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Five days of investigating... running all over God's creation, looking for clues, questioning every boring person you happen to see... putting up with an idiot reporter... enduring the hissy fits of your boss every single day... Getting in gun fights with gangs... And how do you find your killer? By throwing a lasso around a dog. ... All that hard work... irrelevant. Daryl F Gates has revealed the true secret of detective work. Playing cowboy with domesticated animals...
rofl... Ive been laughing about this for the last 30 minutes...
Post edited January 22, 2011 by WilHiteWarrior
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WilHiteWarrior: Five days of investigating... running all over God's creation, looking for clues, questioning every boring person you happen to see... putting up with an idiot reporter... enduring the hissy fits of your boss every single day... Getting in gun fights with gangs... And how do you find your killer? By throwing a lasso around a dog. ... All that hard work... irrelevant. Daryl F Gates has revealed the true secret of detective work. Playing cowboy with domesticated animals...
rofl... Ive been laughing about this for the last 30 minutes...
Yes indeed. But you know, I started up PQ4 the other day and I just bursted into laughter, when the overly dramatic conversation in the murder scene started. The whole game is just so ridiculous, that it doesn't deserve to be called Police Quest.
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tomimt: Yes indeed. But you know, I started up PQ4 the other day and I just bursted into laughter, when the overly dramatic conversation in the murder scene started. The whole game is just so ridiculous, that it doesn't deserve to be called Police Quest.
"I heard you and Hickman go way back a long way."

"Me and Bob went to the academy together, we shared a car for five years. Damnit, I'm that little girl's godfather!... Yeah, you could say we went back, Bob was a great guy."

It's like the lead VA is summoning his inner Shatner. I still wonder why Jim Walls left Sierra, we'll probably never know. Replacing him with Daryl F. Gates probably looked good on paper, like they could make the series all edgy and stuff but the series isn't the same without Sonny and Marie (I still wonder how Sonny is adjusting to life as a husband and father). PQ4 is still a solid adventure game in my book and far from being Sierra's worst.
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tomimt: Yes indeed. But you know, I started up PQ4 the other day and I just bursted into laughter, when the overly dramatic conversation in the murder scene started. The whole game is just so ridiculous, that it doesn't deserve to be called Police Quest.
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brendano: "I heard you and Hickman go way back a long way."

"Me and Bob went to the academy together, we shared a car for five years. Damnit, I'm that little girl's godfather!... Yeah, you could say we went back, Bob was a great guy."

It's like the lead VA is summoning his inner Shatner. I still wonder why Jim Walls left Sierra, we'll probably never know. Replacing him with Daryl F. Gates probably looked good on paper, like they could make the series all edgy and stuff but the series isn't the same without Sonny and Marie (I still wonder how Sonny is adjusting to life as a husband and father). PQ4 is still a solid adventure game in my book and far from being Sierra's worst.
Professional voice casting? Yeah, right.
First off, Gates wasn't the only one in designing the game. Tammy Dargan was the director, designer, producer, and writer of the game. That being said, despite some of the writing, PQ4 is still my favorite of the series and the one I have played the most.

HOWEVER

Being a former law enforcement officer, I find that the first time in the theater to be grounds to suggest that Carey is an idiot. He can't go into the bathroom because of the smell. Carey is a homicide detective. He should know what the smell of rotting flesh is. Even if he didn't have a search warrant to enter the bathroom, he had enough probable cause to enter. Instead he watches a move and has a wet dream about a transvestite, and then gets kicked out.

When he has enough information, combined with all of the weird shit that happened at the theater, he should have called his boss, gotten a quick search warrant, and went to the theater with a full SWAT team and forensics team to arrest the guy and clear the theater. So he gets a medal for recklessly endangering himself, potentially leading to the death of another victim (Who WAS that woman anyways?) and leading to the death of a suspect that likely could have been arrested had he been following proper procedures.
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Wraith: First off, Gates wasn't the only one in designing the game. Tammy Dargan was the director, designer, producer, and writer of the game. That being said, despite some of the writing, PQ4 is still my favorite of the series and the one I have played the most.

HOWEVER

Being a former law enforcement officer, I find that the first time in the theater to be grounds to suggest that Carey is an idiot. He can't go into the bathroom because of the smell. Carey is a homicide detective. He should know what the smell of rotting flesh is. Even if he didn't have a search warrant to enter the bathroom, he had enough probable cause to enter. Instead he watches a move and has a wet dream about a transvestite, and then gets kicked out.

When he has enough information, combined with all of the weird shit that happened at the theater, he should have called his boss, gotten a quick search warrant, and went to the theater with a full SWAT team and forensics team to arrest the guy and clear the theater. So he gets a medal for recklessly endangering himself, potentially leading to the death of another victim (Who WAS that woman anyways?) and leading to the death of a suspect that likely could have been arrested had he been following proper procedures.
Indeed, PQ4 went from being ok to batshit stupid rather quickly. Carey should have won a Darwin Award for his actions in the theater. My God I had it figured out before he did. :-/
I loved PQ4 when it first came out, it was one of my favorite adventure games. When I saw it on GOG I bought it with great anticipation and fired PQ4 straight up.


After all those years of waiting to play PQ4 again I clearly granted it qualities it did not have. I sat there playing this game, the whole time thinking 'I recall this game being a whole lot better than this...' It's not a bad game but it does have massive plot holes, terrible voice acting and a tendency to make you perform redundant actions over and over again, I'm assuming to make the game last longer.

Seriously, why do I need to stop and attach my parker centre ID card EVERY TIME I GO BACK TO MY OFFICE!
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Player_01: I loved PQ4 when it first came out, it was one of my favorite adventure games. When I saw it on GOG I bought it with great anticipation and fired PQ4 straight up.


After all those years of waiting to play PQ4 again I clearly granted it qualities it did not have. I sat there playing this game, the whole time thinking 'I recall this game being a whole lot better than this...' It's not a bad game but it does have massive plot holes, terrible voice acting and a tendency to make you perform redundant actions over and over again, I'm assuming to make the game last longer.

Seriously, why do I need to stop and attach my parker centre ID card EVERY TIME I GO BACK TO MY OFFICE!
A real big plot twist when you had to pull a lighter from a head's mouth.
My biggest disappointment is that we didn't get ANY explanation at the end. I had so many questions...

What was the killer's motive (beside being totally nuts)? What was the substance he used and where he got it? How did he select the victims (except Luella) and where did he found them? They all went to the theater or what? (Yeah, especially likely in the case of Hickman who was doing an undercover work and just had an argument with his wife.)
What's with the striptease bar connection? It was simply a red herring? The killer obviously couldn't work among the girls, but why did he dump the victims' cars in front of the bar then? What's the meaning of the newspaper clipping, who put it in Garcia's car and why?
Since the killer didn't work in the bar and wasn't even a woman, he couldn't be invited to Yo Money's party - but then, how did he get into the property? And why, while we're at it?
Why did the killer left Carey alive when he could have klled him TWICE - once after he fell asleep in the theater and once after he knocked him out?

I really enjoyed the whole game but the ending (almost) totally ruined it for me...
Necro-answering for the sake of closure:

1: Killer's motive is unclear, but it's fairly obvious he had some mother issues and was abused as a child like many other serial killers have had. The fact it was never explained is made easier when you consider the similarities of other serial killers around that time.

2: The substance is never revealed but my guess would be some kind of solution in the theatre, maybe something used on film reels. It's toxic and doesn't cause instant death but is fatal, which could be any number of industrial chemicals.

3: They went to the theatre.
- Hickman got in a fight with his wife and he went out to relax. it's implied he went to the theatre to relax and was killed
- The cop had the news clipping since he went to the theatre or he may have already been in a relationship with Thurman, though it's more likely he met him at the theatre then had a brief relationship with him before dying. The guy in Hollywood states that he had seen him driving around with Thurman in drag.
- The naked couple were likely visitors to the theatre
- Luella Parker was Thurman's case worker and went to the theatre to check up on him and never returned.

4: The strip club was basically a red herring but part of the investigative process. Kerry had evidence it was a woman (shoes, hearsay, etc.) and proof that one of the victims was linked to the club. As for the car, remember that the cop car was found on Hollywood and Vine as well, so it's possible that he was just sloppy and dumped the cars in the same spot because he used to drive around there.

5: I assumed Garcia was the one invited to the party (cops had a history of off-duty security for rappers back then) and took Thurman with him.

6: The killer always tortured them alive, the coroner confirms this. They were tortured with having glue applied to various orifices, received cigarette burns, had body parts removed, then given an injection to kill them. He wanted them to suffer, so killing Carey beforehand would have ruined it. As for why Thurman asked him to leave, he likely had multiple personality disorder and didn't want to kill him, especially as he was already guilt stricken over killing Parker.
I was actually stuck for a while after the first theatre visit, because I tried to figure out a way to get search warrant and back up for a raid. Following the dog just felt so stupid, that it took me a long while to realize that you have to use famous Sierra logic instead of following police procedure like you usually must do in Police Quest games.
I had played this game when it came out, and the eleven year old me thought it was pretty good.

Got it off GOG recently and finished it today.

Safe to say it is one of the most disappointing games I've ever played.

-Terrible ending in every way (the dog lasso thing, NO attempt to explain or go in depth on the motive, and, in general, the game goes from a "just getting started" feel to being over in about five minutes of game play)

-Annoying name badge/police badge usage EVERY time you go to a location (the game even makes a point of having the person say, "I know who you are, but I still want you to show me your badge")

-Dreadful voice acting and some really lame writing

I could go on but the game doesn't deserve it. Just terrible.
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jdgremmer: I had played this game when it came out, and the eleven year old me thought it was pretty good.

Got it off GOG recently and finished it today.

Safe to say it is one of the most disappointing games I've ever played.

-Terrible ending in every way (the dog lasso thing, NO attempt to explain or go in depth on the motive, and, in general, the game goes from a "just getting started" feel to being over in about five minutes of game play)

-Annoying name badge/police badge usage EVERY time you go to a location (the game even makes a point of having the person say, "I know who you are, but I still want you to show me your badge")

-Dreadful voice acting and some really lame writing

I could go on but the game doesn't deserve it. Just terrible.
Reviving an older thread here, but I felt the same way. I had been playing it for the past few days. The game picks up enough steam to become interesting until about halfway through, when the problems become too evident. I agree with the OP, that last section is very problematic. It pulls you out of the experience and makes Carey seem like a complete idiot.
I think "Police Quest 4" is terrible. A horrendous attempt to update the graphics (what was wrong with regular VGA graphics), terrible music (uncharacteristic for "Police Quest." The best thing about the Jim Walls games was the music). A protagonist who I don't particularly like, in fact he's probably my least favorite protagonist ever in an adventure game. The worst voice acting ever (You can make an argument for "King's Quest 5" here, but at least that game has the rookie excuse. By the time PQ4 came out, Sierra had perfected the art of voice acting. For some reason, the great voice actors that Sierra hired for other games in 1992-1993 weren't in PQ4). A not very good story line. A lot of boring information (specifically the coroner telling you much more information than you need to know). Dealing with the media in an asinine manner. And some utterly absurd puzzles. I believe this is one of the worst games ever created.

As for the killer's motive, I do not believe he had one, at least not for murdering those specific people. The closest you come to finding out his motive is when you talk to the receptionist at social services. You learned he had a disturbing childhood (he saw his mother being murdered if I remember correctly), and that just screwed him up mentally. He wasn't pure evil and he did not have any vendetta against the people he killed or anything (probably not even Luella). He was just mentally disturbed and killing people was the only thing that made him feel better. A lot of serial killers are that way. Actually, Mitchell Thurman is one of the few things I like about this game, but I don't expect anyone to agree with me on that.
Post edited October 22, 2015 by cbingham
What I don't get is that everyone referred to this "beautiful" woman in red dress.... Were they all high?

Also, who killed Bobby Washington? Was it Mitchell Thurman or was it a gang related sub-plot I forgot about?