It’s been a while since we last saw a Leisure Suit Larry game, Love for Sail in 1996 as a matter of fact (not counting the Casino game from 1999). Al Lowe (the programmer and producer of all the other Larry games) were not involved in the development of Magna Cum Laude, instead High Voltage Software got the opportunity to resurrect the Larry series.

Loveage has to live up to the reputation of his uncle. After being sent to college Larry discovers that there is a TV-show in town, called Swingles. Swingles is a parody of American Idol and pretty much all other similar shows. The winner of the show wins a night with a beautiful woman. To be on the show each contestant has to give the host (a nice crafted girl named Uma) tokens of affections. Tokens of affections are collected during intimate situations with women.

So yes the game’s main objective is to pick up women, just like the other games in the series. Obviously Magna Cum Laude is made for adults, but it’s not entirely an adult game. The game is filled with humour, most of it under the belt. It’s hard to stop laughing at some things, but some scenarios just go over the top. I have a hard time relating to Larry; sometimes he’s stupid and not even funny.

Larry Loveage has a whole campus and half a city at his disposal. The environments are very well made in cute 3D-graphics. There are flowers, grass, mean streets, nice streets and people talking everywhere. It’s fun to listen in on the conversations as you walk by.

The character graphics are as good as the environments. Most of the women you will be with are modelled like Japanese anime and look great (in both sense of the word).

In order to get tokens you need to complete a set of mini games while you talk to your future partners. In some of the mini games your progress is connected to the dialogue, so if you perform badly Larry will say or do stupid things. Other mini-games include passing out flyers, fleeing from the mob, the INS, dancing and much else.

The games you will play most are the dance game, a trampoline game and a game where you have to steer clear of obstacles to get a conversation going. Some of the games are quite easy and some are harder (like passing out flyers).

After about three hours of mini-gaming and advancing a sudden strike of boredom occurs. It’s fun to see the story evolve but the mini-games are not enough to keep the gameplay alive.

There are probably a bunch of people thinking that this game objectifies women. I might agree a certain extent, but it’s still just a game. Yes Magna Cum Laude contains nudity and weird sexual jokes. But the scenes in this game are no where near the violence in Doom 3 or other similar games.

We have few adventure games coming out these days so Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude fills a void. It’s a game where you don’t have to think that much, it’s easy to just start it up play a bit and then do something else. Playing makes you relaxed because there is nothing serious in the whole game. I applaud that developers try to continue great classics, unfortunately this one won’t get any gold medals, but it will grow a good feeling in you.
Sierra also released a version of the game called Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored (or Uncut in Europe). In the version you can skip some of the games and thereby advance.