Police Quest Omnipedia
Register
Advertisement

Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest: SWAT (aka Police Quest 5/PQ5) is a full-motion video "tactical simulation" adventure

Police quest collection box cover

game released in 1995. With extensive use of FMV videos for its basic gameplay, the game took up four CDs.

Background[]

In keeping with the strict realism of the previous series, the majority of the game is spent in highly detailed training exercises. In fact, there are only 3 actual missions in the game (a deranged grandmother, a barricaded fugitive, and a terrorist attack). Each of the missions can only be accessed after the successful completion of many training exercises. To increase replay value, the missions are randomized so that they unfold in a different way each time (a character may be an innocent in one play-through, and a gun-wielding maniac in another). The role the player takes during the mission also differs based on the career path they have selected during training; for example during the last mission the player may act as either the element leader or a sniper.

The strictness and discipline the game attempts to convey is emphasized by the game's opening movie, an introductory briefing delivered by the sergeant to the player character. If the player attempts to skip this opening movie, the sergeant will berate the player character for this disrespectful and insubordinate behavior.

This game was referred to as Police Quest 5 in early promotional material, Police Quest collections, and certain file names. However, it is not numbered in the title screen of the game itself.

Reception[]

The game suffered the same fate as most "interactive movie" style games released during the so-called multimedia explosion of the mid 1990s. Much like its predecessor, the game did not sell well, and it was another three years until a new game in the series was released.

Characters[]

External Link[]

Advertisement