E-Mail This Article to a Friend This Suit doesn't fit Magna Cum Laude is a stain on the Leisure Suit legacy BY JIM MURRAY
	Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude Published by Sierra. Developed by High Voltage Software. For PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Rated M for Mature.

Back when I was 10, playing through the original Leisure Suit Larry on my IBM PC Jr., I knew I was playing a game way over my head in terms of content. Call me a late bloomer, but how the hell would I know what a condom was? And why would I have known that if I didn’t make Larry use one in the game that he’d get some nasty disease?

All I know is that back then, I loved Leisure Suit Larry if only because my parents didn’t want me playing it. It gave me the opportunity to see some pixilated boobies, and it was like a dirty King's Quest (which, by the way, was one of my favorite games ever).

Sierra went on to develop many more versions of Leisure Suit Larry for the PC over the years, but this year, for the first time ever, Larry has hit the consoles with Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.

This game is essentially like playing one of those cheesy (yet somewhat hilarious) ’80s coming-of-age teen sex romp flicks like Porky’s or Revenge of the Nerds.

Even though the old PC series and those cheesy ’80s movies will always be near and dear to my heart, I’m extremely disappointed with Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. See, those old PC games are adventure/puzzle games, much like King's Quest or Monkey Island. Magna Cum Laude is a dumbed-down series of button-mashing mini-games (Yay! Virtual Quarters!) with little or no focus on exploration or puzzle-solving.

Thankfully, the sexual humor that has always made the series so much fun is still included, but it’s a shame that nothing else that made the series so charming is. You can blame this on the absence of the series creator Al Lowe; going into this game, I figured the developer making Magna Cum Laude would respect Lowe’s artistic style of design and quick-witted writing, but they just took the Leisure Suit Larry name and ran with it, ignoring a lot of key gameplay elements.

Another thing that sucks about Magna Cum Laude is that is should be called "Load time Larry." Oh my friggin’ god! It’s 2004! I shouldn't be looking at load screens more than I’m playing the actual game! That's just plain pathetic programming.

This game really isn’t worth going on about. Leisure Suit Larry plays clunky, it’s pretty tasteless and sophomoric (that’s not to say I didn’t laugh a few times. The "Lesbian Nights" duet — set to the tune of "Summer Nights" from Grease — being sung in a gay bar was pretty funny), and there’s absolutely no way I could ever see paying 50 bucks for this title. A rental? Maybe. And that’s only if there’s nothing else to choose from and you’re feeling a little "cheeky."

Score: 4.0 (out of 10)