There was a transition time in the late 80s when home computers (mine was an MSX) were replaced gradually by PCs. There weren´t so many games available, one of them being Leisure suit Larry in the land of the lounge lizards, an erotic-themed graphic adventure. I was in high school at the time, and this combination of hormones and games shortage made it immensely popular for my friends and me
Since then, the Larry series has managed to keep going. With ups and downs, different platforms and slight IP changes, but generally speaking keeping the essence: Larry is an aspiring womanizer who generally fails miserably at his attempts to hook up with all women he can find. Frat house humor and graphic adventure systems complete the cocktail
Talking about old games with my friends, I found out a new Larry game had just been released. I was taken by nostalgia, and purchased it on PS4. Looks like it´s now being developed by a German team who´s betting on a classic point-and-click approach. Overall it works, the tone is consistent with the IP and if you like graphic adventures you´ll enjoy it
On the plus side… well, I wouldn´t recommend the game to anyone who´s not into the character and juvenile humor. But if you are, it´s funny and there is even some mild criticism of the current society and social media you can find refreshing. There are a couple of nice twists when you replay a small section of the first game – with 1987 visuals - or an verbal confrontation with Donald Trump (I would have moved both earlier in the game, for bigger impact)
On the minus side I had real problems navigating the UI menus, some of them felt broken to me. Otherwise it has the same issues than any other graphic adventure: Likeness of getting stuck, weird item combinations, users resorting to talk to NPCs until they repeat themselves… Also it might be just me but I didn´t like the “Flash” visual style, it felt a bit cheap to me
I admit that – to avoid frustration – I decided to cheat and played using a walkthrough: The platinum trophy seemed achievable and I knew it was unlikely I would ever play the game again. In order to not miss anything I simply read an online guide and try things only when I knew I could not miss anything. I kinda like it, tbh, it saves a lot of the “I don´t know what the fuck to do” that is inherent to this genre
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