Greatest Adventure Game of All Time - Leisure Suit Larry 7 Classic Line: “Look at those stacks! Look at THOSE stacks!”
Geared more towards the adult audience, Al Lowe’s Leisure Suit Larry series offers the greatest adventure game experience, ever. Sierra’s series invites gamers to follow the tale of a rapidly balding 40-something loser as he sets out to lose his virginity. While equally as crude as the other Sierra games at the time, the series began with a 16 color palate and amazing ear-shattering PC speaker sound! In fact, the series was around so long that the theme song eventually crept it's way into the backs of people's heads. While it was written in about 20 minutes, it turned out to be one of the most entertaining and catchy tunes ever written. Of course like most other things in life, the series evolved and eventually featured beautiful 16-bit graphics and full-featured speech.
I had a hard time deciding which Larry game I would feature here, but in the end
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail got the nod. The series’ swan song went out with a bang, featuring more laughs, more puzzles and best of all, more hardcore nudity! In fact, Al Lowe was kind enough to place Easter Eggs that would allow you to see all of the game’s ladies in all of their naked glory. For a kid who was 14 when the game came out, this was more than a blessing from heaven.
It wasn’t just the nudity that attracted me to this series though; it was the sheer comedic genius of Al Lowe that really kept me coming back. While Roberta Williams had the uncanny ability to leave me in awe with her writing talents, Al Lowe had the ability to make me giggle uncontrollably like a Japanese schoolgirl. The stories were so fascinating that I just had to keep on playing because I wanted to see the next way that poor Larry was going to be humiliated. The laughs kept on coming and even after having played through the game well over 10 times, I still find myself chuckling at the game’s many jokes.
You may be wondering why I chose this as my all-time favorite adventure game and to be honest, I’m not even sure why I chose it. I just know that there was something about this series that has attracted me and has since refused to let me go. This series really emphasized what adventure gaming was all about, introducing a loveable character, building them up over time and allowing the gaming audience to relate with them. I began to sympathize with him and feel for him every single time he was humiliated or tormented. Never have I seen a character so fully developed and refined, he’s really grown on me over the years. It’s driven me to purchase anything and everything that bore the Leisure Suit Larry Moniker. Hell, I even own copies of the Laffer Utilities and Larry’s Casino, now that’s dedication!
This game was quite innovative for its time. It even came packaged with a little scratch n sniff insert that contained the scents of the game's various events and locations. You don't just SEE the fart, you SMELL the fart! Talk about immersive! There was also an awesome feature that changed your background wallpaper every time you happened to score with one of the game's ladies. The images, done in the style of the classic Playboy mags, were actually pretty classy while managing to remain sexy at the same time. If you were highly advanced at the time, you could scan a picture of yourself and place it in one small part of the game. Furthermore, there was an included script that allowed you to assume the role of the poolside waiter in one of the title's more funnier comedic exchanges.
Sadly, like the rest of Sierra’s amazing adventure franchises, this series met its end just as Al Lowe began production on the 8th installment. While there are many talks of Sierra planning on reverting back to their old roots, the resurrection of the series is highly unlikely. I’m sure that Al Lowe would be more than happy to make a Larry 8 but he doesn’t own the rights to the franchise or the Larry name. I’m keeping my fingers crossed but I’ve been doing so since 1997, they’re starting to get tired.
Leisure Suit Larry is my favorite adventure gaming series of all time and I invite you to hunt these titles down. I’ve been told that Sierra has stopped production on the Ultimate Pleasure Pack, a compilation of all things Larry Related, but I’m certain that copies of it still remain. If you’re yearning for the glory days, or you just want a taste of what adventure gaming was really about, then I highly encourage you to seek this one out. If you're not too busy, I suggest you hunt down a copy of
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist, another classic Al Lowe title. Besides, I'm sure Al could use the extra bucks. If you want to learn more about everyone's favorite balding Jazz man head on over to
Al Lowe's Humor Site.
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