Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
Preview
This preview is rated "M for Mature"
by Marcus Mulkins
previewed on PC
Ins and outs... (cntd.)
Magna Cum Laude was met with seriously mixed reviews: Many of the LSL loyalists were seriously dismayed and condemned the way the game turned out. Al Lowe, the virtual daddy of LSL, even surfaced long enough to loudly proclaim, "I had nothing to do with it!" On the other hand, there is no lack of over-sexed latebloomers that are just dying to catch sight of the naughty bits of the female form - even if she's only animated. (Maybe because she _is_ animated: You just don't encounter those kinds of bodacious ta-tas in Real Life every day.)
Recognizing that the LSL had taken a wrong turn - _and_ had a decline in sales - Sierra dumped High Voltage Games, Inc. in favor of Team 17, a British developer best known for its Worms series. The script is being written by Allen Covert ("Grandma's Boy"), and we've been assured that the series has been hauled back to the LSL mainline of old. Sierra is reportedly throwing a lot of money into the production, mainly to bring in a LOT of recognizable voices. For instance, Carmen Elektra (who played Queen Margo in "Meet The Spartans") is so well-known in that long list, her credit appears in the middle of the pack. One of the other voice actors was interviewed on Howard Stern's program where he bragged he had been paid $30,000 to do all of 90 minutes of dialog recordings.
It seems obvious that Sierra is hoping to bring LSL back to where it belongs - making them lots of money. To facilitate that, they're hanging a $59.99 price tag on it, wrangling another "M for Mature" ESRB rating, and releasing the game on as many platforms as they can manage.
What ever happened to, "ANY PR is good PR"?
Just knowing that this is a LSL game, you shouldn't be surprised by whatever content comes your way. This time around, having graduated from college, Larry Lovage goes to work at Uncle Larry's Hollywood movie studio. The task that Uncle Larry tosses his way is to hunt down and neutralize a mole on the staff that is feeding the gossip rags in town all of the dirty laundry available on the studio's stars, staff, and crew. Uncle Larry seems to be of the impression that such news coverage would be a Bad Thing. (That alone should convince you that this game has nothing to do with reality.) So with all of Hollywood and a movie studio to traipse across, what do you think the chances are that Li'l Larry will stumble into a risqué scenario, bordering on the erotic?
Need I say more?
Alright, already. The one truly unique new feature is the Director's Game, where the player becomes the director of his/her own "Larry Feature". Let's see how _you_ are at creating a comic setting that can push "raunchy" without going over the top - or falling flat. Then again, maybe the toolbox will be used primarily to make a wealth of animated porn instead. ("Really, your Honor! I just sold them the guns and the bullets. I never for a moment thought that they would actually shoot somebody!")
