Leisure Suit Larry 2: Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)
Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places) is the second game in Al Lowe's Leisure Suit Larry series. Continuing the plot of the previous game, the swinging single Larry Laffer has finally found his true love and is happily living with her. Right? Wrong!.. Because Larry is mercilessly thrown out by his great love and is left all alone, penniless, and womanless, in Los Angeles. Accidentally, Larry comes into contact with KGB agents who will pursue him all over the globe from now on. And there is also the evil doctor Noontonyt plotting evil schemes on a remote tropical island... Looks like Larry will have to forget about his women-related problems for now... or is it so? The second game in the series introduces an improved engine (allowing for full-screen graphics and mouse control for movement). As opposed to the first game, which relied on exploration of one large area, the sequel has a more linear progression, the player being continuously taken to new locations as dictated by the plot. There are less puzzles in this installment than in the previous game; however, the number of ways to die has increased, danger awaiting Larry in most places he visits.
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So, the reason why I held off on covering this game for a while after I did the original Leisure Suit Larry was because it is kind of hard to rank these games in terms of their content and quality. Of course, there are entries that are obviously better then others in terms of technology and accessibility, but in terms of the actual contents of the game, it functions pretty much identically to what we had before. Really, the only way you could judge this entry in comparison to the other one would be with the plot and the shenanigans that occur within said plot. With all that being said, I think that this game overall is good from a story and presentation angle, but in terms of content and gameplay, it is about what you would expect, which is fine by me, but it may not be for others.
The story, at its core, is essentially the same as the original game: find love, but there is a lot more going on around this plot, which I can appreciate and enjoy, the graphics are quite an upgrade compared to the original, where they look much better, and even have plenty of different realistic portraits of characters, the music, while again not having much throughout, is pretty good, and an improvement from the original, the control is basically the exact same as the original game, so no need to go further then that, and speaking of which, the gameplay is also practically the same as the original, which is fine, but again, it does pale in comparison to other games later down the line.
The game is pretty much the exact same as the original Leisure Suit Larry, where you travel around various different locations, complete very specific actions that not only lead to humor, but also lead towards progression, gather items to help you along the way, and, of course, meet many ladies along the way to NOT sleep with… for the most part. Yeah, may as well go ahead and mention this now. In comparison to every other game in the series, where the sexual encounters are usually the primary focus of the adventures, this game actively encourages that you DON’T do that, at least, until the end of the game. In fact, if you do try to go that route, the game will punish you for doing so, most commonly with death. There isn’t even an age-verification test, something that is common in almost all of the games in the series. Now, this may be seen as a letdown for fans of the series (and people who apparently want to get off to a bunch of pixels), but honestly, I find this approach much more funny and appropriate for Larry himself, where he will actively keep trying and failing in every way he tries until the very end.
As for everything else in the gameplay though, it is basically the same as the original game, pointing and clicking everywhere, typing in commands to get the job done, you know how it goes. With that being said, this also carries over the same problems from the original game, such as the very specific things you have to type in order to perform a simple task, the fact that the game is, of course, a guide game, and the movement can be pretty awkward throughout. For example, there is one part of the game where you are sidling alongside this giant cliffside, and if you even so much as click an inch away from where you should go, Larry is taking a tumble to the rocky depths below. It is a bit of a pain, but with a save handy, it isn’t all too bad. Really, you are just playing the game for the story and the humor, which is still all here, it being an improvement over the original, and fun to experience the first go around, but really, you can just get the same experience out of watching the game on YouTube.
Overall, while it has improved in terms of the story, characters, music, and presentation, it is just more of the same you got from the originally Leisure Suit Larry, which isn’t bad by any means, but if you weren’t a fan of what you did get from the original, you aren’t gonna be a fan of what you get here.
Game #220