Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Sierra
Year: 1991
Designer: Al Lowe

Score: 0

One can sum everything up by stating Larry 4 was by far the superior game.

Leisure Suit Larry 5 is the most abominable commercially released computer game ever, though I admit I have not played Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. Al Lowe hated the latter and went out of his way to make sure people knew he had no role in its design. For some reason he hasn’t apologized for this game yet.

The “new and improved” VGA graphics–hand-drawn and replete with the most cartoonishly bright colors you can imagine–are so wretched that after five minutes you’ll find yourself wishing you were staring directly into the sun. The MIDI music is so uninspired and hash that it will make you want to go listen to a middle-school band performance. The point-and-click interface–heavy emphasis on the clicking–is only there to give you tendinitis. The puzzles are insultingly easy, the worst of them having you get into a wrestling ring where you must grab as many female private parts as you can; it’s like whack-a-mole, only less arousing. The great news is you can skip several of the puzzles if you feel like three hours is too long for an adventure game. The plot, which sees Larry amnestic and somehow signing up for a shady job to be a talent scout for sexy home videos, is more threadbare (and somehow more offensive) than the women Larry meets. Nearly every joke falls flat. There is not one redeeming quality in this entire game.

Play it only to see how low Sierra had sunk in the early 90s.