Welcome back to the 80s in HD with Larry the pervert in Leisure Suit Larry, Reloaded with loads of new content. Now for me this was one of those games that became a dirty little rumour on the school playground, until a big brother of a friend allowed you to play the game… only for adults.
There are many Point & Click games on the market currently, yet they are not as popular as they used to be which is a pity since they have some great gameplay value. Replay Games however have now released there revamped version of Leisure Suit Larry and reloaded it with a load of new content. Original fans of the franchise will surely grab this remake, but Replay are aiming at a new generation or two, the question is will it really invigorate the new gamer or not
Leisure Suit Larry keeps to its original core gameplay which is naughty but never to explicit which basically means loads of dirty pictures to keep you going; now back in the 80s this was awesome, today though with the internet it’s not such great encouragement. I never got to play the original which I now feel is a shame; the first version of the game I got to play was the 5th in the series, on some blank floppy disks marked only as Leisure Suit Larry 5 for the Amiga.
Now at the time I was terrible at playing the game and I quickly gave up due to not really understanding what the hell was going on. Now in 2013, older and wiser maybe, I get to attempt the original all over again this time in glorious HD. When going over the history of the game I found that the perverted Larry has not being doing so well with ‘Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust’ managing to receive Worst Game of the Year Awards. “Maybe they should have added some nudity”
For those who did not have a computer back in the late 80’s/90’s point and click games will seem a forgone experience, only recognised maybe from educational games played at a young age. The game is easy to pick up, as the genre suggests you point and click where you want to go or do, selecting from a list of different actions, such as look, talk or pick up.
The game starts up humbly enough, with its original 16-bit sound track, which then turns into the brand new, high quality, stereo sounds for the main title screen, welcome to the 21st Century Larry. This is where leisure suit Larry starts to stand out from other HD remakes of late; the re-worked sound track sounds fantastic and manages to bring back nostalgia whilst sounding modern.
Back again is the fan favourite beginning, those damn questions that try and trick the younger gamer who wish to play the game, of course there a rather few years have passed since the 80s so Replay have updated these for the adults of today can answer them, supposedly. Now you might be asking yourself why the hell so I need to answer these questions, well without them being correctly answered you cannot go ahead and play the game.
You get 4 questions where you are only allowed to get one wrong, if you manage to answer them all you can continue to play the rest of the game. You are presented with questions such as, “Which of these celebrities is not a Scientologist”. I have no doubt that the original fans will get a kick out of seeing these, but they are annoying, I had to Google the answers myself, even though I’m 22, after failing the questions a few too many times. “I said earlier I might be a little wiser guess I failed here”
The gameplay here has not been touched, it’s exactly the same as the original, though now we have a voice for good old Larry and for the narrator, who provides helpful cues for the player, but mostly just insults Larry. You start off as you did before, outside a familiar bar, though the art style has changed, it’s easy to recognise where you are at all times in the game, and all the landmarks too. Though Larry seems to of changed from what I once thought his 16-bit self to be, I once pictured Larry as a pubescent 18 year old, out on the pull, but with no knowledge of how to do so. He now seems to act more like geeky students or aversion of Del boy from Only Fools and Horses that has been watching too much porn and thinks he’s knows it all.
Larry’s voice and art style seems more reminiscent of the recent 3D games, than it was of the original, he seems to of kept the weight he gained in ‘Magna Cum Laude’, but thankfully this doesn’t change the enjoyment I got from the game.
Leisure Suit Larry is it’s the original game in all its glory, with no limitations on crass one liners said by Larry and many, many put downs from different women he will meet along his way, though there are additions to this version. “Angry Broads” is a new mini game that has been added, which is a parody of the popular Angry Birds title, where you fling Larry at geometric castles, with a 80’s cartoon impression of a wife, with a rolling pin in hand to boot.
For any fan of the originals this is a must have. Bringing a cult classic into the modern age is never an easy task, and no doubt this game will offend some people with the art directions and choices made. But it still manages to keep the charm of the original that made it so popular back in the day. Of course there is only a slim chance that we will ever see any of the other games apart from the first remade with such care, but it would always be nice to see more.
Though I’m giving the game a 4/5 for a well presented remake that keeps to the original faithfully, but still manages to turn a game from the 80’s into one that wouldn’t look any different from others released today, with an even better soundtrack than the original to boot.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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