stabbing, though is shocked to find Morales working alongside him on the case as his new partner. Investigating the evidence and the previous stabbing, Bonds links it to an unsolved murder, in which the victim had a pentagram carved into their body post mortem. With the help of a witness, Bonds identifies the suspect as Steve Rocklin, whose background includes links to a cult that deals in cocaine. A few days later, Bonds and Morales are called to a dead body in an alleyway, and determine it to be murder and linked to their investigation. Suspecting the cult link might be relevant and Rocklin as the killer, Bonds determines where he will strike and prevents him killing his next victim. Although Rocklin escapes, Bonds and Morales pursue him, only to find him dead after crashing on the freeway.
Investigating Rocklin's motive for the murders, Bonds discovers that someone else is involved in the crimes - alongside finding cocaine in Rocklin's wrecked car, Bonds and Morales discover that someone had torched his home shortly before they arrive to search it. Bonds quickly learns that Rocklin had connections to Jesse Bains, his former nemesis, and Bain's brother Michael, whom he learns is psychotic and extremely dangerous. At the same time, he becomes suspicious of Morales' behavior, and upon discovering her in possession of some of the cocaine they seized, reports her to Internal Affairs. Upon tracking down Michael to a run-down house and acquiring a search warrant and back-up, Bonds raids the building, arresting Michael and bringing down members of the cult he was running. Morales eventually turns on Bonds, but is promptly stopped by a detective from IA, based on Bonds' actions. Following the conclusion of the case, Bonds reunites with Marie, who recovers, in order to enjoy time together before... their baby arrives!
Development
Released in 1991 for SCI version 1, Police Quest III is completely mouse-driven. It was only released for the IBM PC and the Amiga. During the late development stages of this game, Jim Walls left Sierra for reasons that have still not been publicly explained. Sierra employee Jane Jensen finalized the writing for the still unfinished Police Quest III, and SWAT founder Daryl F. Gates was named to take over of the Police Quest series. Walls, along with several former Sierra employees, would go on to design Blue Force.
Reception
The first four Police Quest games totaled 850,000 sales by late 1995. However, Markus Krichel of PC Games noted that "interest on the part of the gamer fell slightly" with Police Quest: Open Season, which led Sierra On-Line to experiment with a new direction for the series with Police Quest: SWAT.[1] According to Sierra, combined sales of the Police Quest series—including SWAT—surpassed 1.2 million units by the end of March 1996.[2]
Computer Gaming World called Police Quest 3: The Kindred "the best of the series to date", stating that the no-typing interface greatly improved gameplay.[3] In 1992, Dragon gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.[4] Amiga User International praised the graphics and realism of the Amiga version and gave the game a score of 91%.[5] In reviewing the PC version, Zero likewise praised the graphics and realism, though they were critical of the long load times when moving from one location to another and the precision demanded by the controls, and awarded the game a total score of 79%.[6]
References
- Krichel, Markus (November 1995). "Spezialeinheit". PC Games: 40, 41.
- Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report). Bellevue, Washington. March 31, 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018.
- Lambright, J. D. (January 1992). "Kindred Arrests". Computer Gaming World. p. 74. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
- Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (February 1992). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (178): 57–64.
- "Police Quest III". Amiga User International (11). November 1992. Retrieved December 21, 2012.: page scan at Amiga Magazine Rack
- Gerrard, Mike (January 1992). "Police Quest 3". Zero (27). Retrieved December 21, 2012.: page scan at Amiga Magazine Rack