Police Quest 3: The Kindred

Police Quest 3: The Kindred is an adventure game by Sierra On-Line and the third game in the Police Quest Series. It is the first in the series to use an entirely point and click interface using Sierra’s SCI engine (Sierra Creative Interpreter) that was first utilized in King’s Quest V. To interact with the game, solve puzzles, and advance the storyline players can use one of several icons to perform actions, pick up and use items, and navigate their character around the environment. As with previous Police Quest games, players will often need to follow proper police procedures when proceding through the game. If a suspect is arrested, players need to also provide “offense codes” when booking the suspect; the codes are available in the instruction manual and act as a form of copy protection. In addition to the adventure game elements common to Sierra’s games, players will also need to manually drive to locations that need to be investigated in a top down mini-game. A complete map of the city is included with the game so players can find the location they need to drive to. While at the police headquarters, players can use the computer system there to look up information needed in the investigation, figure out patterns to the crimes, or create facial composites to identify suspects.

Police Quest 3 continues the story where the previous game left off. Sonny Bonds and Marie have gotten maried, and Sonny has been promoted to Sergeant at the Lytton Police Department. Near the beginning of the game Marie is stabbed in a robbery and brought the the hospital. Sonny Bonds is assigned to investigate the crime, and will need to investigate and track down a dangerous cult in order to solve the case.