Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded

I finally got around to playing this game and I'm here to share my thoughts with you fine folks.

  

Things I liked:

New Graphics – The game looks great. It could have used some better animation (or in some cases animation at all) but overall I really like the updated look to bring it closer to Larry 7.

Larry's Voice – Larry was only voiced one other time and luckily they have the same voice actor here which is a treat since I liked him in Larry 7.

Humor – Lots of puns and double entendres here. It's juvenile but also clever at times.

Music – I love the Larry theme and Al Lowe has brought a great horn driven sound to the rest of the game as well.

Faithful Recreation – It is almost 1:1 of the old games layout. So if you love the old game then you should be happy with it sticking so close to the source.

Death Animations – They are still here but instead of forcing you to restart they just take you back to the last screen you were in before you killed yourself. A good compromise I think.

Age Verification – An update of the original age test is here. It's a fun little throwback to the original.

Things I did not like:

Kickstarter Backers in Scenes – It was very distracting and took me totally out of the game. Plus they are all facing the camera the entire time so that you can see their likeness. They also happen to be in the very first room so it's right in your face from the very start.

Narrators Voice – It's not too bad but it's not nearly as good as the one in Love for Sail.

Lip Sync - In the close up conversations it is atrocious. Worse than games from the 90s.

The Puzzles – They can still be obtuse. Many times I knew what I wanted to do but just didn't do it exactly the way they wanted. For example you find some coveralls later in the game and I immediately searched the pockets. It told me there was nothing in them. So I spent ages walking around only to find out (via a walkthrough) that the key is in the pockets but only after you have picked up the apple and the helium. Bear in mind that you do not use those items to get the key you just search the pockets again once you have picked them up and then he magically finds the key. I would never think to look again once it told me nothing was there. That's some bullshit.

Money - Having money in the game discourages exploration and experimentation. It puts a limited resource on how much you can look around. I hated this part in the original and I still do.

Overall it's kind of a mess. Larry 1 isn't the best game to remake and while there are flashes of what made the original series so great, there are also strong reminders of why it left us in the first place.

If the same team was to make a new Larry game I have a feeling it would be great. But this remake of a very time worn classic is just not what I had hoped for.