textfiles/games/REVIEWS/lsl2.rev

 LEISURE SUIT LARRY GOES LOOKING FOR LOVE (In Several Wrong Places)

 LEISURE SUIT LARRY GOES LOOKING FOR LOVE (In Several Wrong Places) is an
animated adventure (from Al Lowe and Sierra On-Line) that picks up the tale of
Larry Laffer, the quintessential nerd who made his first appearance in the
acclaimed LEISURE SUIT LARRY IN THE LAND OF THE LOUNGE LIZARDS. LSL2 offers
excellent graphics and animation, easy gameplay, a save option, MIDI support, an
adjustable "filth" level, and no copy protection. The Atari ST version is the
basis of this review; IBM and Amiga version notes follow.

 In this second installment of the Larry Laffer saga, you'll spend less time
chasing the girls -- most of whom are dangerous rather than desirable (although
they're that, too) -- and spend more time pretending you're Indiana Jones.
Winning the lottery and the Dating Game are outrageous enough, but when Larry
resists KGB spyettes and battles killer bees, snakes, quicksand, and several
barbers, LSL2 enters new territory. Exactly what that new territory is could be
difficult to say. A blurb on the LSL2 package expresses it best: "Another
humorous, harmless endeavor for adults." And that's just about what it is.

 The game picks up where LOUNGE LIZARDS left off. Unfortunately, neither Eve nor
her dog wants anything to do with Larry, who must hit the streets again in
search of his soulmate. He's going to hit a lot more than the streets, and he's
going to become much more than a nerd: pickpocket, liar, TV star, millionaire,
adventurer, spy, transvestite, and romantic hero.

 The ST screen display consists of graphics scenery within which Larry moves and
interacts. As you reach the edge of a screen, a new one will be loaded. Text
windows pop up onscreen to keep you informed; they can be removed with the
Return key or a mouse click. Each first keypress opens a window for your text
commands.

 Although you'll have to type in plenty of commands, much of the game involves
moving Larry through the screens. This can be accomplished with the arrow keys,
mouse, or the numeric keypad. There are keystrokes to repeat commands, give an
inventory, and pause the action. Game positions can be saved. You'll need a
previously formatted disk, and you needn't use a conventional filenames.
"Standing on a sandy beach" is the example in the instruction manual, and it is
much more useful.

 LSL2 is not copy-protected but you'll have to match onscreen pictures of women
with their pictures and phone numbers in the instruction manual before you can
play. The game works on either a color or monochrome monitor, requires 512K and
a double-sided disk drive, and supports a hard disk, which (as the manual points
out) needs a lot of room. Music and sound effects are set up to play through the
ST's sound chip, but if you own a Roland MT-32 or a Casio CZ-101 synthesizer (a
Casio 230S will work, too), it can be connected to the MIDI channels. Your
particular MIDI setup can then be installed as part of the game.

 Like most Sierra adventures, parts of LSL2 play by themselves, specifically the
Dating Game, the jungle, and the endgame. These animations are part of the lure
of Sierra games; they're humorous, wonderfully executed, and great fun to watch.
An opening cartoon defines Larry to a T, and a mini-walkthru in the instruction
manual offers a glimpse of the silliness and surprises in store for you,
especially when you make the wrong moves.

 The graphics of the game are superb. Colors are lush, details are extremely
clear, and the animations run with no flicker or glitches of any kind. On looks
alone, LSL2 is nearly worth its steep price. The play system is easy to learn
and use, and the game itself is silly, rude, and funny.

 LEISURE SUIT LARRY II is a "humorous and harmless endeavor," much needed after
the cinematic horrors of MANHUNTER: NEW YORK. Al Lowe and Sierra have another
winner!

 IBM VERSION NOTES

 The continued adventures of Larry are as much fun as the casual (as opposed to
dedicated) gamer should be allowed to have on the IBM. LSL2 is, in many
respects, the perfect "behind closed doors" game: You can turn off the sound
(which isn't a bad idea, actually, unless you have an enhanced music card; my
IBM-PC/AT has just the IBM internal speaker, and it sounds _very_ tinny). And if
you press the "boss" key, the screen changes to make it look like you're working
on a letter in your word processor. Best of all, you can feel deliciously guilty
about wasting the time you should be spending on something with a modicum of
redeeming social value.

 I played in EGA mode, and the game looks 1000% better than its predecessor
looked (even on the Amiga). The animation is handled smoothly; there are two or
three screens that are extremely impressive. And the jokes are better. (Not much
better, true, but better.) I could have done without a few of the longer
animation scenes where you have nothing to do but watch what happens, but this
is a minor quibble in light of the quality of the graphics.

 The program requires 512K and recommends Turbo 8 MHz or higher. It comes with
six 5-1/4" disks and two 3-1/2" disks, and is easily installed on a hard drive.
In fact, I have trouble imagining playing any other way, especially if you have
only a single floppy drive like I do. Music and sound effects can be enhanced
through drivers for the Roland MT-32, AdLib, or IBM Music Feature cards, which
can be specified when you install the game on hard disk. The program also
supports both joystick and mouse.

 LSL2 is a great game to sit around and giggle over, and it's the perfect time
killer until LSL3 materializes.

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES

 In its ongoing effort to release a new generation of SCI games for the Amiga,
Sierra has continued to do a good job of design and support. In LEISURE SUIT
LARRY II, the sound and graphics are virtually identical to those in the IBM
version. The only noticeable difference is the slowdown in complex animation
sequences, and the hesitation between scenes (and this only in comparison to the
fastest IBM systems). We can hope that such minor glitches disappear as Sierra
becomes more familiar with the handling of this hardware platform.

 LSL2 comes on four copyable disks, and requires one (or more) blank disks for
game saves. You can use a joystick, a mouse, or the keypad and arrow keys to
control the onscreen character. Only 512K of RAM is necessary. New instructions
are included for installing to a hard disk, so Sierra has finally made this
option available for Amiga users (it wasn't in SPACE QUEST III); hooray!

 As in its other machine incarnations, LSL2 is quite entertaining. It's very
linear in some spots: If you haven't acquired certain necessary items by a
specific point in the game, you must go back to a previous save. And there are
lots of "click the mouse carefully on the right pixel" kinds of puzzles, which
some might find a bit frustrating. But the gameplay is chockfull of immense
variety and high hilarity. LSL2 is a welcome addition to the world of adventure
games for the Amiga.

 LEISURE SUIT LARRY GOES LOOKING FOR LOVE (In Several Wrong Places) is published
and distributed by Sierra On-line, Inc.

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