Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude First Look

I guess I shouldn't bore you with the usual baloney about how P&C (point and click) adventures are sorely missed in the gaming world today... err... but, well, they ARE sorely missed. Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry series definitely holds a special place amongst classic adventures. Ever since the series' opening title, Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards, gamers have embraced with open arms the humorous escapade of one of the wackiest and most perverted characters in gaming history. He was everyone's favorite middle-aged swinger and disco-lover, always on the go and ready to express his need for love and companionship. Vivendi's upcoming continuation of the series, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, will take on a brand new adventure.

The game is going to run on the PC and all existing next-generation consoles and was placed into the capable hands of development team High Voltage Software; the creators titles like NBA Inside Drive 2004 (Xbox), Hunter: The Reckoning (Xbox/PS2), and Hunter: The Reckoning (GameCube). Vivendi obviously wanted to hire a developer experienced with console titles.

Those who can remember that far back probably know that Leisure Suit Larry was handled by Sierra Entertainment. The head of the creative team back then was one Al Lowe, the man responsible for breathing life into our small, but charming hero. So far the game appears to be coming along nicely, even though Al Lowe is not directly involved with the development at this time. Al Lowe did indicate to us in a recent conversation, however, that he MIGHT just end up giving his creative input on the project and that the negotiations with Vivendi are ongoing. Here's hoping... His involvement would surely bring back some praiseworthy elements from previous installments. (Namely his unique style of humor! - 2Lions)

Gamers not familiar with the old series, should know that Larry is basically about two things: good old-fashion humor and chasing females of all shapes and sizes. As for the humor, there aren't that many games that could measure up to the wackiness of this one - save Discworld - and maybe a few LucasArts oldies. This new edition of Leisure Suit Larry keeps all those nifty elements from the previous titles, except this time you won't be playing as Larry Laffer, but rather as his nephew, Larry Lovage. It's good to know that Larry Laffer will be making an appearance in the game - which should be a nice moment for die hard fans. Anyhow, our horny little college boy, Larry Lovage, is a fairly simple bloke. Through all the errands of college life, such as classes and fraternities, he just doesn't have enough spare time for attending wild parties and chasing around college slu... err... I mean girls. Lucky for him, a dating show arrived to campus and he soon realizes that getting on that show could be the only chance to garner some attention. So, it all boils down to three straightforward tasks: getting on the TV show, not flunking out of college, and getting laid. How this ends will be entirely up to the player. The good news is that there will be plenty to do throughout the game besides focusing on your primary objectives. On your way to stardom, you'll be able to engage various side-tasks that'll keep things a bit more interesting.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude wasn't placed within the confines of traditional PC and console games. It puts forth an uncommon dialogue technique which offers a commendable variation of standard character interaction in adventure games. This game doesn't require you to chat-up NPC's and listen to them yap on and on for hours. Basically, the course of a conversation, and Larry's subsequent success with the ladies, depends entirely on which way you steer a certain icon located at the bottom of the screen. This may appear somewhat simplistic, but it increases the level of interactivity during dialogues and brings a nice change from having to sit through the conversation and just left-click to get through it. Also, you won't have to bother with the usual stuff like finding access to restricted areas, searching for specific items, etc. Such conventions have effectively been discarded. Instead of these "outdated" gameplay concepts the designers thought up an intuitive action-oriented minigame system which players need to win in order to become closer to female characters (if only they'd think of something like that in real life... SOB!). Some of these minigames will include dancing in a nightclub, competitive trampoline bouncing, playing quarters in a seedy bar, and similar stuff. Each game will be easy to learn, but will get increasingly challenging as you progress. (Well I guess this is supposed to sound fun, but it kind comes off as retarded to me. - 2Lions)

As far as content goes, there probably won't be any differences between the PC and console versions. Of course, like most multiplatform titles nowadays, the visuals in Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude will be tweaked to the extent set by each gaming platform. High Voltage Software opted to use their proprietary Atlas engine. From what we've seen so far, it seems that the engine is playing its part rather well. (If you like to see characters with huge heads that is. - 2Lions) Players will be immersed into an adventure with detailed and cheerful-looking 3D characters, as they chase girls all around campus. The environments are colorful, bright, and pretty and they appear to convey an effective mix of cartoon-like 2D art and solid 3D modeling.

Understandably, all versions will have their advantages and weaknesses. The PC version will be optimized for keyboard and mouse controls, whereas console owners get to handle their gamepads, as usual. Currently, the developers are contemplating several aspects of the game and how they should be served to the hungry gaming masses. For starters, the developers are primarily focusing on the single-players traits. Sadly, it's still too early to tell if we'll see any online segments or multiplayer elements. As far as we know, Larry always seemed to attract crowds, so we're not ready to abandon the hope of multiplayer or online support.