Police Quest: Open Season

Daryl F. Gates Police Quest: Open Season (aka Police Quest 4: Open Season or PQ4) is the fourth installment of Sierra On-Line's popular Police Quest computer game series. Released in 1993, it was created by retired Police Chief Daryl F. Gates after his retirement in 1992. He replaced ex-California Highway Patrol officer Jim Walls as the designer of the Police Quest franchise.

Gameplay
Police Quest IV differs significantly from the first three games, in both game engine and story. The player plays the character of homicide detective John Carey, rather than officer Sonny Bonds, and the game is set in Los Angeles, California rather than the fictional Lytton. Backgrounds for the game are scanned photographs rather than painted scenery, and depict real locations in Los Angeles. The Parker Center is a location used in the game, and is virtually unchanged from when the game was made. Similarly, characters and digitized sprites of actors.

Written text is replaced by audible narration and dialogues on the CD version, released in 1996.

The entire game, like Police Quest III and the 1991 re-make of Police Quest 1, is based on a mouse-controlled user-interface system. Icons such as "walk", "speak to", "touch", "use", and "look at" are used rather than the less-conventional text-parsing system used in the first two games.

Plot
The game starts in a South Central Los Angeles alley at around 3:00 AM. Carey finds his best friend, Officer Robert Hickman, murdered on the scene, alongside eight-year-old Bobby Washington. The seemingly random string of gang-related murders continues along, providing Carey with clues to find his killer(s).

After 5 people are murdered, mutilated and found in public places, Carey finally closes in on the serial killer. He stumbled across the proprietor of a second-rate movie theatre, who has a stuttering problem. The owner offers him some tea and invites him into the theatre to watch a film. Carey passes out and hallucinates that the proprietor is the cross-dresser seen near the body of Hickman. The owner wakes Carey up and throws him out of the theatre. Carey finds the killer's house (led there by his dog), only to find a severed head in a fridge. Carey finds a hidden passage that leads back to the theatre, and finds a woman passed out in the seats. When he returns, he sees the owner dragging the unconscious woman into a back room. Carey is subsequently knocked unconscious. However, Carey manages to scrounge up some hairspray and a lighter, finds the woman covered in blood with the killer looming over her, and torches the killer. Although the woman is limp and covered in blood, we can assume that Carey saved her because the mayor mentions that only 5 people were killed, as he presents Carey with the Medal of Valor.

Locations

 * Parker Center
 * Los Angeles Police Academy
 * LA County Morgue
 * South Central LA
 * Rainbow Cafe
 * Lucky Mini Mart
 * Bernadette's House
 * Hickman's House
 * Yo Money's Estate
 * Dennis Walker's Apartment
 * The Short Stop Bar
 * City Hall
 * Impound Lot
 * Griffin Park
 * Hollywood and Vine
 * Bitty Kitty Club
 * Ragin' Records
 * LA County Social Services
 * Third Eye Theater
 * Back Alley
 * Mitchell Thurman's Apartment

Mini Games

 * Target Range
 * Stroids
 * Sand Warrior

Realism
The game's gritty realism greatly emphasizes a homicide detective's line of work, requiring the player to follow standard police procedures and thoroughly investigate crime scenes to every extent. As such realism is presented in the form of working to find and link clues, the game also depicts a gruesome photo-realistic nature including dead bodies and a severed head in the refrigerator. The CD version of the game contained copies of official LA police department employee and community relation polices.

At the beginning of the game, an eight-year-old boy is found murdered from gunshot wounds in a dumpster, close-ups of Hickman's body are revealed, and towards the end of the game, the player will find a severed head in a refrigerator before ultimately stumbling upon the killer, who is fondling a victim's corpse. It is believed the killer in the game is based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, noted for keeping body parts from his victims inside his house. The game, like several other Sierra games of the era, is also notable for the fact that the main character can be killed by many hazards; the game ends if a player constantly harasses female employees at the Parker Center, or if he shoots non-threatening people, or gets killed by a murderer or a guard dog.

Open Season also featured mature sexual themes. At one point, the player visits a transgender nightclub in West Hollywood, and learns about his friend's secret life, also a topless woman can be seen dancing in the nightclub. The realism is complemented by a unique reaction for inappropriate use of items in the player's inventory, rather than a generic "I can't do that" statement.

The game also depicts Dennis Walker as a Neo-Nazi decorating his apartment with a Nazi flag and Swastika symbols on his wall.

The PC game is notable for the use of profanity used by characters including Yo Money, Nicolette Rogers, Dennis Walker, Hal Bottoms.

This PC game was released in 1993 before the ESRB rating system was officially established in 1994. Early versions listed the game as MA-17, while later versions listed it as Teen-13.

Development and Release
The same year Police Quest: Open Season was released, ex-Police Quest developer Jim Walls released a very similar game called Blue Force. Although Blue Force is graphically more similar to Police Quest III, the storyline and completion time are shorter.

Also, for the 1996 release of the game, a two minute promotional video was included.

The game was promotionally called Police Quest 4 in early production materials. PQ4 appears in the installation menus, credits and file names. The name does not appear in the title screen however.

There are two versions of Police Quest 4 the Floppy version and the CD-Rom version. There are some differences between the two. The CD-Rom version includes enhanced graphics for inventory items, menus, and some of the close up scenes. There are also script and character name differences. Both utilize vesa drivers.

The CD-Rom adds two interactive Arcade game at the Short Stop, one is Stroids and the other is called Sand Warrior.

Some of the later releases, especially in collections (including GOG version) refer to this as Police Quest 4 or Police Quest 4: Open Season. Though references to PQ4 can also be found in the file structure and installations in several versions. The 2006 version's windows menu refers to as Police Quest 4 as well.

Cast

 * Detective John Carey
 * Mitchell Thurman
 * Robert Hickman
 * Malcom Allen
 * Katherine Hickman
 * Valerie Hickman
 * Donald Block
 * Kristy Bilden
 * Hal Bottoms
 * Sherry Moore
 * Russel Marks
 * Barbie Cann
 * Electra
 * Emmo Jones
 * Dennis Walker
 * Wendy James
 * Kim Chee
 * Jim Varaz
 * Nicolette
 * Dannyd
 * Yo Money
 * Ragin' Paul
 * Rosa Garcia
 * Bill Linder
 * Chief Gates
 * Teddy Baker
 * Julie Chester
 * Phillip Jurica
 * Bert Arnold
 * Two-Jack
 * Nora Bitteridge
 * Bruce Woodbury
 * LaSondra Washington
 * Bobby Washington
 * Bernadette Washington
 * Joel Miller
 * Billy Bob Strum
 * Neal Schmall
 * Don Hadley
 * Raymond Jones III
 * Male Prostitute
 * Jody Foster
 * Daryl Gates
 * Julia Roberts
 * Woody
 * Female Stripper
 * Janitor

Behind the scenes

 * The first Police Quest game not to feature Sonny Bonds.
 * The first Police Quest game to use voice acting.
 * Tammy Dargan authored and wrote the story. Gates was mostly an technical advisor for police tactics.
 * This game caused controversy for the portrayal of African American men in the game using jive talk. The script was written by Tammy Dargan, and Gates actually tried to advise against using the lingo saying that African-Americans speak like anyone else.
 * The first Police Quest game to take place in Los Angeles.
 * You no longer have to drive your car on the streets to your destination. So choosing a location will automatically get you there. However, this more has to do with the player being a 'Detective' and not a cop. His job is not to catch drivers for driving violations.
 * One of the first PC games to use the word "Fuck" and "Shit" in that same year in 1993 Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers also featured those words.
 * This game is notable for the use of uncensored profanity used by Dennis Walker, Yo Money, Nicolette Rogers, Hal Bottoms in 1993 a year before the ESRB rating system was officially established.
 * Besides aforementioned title Police Quest 4, this game is sometimes referred to as Police Quest 4: Daryl F. Gates' Open Season such as on the box for the SWAT Career Pack.
 * At the first crime scene, an advertisement for Pepsi can be seen.
 * This game has several box varieties, between the cd-rom versions and the floppy version.

Credits

 * Author, Former L.A.P.D. Chief: Daryl F. Gates
 * Producer: Tammy Dargan
 * Director: Tammy Dargan
 * Designer: Tammy Dargan
 * Writer: Tammy Dargan
 * Art Designer: Darrin Fuller
 * Composer: Neal Grandstaff
 * Director of Photography: Rod Fung
 * Artists: Dana Moody, Donald Waller, Barry T. Smith, and Phy Williams
 * CD Programming: Juan Carlos Escobar, Chris Carr, and Sean Mooney
 * Programmers: David Artis, Scott Murphy, and Cynthia Joseph
 * CD QA Analysts: Danny A. Woolard and Douglas Wheeler
 * Additional Audio: Richard Spurgeon and Kelli Spurgeon
 * Documentation Graphics: Nathan Gams and Maria Fruehe
 * QA Configuration: Lynne S. Dayton, Roger Clendenning, Douglas Wheeler, Leonard Salas, Dave Clingman, Jon Meek, John Trauger, Ken Eaton, Michael D. Jones, Catie Andrews, and Sharon Simmons
 * Quality Assurance: Robin Bradley, Lynne S. Dayton, Roger Clendenning, Leonard Salas, Michael Brosius, and Douglas Wheeler
 * System Technologists: Dan Foy, Larry Scott, Christopher Smith, and Mark Wilden
 * System Programmers: Greg Tomko-Pavia, Ed Critchlow, Brian K. Hughes, Ken Koch, Terry McHenry, Martin Peters, David Slayback, and Steve Conrad
 * Additional Music: Dan Kehler
 * Special Thanks: Daryle Smith, Susan Frischer, Patrick Bridgemon, Greg Birkel, J. Mark Hood, Robert Fischer, Scot Post, Mark Russell, Frank Shears, Tom DeSalvo, Jeff Bianchi, and Bruce Hammerich
 * Our Appreciation to: James W. Thomas, Ken Williams, Bill Linn, Gene Arreola, Addison Arce, Cindy Romero, Robert Wharton, Kurt Busch, Liz Jacobs, and Robin Kleeman
 * Cast: Brandon Massey (as Detective John Carey), Andrew Witches (as Mitchell Thurman), Jeff Bianchi (as Sam Nobles), Dan Rogers (as Bob Hickman), Patty Felix (as Katherine Hickman), Charissa Felix (as Valerie Hickman), Roger Griffith (as Lieutenant Block), Dana Moody (as Kristy Bilden), Frank Shears (as Hal Bottoms), Leslie Wallace (as Sherry Moore), Mark Russell (as Russel Marks), Barbara Shannon (as Barbie Cann), Liz Jacobs (as Electra), Billy D. (as Dennis Walker), Allison Topham (as Walker's Girlfriend), Pam Coates (as Kim Chee), Robert Wharton (as Jim Varaz), Keith A. Bolden (as Ragtopp Spiff), Ayesha Tidwell (as Nicolette), George Esparza (as Dannyd), Gary Rivera (as Yo Money), Paul Cruikshank (as Ragin' Man), Wanda Smith (as Mrs. Garcia), Bill Linn (as Officer Linder), Daryl F. Gates (as Chief Gates), Kevin Moody (as Teddy Baker), Angela Mendoza (as Julie Chester), Timothy Fruehe (as Det. Jurica), Barry T. Smith (as Cameraman), Randy Galloway (as Bert Arnold), Dan Owens (as Two-Jack), Candie Wilk (as Nora Bitteridge), Bruce Woodbury (as Officer Woodbury), Shante Gaston (as La Sondra Washington), Ashton McArn (as Bobby Washington), Madelyn Smiley (as Bernadette Washington), Rod Fung (as Impound Yardman), Neal Grandstaff (as Bartender), and Ashton McArn (as Mayor)
 * Producer \ Director: Tammy Dargan
 * Designer \ Writer: Tammy Dargan
 * Lead Programmer: Doug Oldfield
 * Author: Daryl F. Gates
 * Cinematographer: Rod Fung
 * Artist: Dana Moody, Barry T. Smith, and Donald Waller
 * Team Quality Control: Bill Davis Jr.
 * Programmer: David Artis, Cynthia Joseph, and Scott Murphy
 * Configuration Lead: Lynne S. Dayton
 * Director of Technology: Bill Crow
 * System Technologists: Dan Foy, Larry Scott, Christopher Smith, and Mark Wilden
 * System Programmer: Steve Conrad, Ed Critchlow, Brian K. Hughes, Ken Koch, Terry McHenry, Martin Peters, and David Slayback
 * Manual Designer: Maria Fruehe and Nathan Gams
 * Special Thanks: Robert Fischer, J. Mark Hood, Scot Post, Mark Russell, and Frank Shears
 * Graphic Designer-Packaging: Cathy Klein
 * Hintbook Writer: Lorelei Shannon
 * Hintbook Design: Maria Fruehe
 * German Localisation: John Hugo, Oliver Kluge, Hubert Grunder, Robert Böck, Miriam Kramer, and Harald Meyer

Patches

 * Police Quest IV Handcuff Patch B (PQ4CUF): For floppy Version only. On a few slower computer systems, it is extremely difficult or impossible to arrest Walker in City Hall. This patch will give you more time to put the handcuffs on the suspect.
 * Police Quest IV 1.0c Update (PQ4PAT): For floppy Version. Updates your copy of Police Quest to version 1.0c from versions 1.0, 1.0a or 1.0b. Fixes:
 * Lockups in the shoot-out scene.
 * Problems with Emo if the game was saved at a certain point in the shoot-out scene.
 * Not being able to scroll through cursor icons at one point.
 * All cursors acting like the talk cursor at one point.
 * Not getting the full amount of points when using the 90 degree mirror.
 * Lockups after certain DAC sounds played.
 * Police Quest IV Gravis UltraSound Drivers (GUS32) : These Gravis Ultrasound Drivers will work with some Sierra 32 bit games. These drivers will not work on earlier Sierra games.
 * Police Quest Collection: The Four Most Wanted (1995) Install (PQ4Install): This zip archive contains the missing install files to be able to setup the audio hardware for manual install of the DOS version of PQ4 that ships with the 4 Most Wanted Collection.
 * Police Quest Collection (2006) DOSBox Update (PQCollectionDBUpdate): This patch will allow the use of the latest version of DOSBox over the version 0.63 that shipped with the Collection. Also includes the NewRisingSun patches for PQ1VGA, PQ2 and PQ3. The patch also restores the missing install files to configure the games' settings. Also, if you own the original version of Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (AGI) (1986), you can copy the game files to a folder on your harddrive and run the patcher from there to setup the original game with the collection. After running the update, you will find new shortcuts in the "Sierra\Police Quest Collection" folder in the Start Menu. The launcher will no longer be needed.