Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards

The Good
Playing the first Leisure Suit Larry alongside this one, I found that the original was so much better. The wacky graphics slowed down action and gameplay. For instance your own character on screen gets in the way when you want to click on the bar stool, etc. How bizarre that it was faster to type in commands in the old version than in the newer point & click. The casino room was particularly slow. Perhaps the system might have been considered a little less harshly when it was released, though it is lacking even for 1991. The blackjack game was nicer though essentially the same, just a bit tidied up.. but it was a great loss that the blackjack table animation had been kicked and it looked instead like a slot machine. The one saving grace is the music which is very very nice in comparison with the bleeps of the Eighties.

The Bad
On playing, I expected it to be preferable to the original 1987 version but I was totally wrong. The worst thing was the inaccuracy of the mouse pointer: when changed, for instance, to a glove to use objects, it often missed the spot you would expect to hit. And the glove didn't look like a glove. Other inventory images, e.g. the wine, did not look like what they were meant to be. The controls were irritating at times.. The cursor responded to my earlier movements at one point as I try to obtain an object - the drunk says "oh, well if you don't want it..." and the object is obliterated. What can I say except to play the original, it is so much better in terms of control. This lacks the mature humour of its predecessor, which is odd for something which was essentially a replication. In the older version there is an awesome death sequence which is really rather humorous and turns the tables on the "instant death" which adventurers at this time would complain about. In this new version it is painful to watch through this slow sequence and it destroys the joke. What was really insulting was the remarks of the programmers that thought they were witty by criticising your current score in the game.

The Bottom Line
As a stand-alone game it is good, but play the original and you will have a far more enjoyable experience. This surprised me as I played them both for the first time side-by-side and yet the older version had more character and better playability.

The Good
The Leisure Suit Larry series is perhaps my favorite to date. While this one wasn't my favorite game IN the series (mostly because it was so short and less-than-eventful when compared with LSL 6 and 7) it was definitely a milestone in my young life. I played this game for the first time when I was about twelve or thirteen and have been a contemptible, corrupted person ever since ;c) In all honesty though, Al Lowe...I applaud your creation of this wonderful, wonderful game series which changed my life (and probably not for the better).

The Bad
As I said, it was a bit short and relatively dull in content, particularly when compared to classic Leisure Suit Larry's, like "LSL 6: Shape Up or Slip Out," or "LSL 7: Love for Sail!" All in all though, I loved the remake from the original (thank God for remakes) and would highly recommend every game in the series for someone wanting to laugh until their guts hurt.

The Bottom Line
This one has all the necessary ingredients to make any guy happy. A good soundtrack (with jazz music created by Al Lowe and his band), Some of the most hilarious material of any game I've ever played, beautifully rendered artwork (particularly in the women of the game) and enough humorous mishaps to make regular guys feel a little bit better about themselves. I found myself saying, "Oh wow...I'm glad that wasn't me!" more often than not. A+, I highly recommend this game series (though it's hard to find them in stores nowadays). Just...don't ask me about Leisure Suit Larry's Casino because I don't even consider that worthy of having Leisure Suit Larry in its title.

The Good
I think the music is very interesting. They used Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as dance music for disco - very funny! Also the taxi music was very nice. The graphics are excellent and very colorful. Although I am a girl, I found those women in the game very attractive and sexy. I was really happy when I thought I got a woman ;-) The creator of the game had some fantastic ideas. There are lots of hidden things to discover. The usage of language is very humorous. It was very exciting to always find new things.

The Bad
Sometimes you can die too suddenly, like in the toilet! I didn't expect it. In the convenicence store, I just stole some stuff, but was killed by the owner ;-)

The Bottom Line
In a word, that's a wonderful game, I enjoyed it very much.