Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards | |
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Single-player |
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is a
The game's story follows its
Despite a lack of advertising, the game was a sleeper hit and a commercial and critical success. It was followed by a long series of sequels and spin-offs over decades, beginning with Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) in 1988. A second, high-definition remake, titled Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded, was developed by N-Fusion Interactive working with the Larry series' creator Al Lowe and published by Replay Games in 2013.
Plot
The protagonist, Larry Laffer, is a 38-year-old (40-year-old in the 1991 remake) "loser" who lives in his mother's basement and has not yet lost his virginity. Having grown weary of his lonely existence, he decides to visit the resort city of Lost Wages (a parody of "Las Vegas") hoping to experience what he has not lived before and to finally find the woman of his dreams. Larry starts with nothing but an out-of-style 1970s disco-era leisure suit and $94 in his pocket. His quest involves four possible women: a nameless, seedy-looking sex worker; Fawn, a club-goer of low moral fiber; Faith, a receptionist who (true to her name) is faithful to her boyfriend; and Eve, a bathing beauty and Larry's ultimate goal.
Gameplay
Players control Larry's movements with the directional keys and by inputting commands into a text parser (e.g. "talk to man", "open window", etc.). If Larry is too far away from a person or object to comply, or if the command is invalid, a caution message appears with hints on what to do.
The game begins outside a bar in Lost Wages. The city consists of five areas: Lefty's Bar, a hotel-casino, a 24-hour
Larry's interactions with key women are accompanied by a detailed image of whomever he is speaking with, unlike other non-player characters. With the exception of the prostitute, each of the women shuns Larry at first but responds favorably to gifts of varying sorts. Although it is not possible to woo all of the women, giving gifts is needed to advance to the game's final area, the hotel penthouse. To this end, money is essential to advance through the game. The only available method of augmenting Larry's funds is to gamble in the casino, playing blackjack and slots.[3]
Players are given seven real-time hours (eight in the 1991 remake) to complete the game, at which point a despairing Larry commits suicide, resulting in
Development and release
Lowe, who considered the original Softporn Adventure "a primitive, early effort", borrowed its basic structure and added a graphic
Unsure of how the 1987 game would be received, Sierra's management chose to release it with no publicity or advertising budget. Due to its adult nature, the game includes an age verification system consisting of trivia questions that Al Lowe assumed children would not know the answers to.
A version of the game with
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
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Software Publishers Association | Best Fantasy, Role Playing or Adventure Game of 1987[16] |
Sierra received what Williams described as a "deluge" of mail opposing its release of Larry after he wrote a series of articles for Computer Gaming World discussing his company and the industry's views on adult software.[17] Sales were very poor at first, with only 4,000 copies sold upon its release.[12] Many stores refused to stock the game because of its adult content. Some resellers refused to handle the game, while others refused to advertise it, and one refused to list the game on its list of best sellers. In effect, its first-month sales were lower than any new Sierra product launch in years.[2] A Sierra employee quit and a potential employee refused to work on Larry.[17] Lowe stated, "My initial reaction was that I had wasted six months of my life". Word-of-mouth spread quickly, however, and by the year's end, the game became a commercial success,[2][4] selling over 250,000 copies.[18] It sold over 300,000 units in total.[19] A significant number of players were female.[18]
According to Sierra's marketing director John Williams, "Obviously lots of retailers were selling lots of Leisure Suit Larry, but no one wanted to admit it".[17] It also became widely pirated, including in the Soviet Union.[20] According to Lowe, a film adaptation was considered and he was flown to Hollywood to demonstrate the game in person.[21] Footage from the game was used in the 1990 music video for Sailor's song "The Secretary".[22] Leisure Suit Larry's success resulted in a line of sequels and spin-off titles. Combined sales of the Larry series surpassed 1.4 million units by March 1996.[23]
Macworld reviewed the Macintosh version of Land of the Lounge Lizards in 1987, stating that "At its best, Leisure Suit Larry surprises you with clever animations that make you laugh ... And at its worst, the game is offensive ... Larry's idea of an ideal mate is shallow even for a parody ... There are many examples of a fifties mentality that are meant to be satirical but just seem lame". Macworld criticises Leisure Suit Larry's portrayal of women further, stating that it "contributes nothing to enlightened male attitudes towards women". Macworld compares Leisure Suit Larry to Leather Goddesses of Phobos, expressing that Leather Goddesses is "raunchy and humorous" without Leisure Suit Larry's "retrograde" portrayal of women.[24]
Computer Gaming World's reviewer Roy Wagner ("a wholesome family man") stated that Larry "is a lot of fun to play and is very humorous ... with good graphics, good design, and good fun provided, who needs 'good taste'?"
In 1988, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards was given an award for the Best Adventure, or Fantasy/Role-Playing Program of 1987 by the
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded
Developer N-Fusion Interactive and publisher Replay Games created a modern
, and released on June 27, 2013.References
- ^ "Sierra Newsletter, The - Volume 1 Number 2 (1987)". Retrieved February 10, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kohler, Chris (August 10, 2007). "Two Decades of Leisure Suit Larry". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Hardcore Gaming 101: Leisure Suit Larry". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on June 13, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
- ^ a b Morrissette, Jess (October 8, 1999). "Al Lowe Interview". Adventure Classic Gaming. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
- ^ a b Danzis, Alan (June 25, 2012). "Leisure Suit Larry's Creator on Making a Remake, But Not Really Making One…". New York Post. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012.
- ^ "Creating the Larry Theme Song". Al Lowe's Humor Site. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013.
- ^ a b Hogge, Beckey. "How to Catch a Humbert – Could a "yoof" questionnaire help identify internet paedophiles?". NewStatesman.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
- ^ Brillig (March 1988). "Naughty, but quite nice". Atari ST User. Vol. 3, no. 1. p. 27.
- ^ a b "Available July 1!". Computer Gaming World (advertisement). July 1991. p. 15. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
- ^ Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards (VGA Version) Archived February 16, 2013, at archive.today, GameSpot
- ^ Leisure Suit Larry In the Land of the Lounge Lizards Archived 2019-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, GameRankings
- ^ a b c Michaud, Rob (February 7, 2004). "Leisure Suit Larry 1 review". AdventureGamers.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013.
- ^ Ratliff, Marshall (September 15, 2007). "Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards – Review". Adventure Classic Gaming. Archived from the original on October 28, 2012.
- ^ a b Simmons, Jason (May 1992), Amiga Action, no. 32, pp. 76–77
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(help) - ^ a b Steel, Rob (April 1988), The Games Machine, no. 5, p. 82
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(help) - ^ a b c "All-TIME 100 Video Games". Time. Time Inc. November 15, 2012. Archived from the original on November 16, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ a b c Williams, John (January 1988). "Goodbye "G" Ratings: The Perils of "Larry"". Computer Gaming World. pp. 48–49.
- ^ a b Rosen, Daniel Edward (January 10, 2014). "Before There Was Computer Porn, There Was This Guy". Esquire. Archived from the original on July 4, 2016.
- ^ Brown, Damon (September 1, 2008). Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture. Feral House. 45.
- ^ Ritchie, Craig. "RetroGamer Developer Lookback: Sierra Online". Al Lowe's Humor Site. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013.
- ^ "What is Softporn?". Al Lowe's Humor Site!. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012.
- ^ Sailor: 'The Secretary' Archived 2011-08-04 at the Wayback Machine by Georg Kajanus on YouTube
- ^ Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report). Bellevue, Washington. March 31, 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018.
- ^ McCandless, Keith (December 1987). "How Not To Meet Women: Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards 1.0 Review". Macworld. Mac Publishing. p. 142.
- ^ Wagner, Roy (November 1987). "Leisure Suit Larry / The Slimier Things of Life". Computer Gaming World. pp. 44, 47. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "Computer Entertainment Industry Shines in 1987 Excellence in Software Awards". Computer Gaming World. May 1988. p. 8.
- ^ "The 50 best games EVER!". PC Format. No. 1. October 1991. pp. 109–111.
- ^ CGW 148: 150 Best Games of All Time
- ^ CGW 148: Top 15 Funniest Computer Games
- ^ Gonzales, Gelo (July 14, 2011). "6 Videogames that Shamelessly Used Sex to Sell". FHM.com.ph. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013.
- ^ Nagata, Tyler (October 10, 2011). "Leisure Suit Larry to Receive HD Treatment". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
External links
- Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards at MobyGames
- Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive