Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust

"Box Office Bust pretty much takes the helm on being one of the worst titles on the 360 to date"

--Introduction:
In Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust any fan of the original series is going to expect scenes close to or instigating sexual themes that pretty much set a positive tone for the entire game, but that theme is objectively cast aside by the developers as less important and you can only sit down and wonder if they were planning on, in the first place, to take the legal rights of a semi-popular title just to remotely stand on even grounds in the competitive gaming market.

--Story:
In Box Office Bust you begin as a nephew of the original Larry and, to an extent that is very poorly explained and written in general, you become an actor under a local producer who is notorious for being a bad playwright for reasons as vague as "wanting to get laid" as Larry puts it in the context of Amy, a mutual actor, who he considers sexually attractive. And then there is your typical narcissist by the name of Kip who holds executive rights over the production and distribution of the town's directorship who, for no explicit reason at all, wants to ruin your opportunity at acting and for those around him.

--Game Objectives:
Now as you are stationed in a town that is themed by playwrighting--poorly if I must say and really only there as a plot excuse for secondary half-laughs and 20th century replay value--you take up individual personnel-based missions ranging from delivery work to retrieving women's underwear on the top of buildings that require many leaps and wall presses just to reach, not to mention a traditional on-the-time clock meant to speed along your already less-than flattering progress. Aside from taking up these standard missions you will be able to climb various buildings to obtain golden Larry statues for no reason aside from a small margin of gamerpoints--10 for 10, 50 for 40, and 100 for 80; not like that makes it necessary to the game by any means of course.

And then there are four locations for you to reach for the sole purpose of film directives, whether it be a wild west locale or one themed by zombies. Each of these locations have what is called a "Dreamscape": a 'dream' in the theoretical sense where Larry wakes up in a world relative to his director's setting that requires you to take part in multiple unnecessary platforming sequences as you progress combined with terrible camera control and mechanics that can only leave you frustrated. There are four dreams in total, each consisting of at least an hour to two hours of time before you see yourself wake up and have access to two uninspiring races relative to the region you are in.

--Sound/Gameplay:
Now aside from the plotline and the activities you will take part in there will always be a good margin of dialogue accompanying each activity. However, the majority of the dialogue only usually characterizes some quick wittedness and clever speech with such overly stretched syntax at times that it becomes an annoying play on words more than anything that sufficiently contributes to the context of the situation; getting across your mind while being succinct is what it always seems to lack. A lot of the dialogue is also strongly between the boundaries of humor and straight out immaturity that leaves you wondering who was honestly the lead dialogue writer under Funsta. Simply put, expect atrociously terrible line writing from Larry such as, "This is Larry, how may I direct your orgasm?" or "I had an accident in my pants; may I get in yours?".

As for Box Office's gameplay you will see one glitch after another glitch whether it ranges from a passenger in your vehicle consistently motioning in position from the driver's seat back into the passenger's seat or crashing down on the ground after being thrown into the air following a front-ended collision with a pedestrian while driving a vehicle -- mind you they can't be killed either no matter how "Mature" this title has been rated as. The graphics seem to have been taken straight out of an Xbox port and the women character models are repeated time and again by their face structures, which could only be appealing to a man who is attracted by poorly proportioned cartoon characters instead of actual women, even though that is being somewhat subjective. The music is also about as bland and lacking in both variety and narrative.

Now one of the only redeeming qualities of Box Office Bust is your ability to participate in "seduction games" that involve four simultaneous word answers per every 3 to four questions asked by the woman you plan on seducing. Once you have gained her favor Larry will return with the woman into his trailer home and presumably get in on with her -- you are only able to hear what they are saying while staring at the outside of the trailer while it happens. There are also moments you will be able to take pictures of women who are engaging in some degree of sexual conduct by themselves or with another while pressing the corresponding button that appears on the screen. The most enjoyable element of this game, however, is your ability to direct the sequencing of specific films in which you have to choose between four continuations of that film as it is played, each of the four choices representing X, Y, A, or B. By choosing the correct continuation your rank will successively increase from "WORST" to the best, "SUPER" depending on your score.

--Conclusion:
The bottom line of this game is that I had believed the majority of the mundane and frustrating experiences the developers put you in were meant as a joke that served only to anger Larry--denoted by his responses to them--and make you feel elated by those remarks, but that was only at the very beginning: I realized not very long after that interpretation that the developers only chose to mock the mistakes they likely had no other option but to incorporate into the game for the sake of secondary enjoyment that was still outweighed by everything around it. It only proved evident after the first platforming objectives in the wild west dream that the developers didn't care for laughs and giggles at all but for disastrous replay value that wouldn't be appealing even to a fan of the series or a newcomer by any conception. After realizing this I lost any real enjoyment I once had from the game. Thankfully the game only cost $20 and had moderately easy gamerpoints, but for anyone who wants enjoyment out of a game should definitely stay away from this market failure. All in all this is, without doubt, one of the worst titles ever released for the 360 and shouldn't be recommended for that reason.

My final rating: 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/09

Game Release: Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust (US, 03/31/09)