Sure. It's a bit trashy and shallow, the combat is nothing great, the dialogue is very 2000s/"dude bro", the "animations" are stiff, weird, and borderline comical at times. The other controls (such as like holding a phone or item) are not the best, there are still weird slowdowns and freezes (but thankfully never crashes), and yeah some of the "puzzles"/things to move the stories along can be super obtuse.

Yeah it's a goofy game. But I still really like it and find myself coming back to it a few times year.

To me, its campiness, dumb dude-bro/American Pie-esque 2000s dialogue and stereotypes hits me in all the right ways. I find it so overly goofy and ridiculous that it becomes a joy to play and experience. I'm aware that yes it is an "adult" game, but if you just ignore past that or even heck just leave it censored, I still think its a goofy enough time.

I know I'm in the minority on this and sorry to all my friends who follow me here, but this game to me is a certified guilty pleasure.

At this point in the Leisure Suit Larry series, we have had a complete trilogy, outlining Larry and Patti’s story, and bringing a close to it all with the ending of Leisure Suit Larry III. So… what now? We already have a full, complete trilogy, so there would be no reason to continue the series, and no way to pump out anymore LSL content, right? Well… not quite. At this point, it was 1991, four years since the original LSL came out, and while it may not seem like it, point-’n-click adventure games had come a long way since then. They were starting to look better, sound better, perform better, and they were introducing new gameplay mechanics that would make accessing and playing these games much easier for newcomers. So, the next step for LSL would be to take the King’s Quest approach at the time, where alongside a brand new entry in the series (more on that in a future review), they will create a brand new remake of the original game, to show how far the series had come since the beginning. This title would be known as Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards… pretty awkward name, but I guess it makes sense to separate it from the others.

I’m sure we are all aware of (and getting sick of) remakes at this point, but back in the day, remakes of old video games weren’t all that common, so seeing something familiar recreated from the ground up for a new generation of players, as well as still appealing to old fans, was pretty cool to see. But of course, again, as we all know, there are plenty of ways to screw up a remake as much as there are of making a good one. The key things that a remake needs to succeed in is making a big graphical and audio leap in quality, keeping the primary gameplay similar, yet changing it enough to where it doesn’t feel like a straight copy, and keeping the story generally the same, with several small changes being allowed if they benefit it in some way. Thankfully, with the remake of the original Leisure Suit Larry, it managed to include all of these key elements (for the most part), and in my opinion, I would say that it is superior to the original in just about every way. Sure, it still isn’t anything too special, and I haven’t played Reloaded, so I can’t say if this is the best version of the original game, but for what we have here, and from what I played from the original, I would definitely play this over the original any day.

The story remains practically identical to the original, with no major changes present, aside from its more cartoony nature, which I feel benefits the game overall, giving it a lot more personality and charm that the original game didn’t have, the graphics are a significant step up from the original, having much more stylized and detailed environments rather then the extremely dated look of the original, the music is very good, and unlike the original, there are plenty of music tracks to be heard throughout the whole game, and while there aren’t any tracks that are too memorable, there aren’t really any that I hated either, the control is much better, with a more precise point-n-click feel, with no issues with movement that I could see whatsoever, and the gameplay is similar to the original, but with an updated interface and way of interacting with objects and characters, making the game much more preferable when compared to the original (I’m saying that word a lot, aren’t I?).

The game is still a point-n-click adventure game, where you take control of Larry, travel around the fictional city Lost Wages, talk to plenty of characters and interact with many objects in the world, gather plenty of items that will help you on your journey, and find love with plenty of partners, whether it be genuine or otherwise. This is all familiar territory, so it may not sound that desirable on paper, but what makes this remake worth playing would be with the new updated type of gameplay. For the original trilogy of games, they all used the command box for whenever you need to interact with anything or anyone, and while some may find this style either nostalgic or charming, I am sure that many can agree that it is pretty outdated, making going back to these titles harder as a result.

Thankfully, with this remake, the command bar is almost completely gone, except for very specific circumstances. Now instead, you primarily interact with everything by clicking on them, using various icons to indicate what action you want to perform, such as talk, look, grab, lick, and undress (what else did you expect). Again, I’m sure most people can agree with me when I say that this is a MUCH better means of gameplay when it comes to a point-n-click adventure. After all, there is a reason why a majority of point-n-click adventure games continued to use this type of gameplay for plenty of years, and some of them still do nowadays, because it works so much better. This is the primary reason as to why I prefer this remake over the original game, because sure, it may look and sound nice, which is all well and good, but I will take better gameplay any day over just looking and sounding nice.

With all that being said, if you don’t really care so much about updated gameplay, visuals, or sound, then there really isn’t that much for you here. The game follows the exact same beats as the original, with no additional story elements or bonus gameplay additions added into it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because again, the game has been updated enough in terms of the visuals, audio, and gameplay, but if you are coming into this expecting any new additional features that weren’t there before, then you are in the wrong mindset to be playing this in. Not that I would expect too many people to think there would be much more added, but it is still something that at least one person would think.

Overall, despite a lack of new segments in the main gameplay, the updated graphics, soundtrack, and the new gameplay style make this, without a doubt, my preferred way of playing the original Leisure Suit Larry from now on. I wouldn’t say it is a fantastic game, as it is just a remake of the original, so it is pretty simple for what it is, but this is a much better alternative for those who are wanting to check out the original game. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of the series, or they want to start somewhere, because it is a great introduction point for the series alongside everything else. Now, I will calmly wait until I play Reloaded, and regret saying all these words.

Remake #1

As a kid, I played Keen 1-3 religiously. I had Keen Dreams and the shareware version of Keen 4 as well, but didn't like them as much, so I never had much interest in trying 5 or 6. While I maintain that The Earth Explodes and Keen Must Die have excellent aesthetics and levels, this one might be a better game?? This probably doesn't sound like a big revelation or anything to most people, but the Invasion of the Vorticons trilogy was arguably my most formative gaming experience. It turns out that I was simply ignoring an incredible sequel for all these years, and I'm very glad to have finally finished it! Definitely won't wait another 25 years to beat Aliens Ate My Babysitter!