Preview LEISURE SUIT LARRY: MAGNA CUM LAUDE Developer: High Voltage Publisher: Vivendi Universal Release Date: October 2004 Platform: Preview by Randy Sluganski July 21, 2004

A masturbating monkey. Wet T-Shirt contests. Larry Lovage in a thong shaking his groove thing. Please, someone stab my eyes with an ice pick!

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Larry in a thong, his hips gyrating seductively. It’s a vision that is burned indelibly into my memory and I’m still having problems sleeping at night. Who are these people who have turned our memories of an adventure icon upside-down?

We recently returned from New York where we met with Vivendi Universal and some members of the High Voltage development team – known primarily in the adventure community for their splendid The Haunted Mansion. Courtesy of Producer Joshua VanVeld and Vice President, Creative Content Eric Nofsinger – we enjoyed some hands-on playing time with Leisure Suit Larry and his nephew Larry Lovage.

So what are our initial impressions? Well, this ain’t your daddy’s Larry. As a matter of fact, this ain’t the Larry you remember either, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Let’s just say it’s a broader interpretation of Larry and reserve judgment for the final version. This Larry is though – if you are not offended by the bawdy humor – the funniest, most side-splitting game I’ve ever played.

So is LSL: MCL an adventure game? Hey, is the Pope Polish (What’s that, he is, oops. Scratch that previous line.)? Let’s put it this way: LSL: MCL will be the Grand Theft Auto of adventure games. By that we don’t mean that Larry will be driving around in a car pimping, but rather that LSL: MCL should generate enough controversy that sometime around the end of October CNN nightly news will run a feature story on how the new Larry game is corrupting the sexual ethics of American youth.

The game in a nutshell centers around Larry and his nephew’s attempts to ‘score’ with fifteen different women (As a side note, between levels, each woman in the game is represented by a real model dressed to resemble her video game counterpart). Their quest for lust can be accomplished many different ways, but is mostly consummated through mini-games and risqué dialogue. We were assured that there will be some puzzles in final version, but I gotta tell you, I’m not holding my breath.

This is a Larry that ‘borrows’ heavily from numerous influences: a touch of Benny Hill, a tad of American Pie and a heavy dose of The Man Show. We’re talking mini-games that involve beer guzzling chug-a-lug contests or jumping on a trampoline while attempting to match the moves of the girl jumping on the trampoline next to you who is, of course, quite buxom and has certain body parts that shake like a bowl full of Jello.

We’re talking hooters galore and cut-scenes – which are awarded as bonuses – involving full-blown depictions of sexual intercourse, sometimes with more than one partner.

I asked the developers how they had avoided an AO rating (Adults Only) – which meant that a lot of retail outlets would have refused to carry the game – and was told that the censors simply asked them to alter a few camera angles. Thank God, for if there is one thing I could live the rest of my life without ever seeing it would be a full frontal view of a butt-naked Larry.

It might be the best of both worlds if Larry is a runaway hit. On the plus side, if LSL: MCL attracts mainstream attention and huge sales then publishers will think that adventure games are a hot commodity again, but on the negative side, much as sales of Myst inspired dozens of inferior copycats, so too might we be subjected to a boatload of sleazy porno games masquerading as adventure.

Personally, I think that LSL: MCL will be a mega-hit of a game, but I also don’t for one moment believe it will fly with the hardcore adventure crowd that is for the most part comprised of women and gamers that skew older than the twenty-something industry average. This game is clearly aimed at the 18-25-year-old male demographic and college crowd and on that accord it scores a direct bulls-eye.

Which begs the question, if LSL: MCL is an unbridled hit, then what next? Considering that Vivendi Universal still owns the licenses to such past Sierra classic series as Gabriel Knight, King’s Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest and Quest for Glory wouldn’t it then be feasible that if LSL: MCL is a huge hit that these series would be revived and revamped for a new generation of gamers? Well, our sources at Vivendi Universal assured us that nothing is currently in development but money speaks volumes so if LSL: MCL is a huge hit then don’t be surprised to see Gabriel Knight wielding a gun in a Grand Theft Auto setting this time next year.