Tuesday 12 May 2015

Game 55: Leisure Suit Larry 1: Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (VGA Remake, 1991) - Introduction

Written by Alex



Hello everyone! This is Alex, a long-time lurker, sometime commenter, and now full-fledged reviewer at the Adventure Gamer. I am very excited to be helping in keeping this great blog running, as Trickster has provided me with hours of entertaining, and informative, reading. I have volunteered to take on a handful of Sierra games, being that Sierra games are mostly what I played growing up. And since nostalgia is such a powerful thing, I’m looking forward to sharing my trip down memory (or was that “mammary”?) lane with all of you, starting with Sierra’s 1991 remake of Leisure Suit Larry 1.


The Title Screen

Trickster covered the original Larry way back in 2012, so I don’t need to rehash a lot of the information covered in his original introductory post. I just want to add two personal things: I have been a fan of the Larry series for longer than I care to admit, and Al Lowe is a favorite game designer of mine.

The Title Screen: Part II

As many readers know, Sierra got it in their head sometime in the early 1990s to remake their classic adventure games with updated graphics, sound, and interfaces. The first of these was the King’s Quest 1, but Space Quest 1, Police Quest 1, Leisure Suit Larry 1, and Quest for Glory 1 soon followed suit. Sierra put the kibosh on rereleasing the rest of these series, however, leaving the remakes as something of an oddball in the Sierra library.

As something of an oddball myself, I figured it would be fun to take a look at the Larry 1 remake, so here we go!

Pop Quiz!

As with the original Larry 1, there is an age-verification mechanism at the beginning to ensure that no minors get corrupted by the mature and highly intellectual content contained within the game. First, you choose your age.

I’ll try fooling the game.


D’oh!


Alright, smart guy. You want an adult? I’ll give you an adult!


How did it know?!


Let’s be slightly more accurate.


Good to know!


It’s been a long time since my school days, but I’m ready!


Liz Taylor R.I.P.


Joan Rivers R.I.P.


Ronald Reagan R.I.P. Geez, everyone this game references is dead!


I first misread this question as “Texas.” Answer as you will.


Also, a Zappa.

Alright! With the hard part out of the way, let’s get to getting Larry some action!

Looking at him in glorious VGA, this may be harder than I realize…
Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There's a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no CAPs will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. As this is an introduction post, it's an opportunity for readers to bet 10 CAPs (only if they already have them) that I won't be able to solve a puzzle without putting in an official Request for Assistance: remember to use ROT13 for betting. If you get it right, you will be rewarded with 30 CAPs in return. It's also your chance to predict what the final rating will be for the game. Voters can predict whatever score they want, regardless of whether someone else has already chosen it. All correct (or nearest) votes will go into a draw.

15 comments:

  1. I don't think this can go much higher than the original, since it's just an improvement of graphics and interface. Let's say 60!

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  2. 59 for this, a couple of extra points for improved graphics/sounds.

    Good luck!

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  3. I'll go with 57, but just because I never cared much about Larry. Maybe except for Love for Sail, that one was ok.

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  4. Another sign that this game is old: Getting a minor to play an adult game in the company of an older person. That would have raised a Pedobear alert now.

    If it was released in the current age, it'd have said, "Whatever, you get to see way more boobies on the Internet anyway".

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  5. Oops! Forgot to guess! I'll bet on 62 because the hooker's got a portrait now!

    By the way, there's an interesting Make-Your-Own-Adventure-Game website available. Point-&click ones though.

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  6. 61, by process of elimination.

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  7. The scores may vary a bit since there's a different person rating them here than for the original version. If the only thing that's improved is the graphics/sound, overall I think it could end up lower. I'll guess 52.

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  8. I'll guess 55, because I was figuring it would be the same as the original, but 57 and 56 were taken

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  9. I've just realized that my post didn't go through. 63! (One point in inventory/interface for removing parser, two points in graphics/sound.)

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  10. Texas should be lower! Down with Texas!

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  11. Also, I just realized I don't know any of the people in the first two questions (and I'm over twenty). These age verification systems really need to be updated.

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  12. You can tell that the game was made in the US: The taxes one is totally subjective! A socialist is going to say higher, for example.

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