Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
released on Sep 07, 1991
Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work! is (despite the number) the fourth game in Al Lowe's Leisure Suit Larry series. The middle-aged would-be-womanizer Larry Laffer fell off a boat during a cruise and sustained amnesia, forgetting how he and his sweetheart Patti got separated, how Larry got a job in LA, how Patti got a job with the FBI, and what happened in (the never released) Larry 4. Now Larry and Patti are working independently on two cases that are connected to each other, even though the heroes aren't aware of that. Larry's new bosses are involved in shady business, while Patti agrees to take a break from her career as a performing pianist and become an undercover agent. Will the two be together ever again?
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Oh my god, oh my god, holy FUCK, you guys. I’m sorry, but I can’t help the fact that I am still ecstatic after that review I just did for Leisure Suit Larry 4, it was just too good! The action, the drama, the romance, the EVERYTHING! It was such a sublime experience, and it is undeniably the greatest video game ever made in the history of ever, and if you don’t believe me, then you just truly haven’t met God, like I have. But after such a perfect work of art like that… how can one even follow it up? How does one improve on perfection? Do you just stop right there, count your blessings, and ride off into the sunset on a motorcycle while wearing sunglasses, or do you try to outdo yourself once again, even though there is zero chance of improvement over what we had previously? Well, the developers opted to do the second option, giving us the next installment with yet another overly-long name, Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work.
While we can all agree that LSL4 is perfection in video game form, I am willing to give this new entry a chance at impressing me as much as that game did. After all, what kind of amateur critic would I be if I didn’t give any product I reviewed any attempt to shine in the spotlight right alongside the gods? So, like with LSL4, I hadn’t known much about this entry before jumping into it, so I was going in with standard expectations, and after playing through the game, I will say that this is another pretty good entry in the series… but I did end up not liking several key elements about the game that kind of drags it down quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong, compared to the previous games in the series (except for LSL4, obviously), it is a definite improvement in every way, but not enough to the point where I would say it is the best entry in the entire series.
The story is definitely much bigger and more ridiculous than any of the previous games, but that ends up being more of a detriment rather then an improvement, which I will get more into later, the graphics are about on the same level as the LSL1 remake, and they do still look pretty good, having a lot more animation and personality then that of that previous game, the music is pretty good, fitting each location and sequence of events pretty well, but nothing stood out as memorable other then the main theme, of course, the control is on the same level as the previous games, not much more to be said about it, and the gameplay is what you have come to expect from a Leisure Suit Larry title, albeit with a bit more frustration then usual.
The game is your typical point n’ click adventure, where you take control of both Larry and Patti in their own separate scenarios throughout the entire game, go through many different locations around the world, click all over the place to interact with various people, objects, and items to see if you can make any progress, gather plenty of helpful items that you will need to use in order to get what you truly desire, and gather all of the evidence and agreements you need in order to get each individual job done, of course with sexual shenanigans present all the way throughout. If you’ve played the remake of LSL1, you pretty much know exactly what you are going to get from this game, so nothing too much has changed in the gameplay department, but in terms of the story, a lot has changed around.
Ever since the conclusion from LSL3, there was plenty of confusion when it came to where the series was going to go from there. I mean, it was clear they wanted to make more titles, so what were they going to do to keep this going forward, especially after the MASTERFUL attempt made by LSL4 previously. Well, for this game, they decided to completely reset everything, to where Larry and Patti are separated once again, and we are given no clue as to what happened in between games. Yes, there are hints about it, as well as to what went down in LSL4, but for the most part, it is almost as if we are meeting these characters for the very first time once again, and honestly, it is kind of refreshing. However, with that being said, what they do with the story from here on out does kinda lead into my main criticism of the game.
If you want my professional opinion (as we can all agree it is), I would say that when it comes to the plot of LSL games, they work best when they try to keep things relatively simple. I don’t mind a bit of zannyness and outlandish elements being thrown in here or there, but these games clearly work best when they have simple settings, simple plots, and simple shenanigans that are blown to the extreme. In the case of LSL 5, however, it is pushed a little too far into the extreme territory for me to really get invested, for me to like, or for me to care. It isn’t too overblown or stupid, but I dunno, something about the two stories with Larry and Patti constantly bashing heads with each other to try to get time in the spotlight doesn’t work as well as the developers probably intended, and makes it look a little more stupid. Not to mention, the abundance of cutscenes with no voiced dialogue is quite clear, especially since these cutscenes last a loooooooooooooooong time. But, if you are here simply for the gameplay and not the story, then it is still just as good as any other LSL game, except for one element: Larry’s camcorder. Having to constantly take out tapes, put in tapes, record, stop recording, and recharging this device for most of the game does get pretty annoying, especially when you fuck up one little thing and have to redo it all over again. It isn’t that big of a deal, but it is still annoying.
Overall, despite the faulty story and the annoying camcorder mechanic, LSL5 is still a pretty competent LSL game, and if you were a fan of the previous games in the series, then chances are you are going to like this one just as much, if not more, then the previous games. I would definitely recommend it for Leisure Suit Larry fans out there, as well as those who are fans of point n’ click adventure games in general, but for everyone else, it wouldn’t be the first LSL game that I would recommend you checking out. Nah nah nah, the first one I would recommend would be LSL4, as it is the BEST GAME OF ALL TIME, and everyone should play it at least once to know its full glory! Mega Man X is straight GARBAGE compared to the true Citizen Kane of video games right there.
Game #378
While we can all agree that LSL4 is perfection in video game form, I am willing to give this new entry a chance at impressing me as much as that game did. After all, what kind of amateur critic would I be if I didn’t give any product I reviewed any attempt to shine in the spotlight right alongside the gods? So, like with LSL4, I hadn’t known much about this entry before jumping into it, so I was going in with standard expectations, and after playing through the game, I will say that this is another pretty good entry in the series… but I did end up not liking several key elements about the game that kind of drags it down quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong, compared to the previous games in the series (except for LSL4, obviously), it is a definite improvement in every way, but not enough to the point where I would say it is the best entry in the entire series.
The story is definitely much bigger and more ridiculous than any of the previous games, but that ends up being more of a detriment rather then an improvement, which I will get more into later, the graphics are about on the same level as the LSL1 remake, and they do still look pretty good, having a lot more animation and personality then that of that previous game, the music is pretty good, fitting each location and sequence of events pretty well, but nothing stood out as memorable other then the main theme, of course, the control is on the same level as the previous games, not much more to be said about it, and the gameplay is what you have come to expect from a Leisure Suit Larry title, albeit with a bit more frustration then usual.
The game is your typical point n’ click adventure, where you take control of both Larry and Patti in their own separate scenarios throughout the entire game, go through many different locations around the world, click all over the place to interact with various people, objects, and items to see if you can make any progress, gather plenty of helpful items that you will need to use in order to get what you truly desire, and gather all of the evidence and agreements you need in order to get each individual job done, of course with sexual shenanigans present all the way throughout. If you’ve played the remake of LSL1, you pretty much know exactly what you are going to get from this game, so nothing too much has changed in the gameplay department, but in terms of the story, a lot has changed around.
Ever since the conclusion from LSL3, there was plenty of confusion when it came to where the series was going to go from there. I mean, it was clear they wanted to make more titles, so what were they going to do to keep this going forward, especially after the MASTERFUL attempt made by LSL4 previously. Well, for this game, they decided to completely reset everything, to where Larry and Patti are separated once again, and we are given no clue as to what happened in between games. Yes, there are hints about it, as well as to what went down in LSL4, but for the most part, it is almost as if we are meeting these characters for the very first time once again, and honestly, it is kind of refreshing. However, with that being said, what they do with the story from here on out does kinda lead into my main criticism of the game.
If you want my professional opinion (as we can all agree it is), I would say that when it comes to the plot of LSL games, they work best when they try to keep things relatively simple. I don’t mind a bit of zannyness and outlandish elements being thrown in here or there, but these games clearly work best when they have simple settings, simple plots, and simple shenanigans that are blown to the extreme. In the case of LSL 5, however, it is pushed a little too far into the extreme territory for me to really get invested, for me to like, or for me to care. It isn’t too overblown or stupid, but I dunno, something about the two stories with Larry and Patti constantly bashing heads with each other to try to get time in the spotlight doesn’t work as well as the developers probably intended, and makes it look a little more stupid. Not to mention, the abundance of cutscenes with no voiced dialogue is quite clear, especially since these cutscenes last a loooooooooooooooong time. But, if you are here simply for the gameplay and not the story, then it is still just as good as any other LSL game, except for one element: Larry’s camcorder. Having to constantly take out tapes, put in tapes, record, stop recording, and recharging this device for most of the game does get pretty annoying, especially when you fuck up one little thing and have to redo it all over again. It isn’t that big of a deal, but it is still annoying.
Overall, despite the faulty story and the annoying camcorder mechanic, LSL5 is still a pretty competent LSL game, and if you were a fan of the previous games in the series, then chances are you are going to like this one just as much, if not more, then the previous games. I would definitely recommend it for Leisure Suit Larry fans out there, as well as those who are fans of point n’ click adventure games in general, but for everyone else, it wouldn’t be the first LSL game that I would recommend you checking out. Nah nah nah, the first one I would recommend would be LSL4, as it is the BEST GAME OF ALL TIME, and everyone should play it at least once to know its full glory! Mega Man X is straight GARBAGE compared to the true Citizen Kane of video games right there.
Game #378
It has everything you want in an adventure game but still it's a bit weaker than previous installments.