A really fascinating article on Police Quest 4

[madhair60]

Well, I can read a thread before writing in it, at least.

I was about 12 or 13 years old at the time, and the only games I could play were already installed on my parents' second-hand PC.  Not sure if that counts as theft or idiocy on my part; the computer's previous owners didn't provide the manual so either they copied it off someone or they lost the manual or thought it wasn't needed.

I'm never apologising.

[FredNurke]

I was about to agree with you, until I saw this massive list (which, for some reason, GOG haven't just taken down).

https://www.gog.com/mix/games_that_treat_gog_customers_as_second_class_citizens

I think the GOG version of Wings Remastered I have has the voice-over. Can't say about the other games on the list, though, as I don't think I've got any of them apart from Botanicula, which I bought some time after it came out. Considering the number of GOG games I do have, that's a little surprising.

[buzby]

FUN FACT: The aforementioned Softporn Adventure is a text adventure, written and designed by Al Lowe, whom went on to create the Leisure Suit Larry series.  In fact, the first game in said series, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, is in essence, a remake of Softporn Adventure.

Softporn Adventure was written by Chuck Benton (his name is even on the box) for the Apple II in 1981. Ken Williams saw him selling it at a trade show and later gave him a job at On-Line, who also published the game (tohugh it was withdrawn from sale after a couple of months due to the controversy surrounding it and it's advertising campaign)

Sierra lost a Disney licence in 1986 so Al Lowe convinced Williams to remake the game in Sierra's then house style with graphics as Leisure Suit Larry, but the underlying story and puzzles were all taken directly from  Softporn Adventure.

In 1991 a programmer called Bob Thompson converted the Apple BASIC version of the game to Microsoft C so he could run it on the PC. He then bought a copy of LSL and realised they were the same game. He contacted Lowe, and Williams then game him permission to release his conversion as shareware. In 1994, Lowe then got in touch with Thompson again, asking if Sierra could include his conversion in the LSL Greatest Hits and Misses compilation, as it was the only version that would run on a PC.

The other women in the hot tub photo were also On-Line employees - Diane Siegel (production manager) and Susan Davis (bookkeeper and Bob Davis' wife). I can't imagine a company nowadays asking for female employees to pose topless for an advertisement.

[biggytitbo]

Dunno about terrible, but it's certainly not great. I always ended up just aimlessly wandering about the town, not really sure of what I was supposed to be doing. But those pretty graphics kept drawing me back....

I remember when Lure came out it made a massive deal of the virtual theatre stuff, but the game itself is very ordinary unfortunately. What I remember most though is they were based in Hull when they did that game, which was very exciting,  until they fucked off to York (and started making good games) .

[Replies From View]

I can't imagine a company nowadays asking for female employees to pose topless for an advertisement.

I prefer to have fantasies set in the past as well.

[Rolf Lundgren]

Played Police Quests 1-3 countless times but never got round to the 4th one. Judging by the article I'm missing out on a good laugh.

I find the Sierra criticism interesting, partly because I have so much nostalgic love for the PQ, Space Quest, Larry and King's Quest series that they can do little wrong in my eyes. The most common complaint of it being too hard or procedural is part of the game's learning curve. Usually you're told how you died if you don't know why and you quickly learn to save and restore a hell of a lot. The Police Quest series is nowhere near as dry as you'd expect from some reviews too. Pimp outfits, chickens tied to desks, prisoners threatening to kick your mojo up your shoulders. There's a full bodied gaming experience in there rather than a hollow simulator.

The humour and stories behind those games are both strong, usually where the comparison with Lucasarts comes in, and it's unfair that Lucasarts gets all the love while Sierra is treated more derisory. The Sierra games arguably have more repeat value as you can try and get maximum points out of the game.

[St_Eddie]

The Sierra games arguably have more repeat value as you can try and get maximum points out of the game.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, with its 'Indy Quotient' points, would like a word.

[Replies From View]

Here's a question that I didn't think I should start a new thread for:  Which games out there feature zero or only negligible deaths like the majority of Lucasarts games?  There's the Wario games, I suppose.  Any others?

[biggytitbo]

The directors cut version of broken sword removed the couple of death scenes from the original.

[St_Eddie]

Here's a question that I didn't think I should start a new thread for:  Which games out there feature zero or only negligible deaths like the majority of Lucasarts games?  There's the Wario games, I suppose.  Any others?

There's absolutely loads of adventure titles, far too many to list here.  Outside of that particular genre, the only title which immediately springs to mind is Prince of Persia (2008).