The Police Quest series are a bit like simulators - they were meant to simulate being a police officer but the annoying thing was that they often went too far. You had to follow regulations to the T which means that you had to know the handbook by heart. Fun? Well not for me. They loosened up a little as the series got new sequels but the first games were pretty hardcore. IIRC, the game would end even if you didn't walk around your car before you got in.
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I always preferred Sierra works over LucasArts ones since they tended to focus more on making the puzzles good than making the experience cinematic, although they often did that well too.
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Wow, this is an old post but that is pretty ...
LucasArts avoided unexpected deaths, avoided getting stuck because you forgot to do something you couldn't know before, avoided incredibly hard to spot items, etc. You never got stuck in a situation that meant reloading (except in Maniac Mansion I believe).
No, Sierra's adventure games really needed a hint book. Why do you think they actually sold so many of them and even included them with later games? Because their games were freakin impossible. That does NOT make good puzzles. A good puzzle is one where logical thinking can make you come to the solution. While Sam & Max may have sinned quite a bit against this, most of LEC's other adventures were pretty straightforward - I completed them without walkthrough - but the earlier Sierra games ... pfew. No thank you.
I do enjoy Sierra games for their "worlds", though. They put hard work in creating documents and stuff to go along with the game. There's a lot of attention to detail as well. I just wish they didn't pull so many cheap tricks causing deaths not to mention the worst sin of all: being able to be stuck without the game telling you so. Nothing worse than looking around for hours without knowing you forgot to do a key thing.