Leisure Suit Larry being re-made

[Andrew]

phpBB [video]

Basically getting the Monkey Island treatment. I'll be tempted to pick it up.

[Kenny]

Unlike Monkey Island, I actually think Leisure Suit Larry really needed this makeover. I enjoy the original game, but the graphics were so bad and having to type everything out began to be a pain in the ass. It's good to see Al Lowe is back involved as well.

The last Larry title I played was Box Office Bust. I only bought it because it was about 10 bucks or so. It was hideously bad and it continues to collect dust after playing it twice.

[Andrew]

The originals are definitely dated, though the very first one did of course receive a "VGA update" a few years later. It's a novelty to play the old text parser games but making them point and click and adding voice acting for a new re-release sounds good to me.

That was the definitely the appeal of the Monkey Island re-makes as well. It was nice to have the updated graphics (and be able to switch between the new game and old game's graphics and UI) but it was actually having the voices of Dominic Armato and the rest that made the re-makes worthwhile...especially Armato, as the voice he does for Guybrush is perfect.

[Andrew]

Leisure Suit Larry’s Creator on Making a Remake, But Not Really Making One…

Leisure Suit Larry is another franchise that is being revived thanks to Kickstarter. Original creator Al Lowe is back with developer Replay Games to not only make the first game, but remake all of them. The Kickstarter far exceeded expectations, and the game has been pushed back to January 2013 so they can add a new girl for Larry to pursue, new puzzles and more—all possible because of the extra money.

On one hand I'd prefer the remake to be faithful and simply just enhance the original game with contemporary graphics and speech, but that is kind of cool I guess. Glad to hear they're looking to remake the whole series.

[Andrew]

And another interview: Funny People: Al Lowe, Leisure Suit Larry creator

[Kenny]

I don't mind the idea of changing some of the puzzles, but as for an entire makeover, I'm a little skeptical of that idea. I just hope they look to cater for the old school fans and not the people who enjoyed Box Office Bust... if there were any

[Andrew]

I'd say they will, with Al Lowe on board. I can't imagine it'd sink to the depths of the non-Al Lowe games; I remember being interested in Box Office Bust when I first heard about it but the more I heard, the less enthused I became.

Having said that, it would be nice if there was an option to play the original game as-is (only with enhanced graphics and voices), as well as the extended version. Then again, I suppose if we really want the nostalgia, the originals are all playable using DOSBox or ScummVM, along with a host of other classics by Sierra and LucasArts.

Speaking of the original LSL...I wasn't aware of this until a couple of years ago.

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

Leisure Suit Larry publisher trades up to a new developer (exclusive)

And a couple of new screenshots:

[Andrew]

New preview, with a video.

Sounds like they're updating a fair bit, which is fine. Like I said, a faithful remake would've been good, but freshening up the references and whatnot is probably for the best. I'll be picking it up in May or whenever it ultimately drops.

[Andrew]

Release set for May 31st.

[Andrew]

The game's been delayed until June after a few bugs were found, but supposedly they're on track for the new release date.

[Andrew]

Latest preview.

With archaic parsing being swapped for far simpler controls (there are default actions mapped to the mouse keys and an action bar at the top of the screen), there's no reason not to explore the whole game like an inquisitive pervert. As an added bonus, the infamous death scenes from the original have returned sans their unfortunate, progress-halting outcomes. Killing off the protagonist over and over again was a nasty trick employed by many an adventure game creator back in the '80s and '90s, artificially lengthening their games with unfair, impossible to predict obstacles.

These deaths have now been turned into gags and Easter eggs, with Larry being immediately resurrected and plonked right back to where he was before his untimely demise. This time around I actually sought these scenes out, rather than worrying that a fatal, game-ending death was just around the corner.

That's a novel approach. I like it, though.