BeelzeRog dives into one of the first game series with sexy stuff in it Leisure Suit Larry

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How about a little sidetrack? I’ve got a game that I enjoy, but I can’t really give it a full-throated endorsement of because it has… problems. And not the ones that most people list. I’m going to talk about 2004’s “Leisure Suit Larry; Magna Cum Laude”.

Of course, we have to go into some background first. Leisure Suit Larry is one of the oldest game franchises out there, released the same year as “Final Fantasy”, “Mega Man”, & the original “Street Fighter”. The first game, 1987’s “Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards” was created by Al Lowe. It followed the adventures of Larry Laffer, a 39 year-old virgin as he looks for love in the city of Lost Wages with only a polyester leisure suit and the last $94 to his name. The game is actually mostly innuendo, but it was enough to cause outrage.

OK, Stop a minute, ‘cause I just have to mention this. The first Leisure Suit Larry game is actually an upgraded version of a previous text-only game called “SoftPorn Adventure” from 1981. Even though nothing was shown, it was quite a scandal for the time. Even the cover photo caused a stir. The women in the hot tub are all employees for On-Line Systems, now known as Sierra Entertainment, including the woman on the far right being Roberta Williams, the lead designer for “King’s Quest” and “Phantasmagoria”. The waiter was actually from a local restaurant. “SoftPorn Adventure” is currently available as freeware and has also been included in some Leisure Suit Larry collections.

MORE ON HOW IT ALL BEGAN IN THE ADULT GAMING WORLD HERE:

Now, I’ve only played one Leisure Suit Larry game, number 7: “Love for Sail”, the last of the original run. In it, Larry’s last relationship from the previous game goes up in smoke, literally, but he manages to score a free cruise. There he attempts to win a contest to spend a week with the man-eating Captain Thygh. Along the way, he attempts to woo various women on the cruise, all with parody names of celebrities like “Drew Barringmore”, “Victorian Principles”, and the Mother-Daughter country duo, “The Juggs”. It’s this game that I’ll be comparing to MCL. What, did you think I was going to say Magna Cum Laude all the time?

In contrast, MCL follows Larry’s nephew, Larry Lovage, who resembles his uncle in looks and in luck. Since they are both named Larry, I’ll be using their last names. Lovage is a fifth year student at Walnut Log Community College. The arrival of a TV dating contest gives him the impetus to finally score. In order to convince the show runner that he’s the right material, he must gather tokens of affection from several women, which are unlocked through the course of the game. This was the first Leisure Suit Larry game to be released on consoles, though I played the Uncut and Uncensored version available for PCs, which, really, why would you play it any other way? It is also the first game without input by creator Al Lowe, who disavows any of the Lovage games.

Honestly, he should have saved all his vitriol for the sequel, “Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust”, which looks nothing like any of the other games. Even the character designs are completely changed. It looks like someone created a slightly risqué game and then slapped the Leisure Suit Larry name on it. While MCL averaged around 60% scores, Box Office Bust consistently ends up on “Worst Of” lists, and, as you can see by its trailer, it deserves it.

Not that MCL doesn’t have problems. I’d say it’s worst offense is the repetition of various mini-games, over and over and over again.

The worst of that bunch is the conversation game where you maneuver a sperm to pass through the green smiley faces to keep up the girl’s interest. The conversations actually become a distraction to the point where I was turning the sound off in order to concentrate on maneuvering the sperm to win the game, thus missing a lot of jokes. And you have to usually play this mini-game 3-4 times per storyline and there are around 15 main women in the game, plus optional side quests.

In contrast, Love for Sail involved running around, clicking on things, picking up items, and hoping to combine the right items in order to advance the plot. It is very much a thinking game rather than a quick-reflexes game, and I’ll be honest, when I went back to play it many years later, I don’t know how I solved some of the puzzles without help. Actually, I don’t think I did (looks nervously at GameFAQs).

And while the repetition of mini-games was a mark against MCL, it wasn’t a dealbreaker. It was varied enough to at least keep things interesting. On the plus side, the art style is very clean and cartoony, the environments are mostly interesting. There are a lot of little interesting things to look at and react to. There are also rewards for exploration, including a ‘Make The Girls Naked’ reward if you get enough tokens. And why wouldn’t you? Most of the females in the game are very attractively modeled, even if they are standard stereotypes. While Al Lowe wasn’t involved, the creators were obviously fans of the original series. Lots of references are sprinkled around, like the bar being inspired by the original Lefty’s in Lost Wages. Even Laffer himself is in the game, first as a tutorial voice and then just sitting in the bar.

So what’s the problem? Well, it took me a while, but I finally figured it out, and the problem, is Lovage himself. And to explain, I have to contrast him with his uncle. Laffer is a loser to be sure, and many times he kinda gets what he deserves for his one-track mind, but the games usually attempt to let you develop some sympathy for the guy. This is as much a comedy of errors as it is Laffer stepping in it.

Now, at this point, I have to point out that I’m a straight, middle-aged, cis-gendered, white guy, and all that it entails. I try to keep in mind that what I don’t see as very offensive or threatening may not translate the same to other people. So realize that I do realize that I may have blind spots, even if I don’t know where exactly they may be. I’m a pervert, not a dick.

If you’ll notice, Laffer is shown as a small, wimpy, guy, who’s no threat to anyone. He’s usually depicted as much smaller than any woman he goes after, so it’s easier to laugh at his attempts at seduction. Also, he’s not completely selfish. Many of his missions involve him trying to help women with their own problems or desires, even if not for the purist of intentions. But he rarely shown (at least as I’ve researched) as maliciously deceptive. If anything, he’s almost too honest when it comes to women. This may have changed in the new Wet Dreams games, but I haven’t check those out (Edit from the future: I tried one of the demos and might pick them up at some point).

Lovage on the other hand, well, I realized I didn’t actually like him. Yes, he’s not a physical threat, and he could have done much worse to people in the game, but he’s kind of a prick. A very small prick at that. He’s constantly lying, he’s spends most of the game in some disguise or another in order to even talk to most of the women. And when dealing with them, he seems very dismissive of a lot of the women. So when things fall apart for him, he pretty much deserves it.

I realize where some of this comes from. MCL is patterned very much after a teenage/college sex comedy, like “Animal House”, “Porky’s”, or “Revenge of the Nerds”. All of which, in retrospect, have some pretty mean streaks through them, not just at the Chads and the Biffs and the establishment they represent, but also a lot of the women. So it seems the game continues along those lines, which can make for some really awkward moments. Still, considering the gay and trans stereotypes running around in the game still come out as more sympathetic than Lovage, I’m not sure what the designers were thinking.


So, to finish it up, I’d say MCL’s main fault is the inability to generate sympathy for its main character, which could have helped it overcome the rest of the flaws. If it were redone, I’d remove the conversation mini-game, added in more puzzle solving to break up the mini-games. Plus, I’d have Lovage have to find various enhancement items rather than just purchase them from the vending machines. Otherwise, I think they were on the right track. It’s just a little prick made too big of a difference. If you’ve played the games, let me know what you think. Later!

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