Game Details

• Title: Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
• Developer: Funsta (Codemasters)
• Released (UK): 27/03/2009
• Age Rating: 18+
• Game Type: Sand Box Adventure
• Multi-player: None
• Length: Short (<10 hours game completion, <20 hours achievement completion)

Background

The Leisure Suit Larry franchise has been around for ages, and Box Office Bust is the ninth installment. Like most of the previous games it has a mix of Adult “humour” and sexual themes, while showing very little if everything. This is the 2nd game to star “Larry Lovage” as the protagonist the nephew of the original Larry, “Larry Laffer” who appears in this game as well.

The plot of the game has you attempting to save your uncles film studio from a hostile takeover, and the gameplay mechanic is essentially a combination of platforming and item discovery with a few other elements thrown in with set pieces. There are also a few mini-games including time trials.

Game Modes

The game is single player only, in the game there are a few mini-games including time trials on carts, “scene” direction, and an unloseable seduction mini-game that requires finding an item then “seducing” a woman with no penalty which seems impossible to fail at.

Technical Stuff

The graphics are sound are reasonable, as to be expected from an unreal engine game, though it does have the standard graphical glitches associated with said engine. The main problem though are the controls which when jumping/climbing are BAD to the point of wanting to destroy your controller in frustration bad.

Difficulty/Achievements

The game itself is relatively easy and there should be little trouble with most of the achievements except the find the Gold Larrys which can be done with a guide, and the shuffleboard scores which are a one time only thing. The only issue with the achievements is that the 100% completion one is glitchy and sometimes does not unlock when it should, leading to the need for another play through to get it

Positives

The graphics and sound are of a reasonable quality, and the game is quite cheap to buy. While the humour will not be to all peoples liking, it should bring a smile to most peoples faces every now and then.

Negatives

The controls are awful, especially when it comes to jumping as the game is predisposed to make you cling to walls rather than grab ledges, leading to death on multiple occasions. The camera also switches from being free to fixed in platforming situations, increasing their difficulty as it is normally a poor angle.

Some of the humour is also very crude with lots of “amusingly” shaped rocks and statues.

My Recommendation

AVOID – 3/10

While Leisure suit Larry would never be the best game out there, it had potential to be playable and moderately enjoyable. The awful controls make this one to avoid and there were occasions that I wanted to destroy my controller due to frustration at dying for the 100th occasion due to the game deciding that I wanted to cling to the wall rather than grab the ledge I am next to.

These controls made what should have been a semi-enjoyable game, into one that for me is on a par with “My Horse and Me 2” in terms of gaming pleasure or more accurately lack thereof

I think you can guess why in addition to the poor rating it is due to the awful controls which would have made it Shamertag worthy regardless of any other flaws.

VIDEO REVIEW

Due to the adult content of the game and the frequent rude rock formations and posters, there will not be a video review for this game