As you may know, I grew up on adventure games. In many of my reviews I’ve espoused the glorious values of the Monkey Island series, but if I’m completely honest that wasn’t my first foray into the genre.
No, the honour of my first goes to the King’s Quest series; created by Ken and Roberta Williams and Sierra, and which began a long line of similar adventures based on a variety of themes. In 1987 came their most unusual and adult adventure; Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.
Created by Al Lowe, it followed the titular Larry – a balding, perverse, desperate man in his 40’s who constantly wears a “leisure suit” and speaks in innuendo. Revolving around his quest to “get some” each game introduced a new scenario and new girls to seduce; even if “persistently badger until they get their kit off” is a more accurate description.
Despite the somewhat dodgy nature of the character’s actions, many enjoyed the series not for titillation, but for the sincere parody and comedy that was built around the strangely likeable pervert and his quest for love. He was clearly lonely, and the game used his desperation as the butt of much of it’s humour. I’m not saying it wasn’t still problematic, but for the most part the games had a good-natured heart and were very funny.
The series remained under the talented supervision of Sierra’s Al Lowe until 1996’s Love for Sail, at which point everything went downhill.
What followed were a series of cheap cash-ins which used the name but nothing else; they were based on Larry’s nephew and threw away both the game’s genre and it’s charm. The less said about these, the better.
That brings us up to now, and the release of Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry; developed by CrazyBunch and returning the series to it’s roots…sort of.
Whilst the original game was remade under a crowdfunding effort in 2013, Wet Dreams Don’t Dry is the first new completely new title in the series since 2009 and whilst is wasn’t made with Al Lowe supervision the developer aimed to return the series to form. The title plays like an other point-and-click adventure; you control the titular Larry around the world as he works to reach his aims, interacting with and picking up objects and people.
The premise of this sequel is that (for some reason) Larry has been stuck underground in cryo-stasis since the 90’s and suddenly wakes up in a truly absurd world. The dating game has changed, and it is up to Larry to figure out how to navigate modern society’s digital landscape.
It’s an interesting premise and honestly I was pleased with how this changed the game’s feel. Previous games often felt sleazy in the wrong way; like you were implicit in Larry’s dirty world. Immediately WDDD sets Larry up as a sad sap stuck in a world he doesn’t understand; yes, he’s still the sleazeball we all know and love, but he clearly struggles to understand the new world an this is framed through his sex-quest.
He’s more of a fish out of water than ever and it truly elevates the title above other recent adventure games. Whilst the story never truly becomes something special it’s the interactions between Larry and the world around him that makes it so enjoyable. It could be argued that some of the references are a little on the nose (Timber, InstCrap etc) others are just subtle enough to elicit a giggle. As an example, Apple is rebranded as Prune and given a sci-fi makeover with an obnoxious CEO to match. It’s not big, it’s not particularly clever, but it’s funny. Overall, I’m impressed with how the developer has modernised the franchise; Larry is still a misogynistic douche, but his grotesque personality is called out by supporting characters and the player is never rewarding for choosing said options. There is a diverse cast of characters of a variety of sexualities and preferences, and it’s awesome to see that so much thought has been put into addressing the series’ troubled past. Yes, there are dick jokes and dildos aplenty but it’s mostly done in the right way.
Of course, all this would be in vain if the puzzles didn’t stand up, and for the most part they do. Like many similar titles LSL:WDDD does fall into the “purple monkey dishwasher” school of puzzle design at times, but generally the solutions to situations do make sense with a little thought and ingenuity. I can only think of two puzzles off the top of my head which I had to really struggle over – spoiler alert until the end of the paragraph: one where you have to combine 4 quite random items both with other things and each other to finally make a “fishing rod”, and the other which requires you to put together a cheesy sex toy, an xl condom and a toilet roll tube in order to catch a rat.
The interface is modified from previous titles and is simplified to two options; look, or interact. This narrows down the options available to the player but makes the more obnoxious puzzles slightly less obnoxious. The only issue I had on the switch was the control scheme, as various menus are linked to the d-pad even though I naturally tried to use it for navigation. I wish there was an option to modify the control scheme as I wasn’t entirely comfortable navigating through the inventory with the left stick, but the integration of touch controls did help with quickly using items and navigating New Lost Wages.
Graphically and aurally this game is a joy, combining the stylistic features of the older games with a more modern sensibility. The music and sound is exceptional and reflects the feel of the series well, even if I wish there was a little more variety to the soundtrack. Voice acting is also generally excellent – Larry and BJ are particular treats – though as expected there are some characters which are better voiced than others. The art style also mixes mature stylings with a cartoony, approachable aesthetic. Visual jokes are everywhere, with more than a few references to other franchises. I particularly enjoyed the design of the golden doubloon; a clear callback to Monkey Island 3’s similar coin-based interface which this title seems to have taken inspiration from. For Witcher fans, there is even a sexy unicorn…
All in all, LSL:WDDD lives up to the older titles in the series whilst also bringing a fresh attitude to modern audiences. It isn’t free from some problematic moments, granted, but I thoroughly enjoyed diving into the breed of blatant sexual humour, cringe comedy and occasional innuendo that you only ever find in Larry’s outings. Whilst Al Lowe wasn’t attached to this game, it carries with it the spirit which made previous titles so celebrated. I’m really glad to see an old adventure series have a return to form; let’s just hope Disney takes note and lets someone have a go at Monkey Island…
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Macintosh operating systems
You must be logged in to post a comment.