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Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail (Yank Hers Away)
Review by Alfred Giovetti
Price: $50 - $55
Genre: Animated Action Adventure
Release: October 1996
Developer: Sierra Online
Art:
Music:
Programmer:
Designer: Al Lowe
Publisher: Sierra Online
Phone: 800-757-7707, 206-644-4343
Website:http://www.sierra.com http://www.sierra.com/games/lsl7/game.html
Requirements: 486DX2, 66 MHz, Windows 95, Windows 3.1, DOS 6.00, 2X CD ROM drive

Company line: Al Lowe's most popular creation, the ever-hopeful and always-hopeless Leisure Suit Larry, is back for another round of jokes, innuendo, and half-dressed babes in "Love for Sail!" Where else could you possibly find a lavish cruise ship full of beautiful women, tropical drinks, obscene balloon animals, a nude pool full of Sierra employees (no kidding), and all the spork you can eat? Face facts... you won't find this anywhere else but your local software store or our website! shipth.gif - 7.5 K

And, of course, our website is decorated for the occasion in a plethora of Larry paraphernalia. We're happy to offer you screenshots, pre-production pencil sketches, audio files, one totally twisted AVI movie, a Larry Lady pinup, a particularly nice background wallpaper file for Windows, hotlinks to Larry's favorite sites, and, if you haven't read `em yet, two chapters of Al's chronicle of Larry's life! Please remember that we do not recommend this portion of our website--or this game--to anyone under 18 years of age, so if you're a young'un, get your parents' permission before accessing the Larry pages... http://www.sierra.com/lsl7/

Think Larry for Christmas. Think Larry for Chanukah. Think Larry for New Year's. Think Larry for National Cheese Week. This holiday season, why not give the gift of tastelessness to a friend or loved one?

History: In 1987, the first game in the series, Leisure Suit Larry In the Land of the Lounge Lizards was released and shortly thereafter found itself receiving the Software Publisher's Association best adventure game award for that year. Larry is based upon all the weird people Al Lowe, Larry's creator at Sierra, has observed while playing professional jazz saxophone in night clubs for many years. The upcoming Larry is Larry lucky seven., and up until this time over 2 million Larry adventures have been sold.

The low brow humor continues with Larry, still in his trusty leisure suit, on a cruise ship. As with most Benny Hill type humor, the women are everything that the most exploitive male would want them to be, and perhaps some of the anatomical equipment defies certain natural laws, including gravity. The slapstick and off color humor combine with just barely decently clad females of ample proportions. Now if Larry could only keep it together long enough to, oh well, if he really scored, he wouldn't be our old lovable Larry.

The plot of this installment is that our polyester hero has found a ticket on a cruise ship. When Larry arrives he finds that it is a cruise entirely for women of ample proportions and beauty all the way down to crew of the ship. There ensues a number of typically tawdry Larry adventures and exploration of the sites on the cruise ship. Locations include the nude swimming pool, the onboard casino, the nude sun bathing deck where Larry has to assist women to put on their clothes, and one particularly funny robotic comedy show which will feature a special performance, " an evening with Bill Clinton."

The plot centers around the "Thygh's Mans Trophy" contest. The grand prize is an weeks cruise riding the mattress with the captain of the ship, an amply endowed Captain Thygh. Other women featured both in the story and in your Windows wallpaper after winning segments of the game are Dewmi Moore, Drew Baringmore, Jamie Lee Coitus, Nailmi and Wydoncha Jugg. Each woman requires that you complete some series of treasure hunt puzzles to get them in compromising positions. 11000th.gif - 8.2 K

Actually getting some prone exercise is relatively new for Larry. In the past Larry often tried and often failed to achieve the women of his dreams. This time out it seems Larry has found the formula to bedding and leaving the objects of his desire. Perhaps, this is due to the requests of the balding fat lounge lizard's fans who may have tired of his lack of success in romantic endeavors.

Just when you thought the controversy over parsers was dead, Larry, living in the 70's, has to bring up the old laundry to air once again. Yes Larry 7 has a new text parser called Cyber Type 2000 in what Sierra calls a "revolutionary new interface." Only Sierra could bring back an old out-moded technology, redefine and refine it and then call it revolutionary. In the Liesure Suit Larry tradition, the worst aspects of point and click and text parsers are combined, icluding the use of poor syntax (no not Sin Tax - Ed.). Seriously, the interface resembles all Sierra animated graphic adventures, with point and click menues just a hot key or mouse click away. The Sierra graphic animated adventure interface is the best worked out in the industry, with years of experience to back them up. Little things like hitting the escape key or space bar to stop the cut scenes and get on with the action or to skip an animated walk to the end of the line are all incorporated here.

The interface is a "grope and feel" rather than point and click and in many instances, where you type in your own words there are other special events hidden away from public view and not essential to the plot, or what we call Easter Eggs. Easter Eggs include several with Drew Barringmore at the Clothes Optional Pool. The branch covering her "naughty bits" can be pushed away, you can drink the aphrodisiac in her drink, and you can discuss Anton Fokker with ear plugs. These Easter Eggs really point to the excellent detail layered into Sierra games. Don't be fooled by the "Where is Dildo?" running gag, the real Easter Eggs are in trying different things in each area of the game.

Many computer editors and writers have expressed concern over the years that multimedia as defined by the current computer generation should not be called multi since it only encompasses two of the senses, that is sight and hearing. Well, Al Low has a solution for that the new CyberSniff 2000. That's right Larry has a scratch 'n sniff card packaged with the game that promises to be just as offensive, if not more offensive than, the Baltimore native, John Waters' Polyester scratch 'n sniff card. Bound to be a collectors item that Al could sell to insure, or was that assure, his retirement.

After six Larrys, finally in Larry 7 Al Lowe has implemented an instant travel system. Bring up the big Cruise ship map, click on the location you wish to go to and through the magic of computers, you are there in an instant. No more wandering around, unless you really like bumping into bulkheads and beauties. And with over 30 locations and 200 hand drawn scenes, you do not want to be wondering around with no place to go.

You can actually star in Larry 7, and share the immense embarrassment and humiliation. Simply take your own picture with a digital camera or scan a photo, load the image into the computer, and the computer automatically will put you into the game in the famous port hole scene you can take Al Lowe out of the Captain's boudoir and replace him with your own digital scanned image.

Not to be outdone, Al claims since Bill Gates has garnered so much money messing with Windows operating systems, he certainly does not want to be left out. Each time you successfully complete a part of the game and progress the plot, your windows wallpaper will be replaced with a new image of the buxom girls from Larry 7. This continual alteration of your Windows interface goes beyond the typical operating system alterations everyone experiences while loading programs into their Windows operating system. Way to go Al.

Graphics: The graphics are produced in the traditional way by drawing them, inking them, and then coloring them (called painting in traditional animation). The drawn, inked and painted images are all put together at about 2x12 frames which means it runs at 24 frames per second but every second frame is a duplicate.

Voice actors: Jan Rabson and others give a good performance with the voices of our alter ego and his playmates. Plaing the roles of Nailme and Whydontya Judd and other punny names, equally tasteless must have been a challenge.

The music score was put together by Al Lowe who has years of experience as an actual lounge musician. Al found this first hand lounge lizard experience invaluable in creating our 70's hero and his theme music.

A special program is on the Sierra website for free called the Larry Pops Up! Joke window. Sierra promises a new expansion pack each month so that you can add to the totally tasteless jokes and severely un-punny humor.

Journalists: The press seems to have made their minds up on this one. Perhaps it was a convention of the guys and they all decided "Let's pan Larry!" But really, I found the product enjoyable, if easy, and fun, if you can take the simple sexual innuendo humor, but hey I'm easy. Zach feels that Larry's (and Lowe's) humor has waned and that the jokes are merely bad puns and poor sexual innuendo. Brett liked the game inspite of the "fairly high, 'been there-done that' factor. Charles feels that you can "see the jokes coming a mile away." Perhaps Al Lowe is Quaking with the signs of Doom as are many other worthwhile classic series.

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Review references:
Next Generation, volume 2, number 18, June, 1996, pg. 89.
Johnnie Magpie, InterAction, summer, 1996, pg. 68-69.
http://www.polytech.ivanovo.su/~loe/solutions/adventure/empire/Dream.web.html
http://www.sierra.com/games/lsl6/shots/
http://www.sierra.com/games/lsl7/goodies/preview.html
Chris Hudak, http://www.gamespot.com/previews/leisure7/index.html
Glenn Broderick, Computer Player, volume 3, number 5, October, 1996, pg. 58.
Daniel Morris, PC Games, volume 3, number 11, November, 1996, pgs. 66-70.
Barry Brenesal, http://www.gamecenter.com/Reviews/Item/0,6,403,00.html, 60%
Doug Radcliffe, http://www.ogr.com/reviews/lsl7.shtml, 90%.
Zach Meston, Computer Player, volume 3, number 6, January, 1997, pg. 68, 60%
Bryan Del Rizzo, Boot, volume 1, number 7, March, 1997, pg. 102, 60%
Charles Ardai, Computer Gaming World, issue 153, April, 1997, pg. 76 - 78, 70%.
Brett Jones, PC Gamer, volume, 4, number 4, April, 1997, pg. 133, 84%.

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