Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude

"Do a little Dance. Make a little love. (Getting down tonight optional)"

Guilty pleasures are great. Just knowing that you shouldn't be enjoying something makes it all the more enjoyable. Take those people who still watch Dallas, for example. Or those who put on stupid scarves and spend their weekends in sweaty bliss at their local Doctor Who conventions, meeting the greasy gimp who glued K-9 together. These people know that society will reject them should their morally unacceptable ways come to light, but they love it anyway. And now we have a game that sums up the phrase 'guilty pleasure' perfectly. Arriving like the video game equivalent of doing your best friend's mum, Leisure Suit Larry makes a return to our screens, and despite the fact that not many people are likely to admit to loving this game, it's hard not to fall for the big-headed one's charms all over again. Provided you love jokes based on flatulence and breasts. And, to be fair, who doesn't?

Larry Lovage is a complete loser. His dress sense is poor. His skull is massive, which only accentuates his receding hairline. He is far from being a ladies man, which is unfortunate since he has a reputation to live up to - he is the nephew of the original Leisure Suit Larry, and as such it is pretty much his duty to try and harass as many women as possible - something he just isn't very good at. That is until TV dating show 'Swingles' arrives at his college campus. Larry immediately jumps at the chance to appear on the show, but before the TV producers will allow him his fifteen minutes of fame (and the chance to get on some extremely attractive lady-shapes), he has to prove to them that he is quite the player. By scoring with some of the campus women, naturally. Now, it's time for Larry to step up and become a man, in every sense of the word. Cue lots of toilet humour and gratuitous nudity. Result!

The plot in this game is, of course, utter rubbish, but it really is just an excuse to have Larry trying to woo the ladies. In many ways this game feels like a gaming version of movies such as American Pie or Road Trip. It's juvenile. It's gratuitous. It's at it's best when you've had a few beers and have your mates round. But despite seeming at first to be something of a light-hearted and simple affair, there is actually quite an enjoyable, and at times challenging game to be found here. It should be noted from the start that some people may hate this game. It's main focus is basically one man's noble quest to get laid. It lacks any sort of moral fibre whatsoever. It's unbelievably immature. It's sexist. It has a button that allows you to urinate at will. It features a masturbating monkey. There is frequent bad language and nudity, and it is far from being good clean fun. This means that it will probably not appeal to everyone. But for all those grown men who at heart are still little boys, for all those who can appreciate the unsubtle humour of lines such as 'This is one cowgirl who'll have trouble keeping her calves together', this is an ideal way to spend a weekend. And to give the game it's due, the developers clearly had their tongues planted well and truly in their cheeks when scripting the game - the fact that Larry's nemesis is a vindictive, sentient, porn-loving arcade machine, for example, grants the game a wonderfully surreal twist that takes the edge off of the toilet-humour: it's clearly not a game that is intended to be taken seriously, and that makes playing it feel slightly less grubby and seedy. Indeed, the cartoon-esque sense of humour is actually far more memorable than the sex scenes – moments such as a full on, Grease-inspired song-and-dance routine, and characters such as Helmut the extremely buff, extremely camp bouncer and Leopold the aforementioned self-pleasuring simian (who has a decidedly evil side to him) really make this game stand tall (no pun intended) alongside other comedy titles such as the classic Monkey Island games.

Leisure Suit Larry is a hard game to classify. The original games were point and click adventures, not dissimilar to titles such as The Dig or Grim Fandango. That style is certainly evident here, but the transition to full 3-D means that you now control Larry directly as he roams the college campus, and the streets surrounding it. Pretty much everything can be interacted with in some way (mostly this involves examining plants, beer kegs, notice boards and such in order to find money or useful items), and you can speak to every person that you see wandering about (though most characters have very little to say that is of any worth). But this is really just a way to hold the game together as you move between your assigned prey (or potential dates, depending on how you want to look at it).

When you turn your attention to the wenches in question, the game splits into a series of mini games - most of them remarkably simple in theory. The most common is the game in which Larry must attempt to chat up his hapless victim. While the conversation progresses, you control a grinning sperm (seriously), moving it up and down so that it swims through the green icons that scroll onto the screen, which make Larry say the right things. There are several hazards thrown in: red speech icons make Larry say the wrong thing (which is often hilarious), then there are the icons that make Larry belch and fart very loudly, the icons that make him stare at the lady-folk's breasts (they don't take it as a compliment), and those that make him drunk. Ingeniously, the more intoxicated our budding Hugh Heffner gets, the more sluggish the controls become, making things much more difficult. This is quite a simple system, but it is genuinely entertaining - at first. But truth be told, as funny as the gags may be first, second, and sometimes third time round, the more often you are forced to repeat conversations because you failed again, the more wearisome it all becomes. Still, once you do finally convince the pixellated princess in question that you are worthy of her time, you are almost guaranteed that the next step in your journey to her bedroom will require a different type of challenge. Variety is good.

Other notable challenges you face when attempting to enforce your manliness on those crazy campus chicks include that classic drinking game 'quarters' (where you basically try to out-drink your opponent, so that they're drunk enough for you to take advantage of - like I said, moral fibre has left the building), and various forms of activity which require simply pressing the right button as it flashes up on screen, such as dancing, the occasional spot of trampoline activity, showing off your Tom Cruise-esque drink mixing skills, and even the occasional spot of spanking. While the formula for these activities remains by-and-large the same, what keeps it interesting and makes it all work is, once again, the humour of the situation. But, again, the jokes do start to wear thin after a few attempts at each challenge, which can lead to frustration later on in the game, when things get tougher.

There are also various side-quests to be undertaken should you wish to take time out from your romantic pursuits, most of which offer cash prizes. There are a few variations on Spectrum classic Tapper, including one where you must throw food to various monkeys before they reach you, catching any poo that they fling your way. If you so wish you can enter the employ of the local pimp, who wants you to recruit some new ladies of ill repute (or hookers, if you will). You can even donate sperm by means of a mini game that is far too rude to explain (suffice to say, it's based on Pong!!). These are all entertaining enough, but in all honesty you probably won't be turning your hand to them unless you need the money that they grant you - there's nothing wrong with them as such, but they don't offer anything spectacular either.

The only side-quest that does prove to be an addictive and time-consuming activity is the photography - you can snap away to your heart's content, and if the pictures are good enough you should be able to find someone willing to pay for them. Getting that perfect shot is quite tricky though - apart from the occasional scripted event, characters don't tend to like you running up and pointing your zoom-lense in their face (unless they're sluts, and to be fair there are quite a few in this game), and so you need to have your wits about you if you want to get the best pictures. You can even save your best photos to your hard drive to look at them later, which is a nice touch.

Graphically this game is rather impressive. It certainly has a bold look - the colours are quite bright and bold, which gives the game a cartoon-like feel (which in turn helps to make the game less unsavoury - it's hard to imagine a game that has a realistic look and yet features such openly adult content going down so well...), which is carried well throughout all of the environments on display here. From the gaudy disco lights in the club to the genuine squalor of the frat house (which features a disgusting toilet that puts those in Silent Hill to shame) it's all gloriously over-the-top, giving the game a very distinct feel. But while it may look quite light-hearted, there is an impressive amount of detail here - particularly in the character animation - for example Larry becomes more unsure of his step if he's had a few too many to drink and he sways subtly from side to side as he talks to people. Conversely he walks with a slow, deliberate concentration that we can all sympathise with when he's suffering from a hangover. Little touches such as this really help us to grow attached to the characters in this game, and gives them more of a personality than is afforded to many characters nowadays.

In the cutscenes, too, the detail is impressive, particularly when it comes to the character's faces. Due mostly to his Final Fantasy-inspired inflated head, Larry's face is large enough as to be very noticeable in all the cutscenes or scripted events (such as the times when you are hitting on the girls), and it's extremely expressive. You can really see the anguish he feels when things aren't going well, and again, it only serves to make you feel even more attached to the hapless Heathcliffe.

Sound-wise, this game is similarly impressive. While music only plays a major role during the dancing sections, it is able enough - the tunes tend to be based (officially or not...) on songs such as 'I'm Too Sexy' and 'Centrefold', which really suit the light-hearted lecherous nature of the game. The real aural treat, though, is definitely the voice acting. From Larry's slightly nasal, and ever-so-irritating tones, to Sally-Mae's stereotypical cowgirl accent, to Zanna's disturbingly deep monosyllabic Russian burr, every single voice in the game really is perfect for the character. Again, it's all played in a very over-the-top way, but it suits the game all the more so because of it.

Like I said, the adult nature of the game will undoubtedly deter many people, but for all it's gratuitous nudity, free-flowing swear words and trashy humour, the game never really crosses over too far into the realms of bad taste due to the fact that it clearly doesn't take itself very seriously at all. As games go, it's more of a T & A title than a Triple-A title, and once the joke wears thin it does start to feel repetitive, but it's a worthy weekend rental. You just might not want your gran to see you playing it.....

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/12/05, Updated 05/15/05