Jump to content

Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
Developer(s)Sierra On-Line
Publisher(s)Sierra On-Line
Director(s)Al Lowe
Bill Davis (creative)
Producer(s)Guruka Singh Khalsa
Designer(s)Al Lowe
Programmer(s)Brian K. Hughes
Artist(s)Jane Cardinal
Composer(s)Craig Safan
SeriesLeisure Suit Larry
EngineSCI1
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Amiga, Macintosh, Windows
ReleaseSeptember 7, 1991
Genre(s)Adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work is a graphical adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line for the Amiga, DOS and Macintosh computers in 1991. It is the fourth entry in their Leisure Suit Larry series and the first Larry title to have 256-color graphics and a fully icon-based interface. Being an (in)direct sequel to 1989's Leisure Suit Larry 3, its title is misleading, as there is no Leisure Suit Larry 4.[1] The game is followed by Leisure Suit Larry 6 in 1993. It was re-released in 2017 on Steam with Windows support.

Gameplay

[edit]

Leisure Suit Larry 5 expands on the multi-character feature of the previous installment, with control periodically passing between the protagonists Larry and Patti.[1] A difference in the interface is that it includes the "Zipper" icon, enabling the character to perform an erotic action.

The overall difficulty is greatly reduced in comparison with past games; neither character can become trapped or die, and losing the game is impossible.[1] Many of the items players collect on their journey are merely optional, only triggering alternative solutions and affecting the final score, but not the game's progress.[1]

Plot

[edit]

The absence of a Leisure Suit Larry 4 forms the basis of this newest installment, as Julius Biggs has stolen the "missing floppies" of the game and caused Larry Laffer to become amnesiac. Larry is now in the adult film industry, working for a Mafia-connected company known as PornProdCorp. His boss sends him across the United States to scout for models to appear in "America's Sexiest Home Videos".

Meanwhile, Patti is recruited by the FBI to dig up incriminating evidence on two record companies which are suspected of hiding subliminal messages in their songs. At the same time, PornProdCorp schemes to eliminate the competition in their industry by donating money to CANE (Conservatives Against Nearly Everything).

On his way back to Los Angeles, Larry is involved in an airplane incident, landing the plane safely and being greeted as a hero. He is invited to the White House by George H. W. Bush, where he is reunited with Patti, and Biggs's sinister role is revealed.

Development

[edit]

Following Leisure Suit Larry III (1989), designer Al Lowe initially believed the series would end as a trilogy. However, Lowe and Sierra On-Line president Ken Williams explored the possibility of turning Larry into an online, multiplayer adventure. In early 1991, Lowe and a small team began work on Leisure Suit Larry 4, intended as the first Sierra Network online adventure. They built custom modem- and server-based code (code-named “Facemaker” and a waiting-room system) to let players create avatars and interact in real time. These experiments, however, hit technical roadblocks due to dial-up speeds and graphics bandwidth limitations, ultimately resulting in the abandonment of the Larry 4 project [2].

With no viable Larry 4, Lowe needed a fresh approach. In a chance hallway remark, he joked that the next game would be “Larry 5” instead of 4, which led to the famous in-joke: Larry 4 never exists (its "missing floppies" were stolen, causing Larry's amnesia), and Larry 5 picks up the story without retelling the fourth episode. This skipped-over entry served as a clever narrative device and drew attention to the new game. Lowe later explained that skipping over “4” freed him from the constraints of continuing Larry and Patti’s happily-ever-after, and the question, "What happened to Larry 4?" intrigued players [3].

At this time, Sierra had upgraded its technology. Larry 5 was developed using the new Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI1), which supported 256-color VGA graphics and a point-and-click interface. It became the first Larry game to use the mouse-driven icon bar (replacing the old text parser) and full-color backgrounds. Lowe and his team redrew every scene in VGA, taking advantage of the richer color palette to add more detail and humor. This interface change had major design implications: removing the text parser made puzzles easier to solve, as players no longer had to guess specific commands. To compensate for this simplification, the team inserted additional puzzles and interactions, as well as a new “Zipper” icon that allowed Larry to initiate many of his signature sexual gags without the need for typed commands [4].

Design goals for Larry 5 included making the game more forgiving. Unlike previous entries, Larry and Patti could not die or get permanently stuck. Sierra’s internal surveys showed that many adventure players never finished games due to difficult obstacles, so Larry 5 was conceived as a “player-friendly” entry—fewer dead ends, no deaths, and easier puzzles. The game retained the dual-protagonist structure of Larry 3, with control switching between Larry Laffer and Passionate Patti depending on the chapter. In the story, Larry and Patti pursue separate cases in the pornography and music industries until their paths converge, allowing for satirical commentary on pop culture. This structure also hinted at the unseen Larry 4 events, such as the "missing floppies" plot device [5].

Production of Larry 5 proceeded under producer Guruka Singh Khalsa with Lowe as writer/director and Bill Davis as creative director. The team completed the game in 1991 for MS-DOS, Amiga, and Macintosh platforms. By September 1991, Leisure Suit Larry 5 was released with its trademark blend of point-and-click gameplay, updated VGA art, and the series' bawdy humor. Its development exemplified the era’s shift at Sierra to VGA graphics and icon interfaces, and the game’s lighter difficulty and interface innovations influenced the design of subsequent Sierra adventures [6].

Reception

[edit]

Al Lowe has said that each game in the Leisure Suit Larry franchise, including Leisure Suit Larry 5, sold over 250,000 copies.[7] According to Sierra, combined sales of the Larry series surpassed 1.4 million units by the end of March 1996,[8] before the release of Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail! The total sales of the first five Leisure Suit Larry games had surpassed 2 million copies by the time of Love for Sail!'s launch.[9]

Computer Gaming World called Leisure Suit Larry 5 "a thoroughly enjoyable game".[10]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Hardcore Gaming 101: Leisure Suit Larry". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 13 June 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  2. ^ Where's LSL4?
  3. ^ Is LSL5 LSL4?
  4. ^ Talking Leisure Suit Larry with Al Lowe
  5. ^ Leisure Suit Larry, Al Lowe’s Gaming Legacy, Part 2
  6. ^ Leisure Suit Larry, Al Lowe’s Gaming Legacy, Part 2
  7. ^ Lowe, Al (19 March 1999). "The Death of Adventure Games". Al Lowe's Humor Site. Archived from the original on 3 February 2004.
  8. ^ Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report). Bellevue, Washington. 31 March 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Leisure Suit sets sail". Newsweek. 8 December 1996. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017.
  10. ^ Lambright, J. D. (November 1991). "Uncovering Passionate Patti in Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry 5". Computer Gaming World. No. 88. pp. 94–95. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leisure_Suit_Larry_5:_Passionate_Patti_Does_a_Little_Undercover_Work&oldid=1287564465"