Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (Xbox)

This game is worth playing through at least a couple of times. The minigames at first seem facile and repetitive, but once you get used to it you can concentrate on the humour going on in the background - the different conversations you can have, or, say, the reactions of a girl being heartily spanked!

If this was a typical Noughties college fratboy comedy movie, it would actually be a pretty good one. There are all sorts of little references and in-jokes that I for one found quite cute. There are also film references for the kind of geeks like me (I'm 40) who would buy a game like this : for example the sex toy factory in the game is called "Schwanstucker". This is a reference to a single one-liner gag in the movie Young Frankenstein. And the "brain exchange machine" that forms part of one of the more surreal parts of the plot is in fact the famed Interrossiter from schlock sci-fi flick This Island Earth, popularised by MST3000. Larry also makes reference to the fact that he's actually a character in a video game, so that if, like me, you like examining every object in sight (for each of which Larry provides a pithy comment), on something particularly boring like an ATM, Larry will say, "Listen, I'm tired of making this stuff up, let's go look at some boobies!" And during one dance game, Larry said, "You suck! Why don't you hand the controller to somebody who has some rhythm?" Finally, in the help for the "Everybody Naked!" option, the text reads "You've tried it in every other game, this is the one that actually works." Classic.

And boy! Does it work! It's a strange thing, but for all the inevitable polygon-ness of the bodies, the team at Vivendi/Sierra/whoever (I've never played a game with more logos displayed on start-up) have really worked to make these the most convincing naked game characters ever. And when re-playing through many of the scenarios, having the girl(s) involved appearing naked, actually gives it a lift and makes it *that* more enjoyable! No generic "skins" here, either - each girl's body has been designed to fit her character. S&M-crazy girl Suzi, for example, has rings in a Janet Jackson area; and both the eco-freak save-the-whales girl and the girl whom Larry succeeded by his ministrations in turning into a Lesbian, are notably, well, less "trim", shall we say? . This reviewer's overall opinion of the whole game of was raised considerably upon obtaining the last secret, simply because of the level of effort and attention to detail put in to the bonus aspect of the game, just to make sure the player wasn't disappointed.

This game contains, of course, every sexist stereotype there is, but just like the Benny Hill show (whose theme music is used for certain events and minigames, incidentally), the sexism absolutely cuts both ways.

Be warned! During the Chat scenes, where you have to keep the cursor on the right track to impress the girl, it's more than obvious the effect that drink has on the character's co-ordination. In the timed-button-press minigames, however, this was not nearly as obvious. In fact it looked like bad controller programming for one type of minigame, and ludicrously optimistic reaction-time expectations in another. I had played through the game once and almost an entire second run-through before I realised that it was Larry's drunken state that made those games so hard to play. So use that X button!

This is light, fluffy (fluffer?) entertainment that takes a little effort to get the most out of, but is absolutely worth it. Each mini-game, incidentally, has a way of completing it as "Perfect!", which gives you the tokens for unlocking secrets and bonuses. And for storyline games that you've already passed, they can all be replayed for you to get that Perfect! score, so the replay value is moderately high. I certainly found the game totally worth the money.