Man, I’ve not played a Leisure Suit Larry game for ages. To be honest, I didn’t even know they were still being made. When this came up for review, I jumped at the chance for two reasons. First, I really needed a laugh after some particularly bad news recently. Second, I wanted a trip down memory lane. I remember my older brother having the first Larry game, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, back in the eighties. For those not in the know, it was a graphic-adventure game from Sierra. Now, Sierra made some brutal adventure games, they were famed for their deaths and would punish you if you didn’t save regularly. I mean, here’s a screenshot of the very first screen of the first game back in 1987:
If you walked into the road, a car would run you over and kill you, within seconds of starting the game. Aside from the numerous deaths that were hardly ever pre-warned. The game was a bit ‘risque’ shall we say? The basic plot had you playing as Larry Laffer, a fast-approaching middle-aged loser of a man who is still a virgin, an issue he wants to correct ASAP. Yup, the game was basically you trying to get Larry laid. There were five women in the game that Larry could ‘woo’ in his own unique style. Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards was quite infamous back then for its adult content.
The pixelated nudity and sex that the game offered is really quite tame by today’s standards. But it caused all sorts of outrage back in 87, with many places refusing to sell the game due to its adult nature. Anyway, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards went on to be a hit and spawned a very successful franchise with numerous sequels over the years. The last one I remember playing was Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work… Which was very confusing at the time as there never was a Larry 4 game. The lack of a fourth game is kind of weaved into the plot of the fifth one in a little meta humour thing. As I said, the fourth (fifth) game was the last Larry title I played, and that was back in 1991. So I’ve not really kept up with the series for a long time now.
Anyway, from developer CrazyBunch and publisher Assemble Entertainment comes the latest in the very long-running franchise, Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice. This is a direct sequel to the previous game, Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry, from 2018… Which I never played. But this new game starts out with a recap of previous events to get you up to speed with the plot. Speaking of which, Larry is stranded on the exotic island of Cancúm (this is about as highbrow as the humour gets in these games by the way). Facing a forced marriage to the island’s chief’s daughter, Larry yearns to be with his true love Faith. Now, Faith has gone missing, following the events of the previous game. So Larry sets out to find her… And that’s basically it for the plot.
As I previously touched on, these Larry games are rather smutty and very lowbrow. It really is puerile and childish humour throughout these games, even though they are aimed at adults. Now, I’m not actually knocking that at all, I love all that stuff. Just pre-warning those that do not know just how salacious and indecent the game can be. I mean, if you just look at some of the background details of the graphics, you’ll see rocks and plants shaped like cocks. As an example, there’s a part in the game where you have to help a giant vagina plant grow and ‘blossom’.
So don’t expect any deep and meaningful content here. This is knob gags and boob references from start to end. Sticking with the original game’s graphic adventure gameplay, this sequel is very much one of those classic point ‘n click type games, a genre that is sadly vastly overlooked these days. As for the more direct sexual content of this, Larry does get his end away with a few of the women in the game and that sex is shown too. Only it is very cartoon and comical, usually ‘censored’ by foreground graphics so you don’t see any ‘details’. No digital nipples or intimate lady bits here (unless used as a joke to grow a giant vagina plant…). The sex is more on the funny side over actually being sexual. But despite the smut, the main thing to ask is if the game is actually any good?
Quite honestly, I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. There are a couple of very ‘stubborn’ puzzles in the game that really had me looking for a walkthrough online out of frustration. One involving a very infuriating maze-thing near the end that just drags on and on. Then there’s a Flappy Bird parody mini-game that’s even more annoying than Flappy Bird ever was, thankfully it is skippable. But generally speaking, I didn’t have too much of an issue getting to the end credits and more often than not, a little lateral thinking got me past some of the more taxing puzzles.
If you’re used to how these graphic adventure games work, then you should slip into Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice with relative ease. The graphics are bright and bold and there’s a nice gameplay feature that allows you to highlight items on the screen that can be used/picked up. This really helps you to progress through the game with none of the ‘click everything on the screen’ tactics we used to use back in the good old days. The controls using a pad (I played the Xbox version) overall work very well, with various shortcuts to save you moving a cursor all over the screen and wasting a lot of time.
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice is not just crammed with not at all subtle innuendo and sexual references, it also has some really well-placed references to classic games of the same genre. The likes of The Secret of Monkey Island and others get some (non-copyright infringing) nods and in-jokes… See the three-headed monkey in the pic above. If you’re a fan of the point ‘n click adventure game, especially the classics, then you’ll definitely get a lot more of the jokes. The humour (as covered) is very lowbrow stuff, but I really got a good few laughs out of it. Stupid and puerile sure, but still funny. There’s meta humour, 4th wall breaking jokes and pop culture references (most of which have dated badly I admit), all mixed in with the knob gags.
I was actually ready to really lay into this, tear it apart, call it out for being an outdated dinosaur, release a lot of vitriol onto its dated and immature gameplay… But I just can’t. I actually ended up really enjoying myself. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice is a really good graphic-adventure game. As I previously mentioned, I’ve not kept up with this franchise and not played a Larry game in three decades now. But I am genuinely impressed with how CrazyBunch have revived the franchise and kept its style and tone pretty much consistent, all while making a very playable game. The sexual content isn’t as impactful as it was back in 1987, what with the fact you can see as much sex and nudity as you want thanks to the interwebs now. So, whereas the original Larry game really caused some controversy over its content back then, the same can’t be said for the modern-day and it all comes across as very mild now… Still funny though.
Overall, Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice is a funny and worthwhile point ‘n click game worth seeking out if you’re a fan of the genre, and especially if you’re a fan of Larry Laffer and his antics.
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