Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies - None (Never)
(1) There was apparently a multiplayer Leisure Suit Larry games in the works, designed to be played over The Sierra Network, their burgeoning online service. It was cancelled due to technical issues.
(2) Leisure Suit Larry 3 tied up things pretty nicely for Larry and Patti, and seemed like it was intended to end the series. Apparently, Al Lowe used to joke that there would be no Leisure Suit Larry 4. Apparently, he followed through by going directly to Leisure Suit Larry 5. This was done as a unique narrative device to sort of "undo" the ending of the previous game. Both Larry and Patti start off separated, with only the vaguest memory of each other, and neither has any clue as to how they separated. In other words, Leisure Suit Larry 4 acts as sort of a "missing reel", where the player is left to figure out for themselves what happened to the seemingly-happy couple between the sequels. This bout of amnesia is a major plot element in Leisure Suit Larry 5.
While this bit of hilarity has caused massive amounts of confusion for newbie adventure game fans, it's actually pretty clever, if only because companies today would never, ever let their designers pull the same kind of prank today. Some Sierra games make internal reference to the missing game too - in Space Quest IV, the mythical "LSL4" software has a virus that contains the mind of the villainous Sludge Vohaul.
Leisure Suit Larry 4
Leisure Suit Larry 4
Leisure Suit Larry Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work - PC DOS / Macintosh / Amiga (1991)
American Cover
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Unlike the previous game, which was split into halves, the viewpoint switches between Larry and Patti at various points in the game. Larry has three models to visit - Michelle Milken at a computer club in New York City, Lana Luscious at a casino in Atlantic City, and Chi Chi Lambada at a dentist's office in Miami. Meanwhile, Patti has two different offices to check out. Each character can approach their scenarios in any order, although the two storylines (and protagonists) finally converge right at the end.
Leisure Suit Larry 5 is a bit of design experiment for Sierra, not only because of the freeform chapters, but the fact that you can't die, or even lose the game. The lack of death scenes will come as disappointing to anyone who enjoys the black humor found in other Sierra games, although it certainly does make the game less frustrating.
There are plenty of missable items that are used later in the game, but if you forgot to get them, hey, no biggie - the game just proceeds as normal. And that's the problem - the whole humor behind Larry was seeing the ridiculous lengths he'd go to sleep with a girl, and seeing those efforts fail miserably. Here, if you don't have the items to seduce a woman, or forget to video tape them - which is the whole point of Larry traveling over the country to begin with - it doesn't ever matter. Larry will still score with them, and the game goes on. The results of each encounter aren't even particularly funny. Larry gets in a mud wrestling match which gets out of control and then...he goes flaccid. Not really very creative.
That's a bit of an odd approach to game design - you can never get stuck in most Lucasarts games, but the items are placed in a way so that they're always accessible, at all items. Larry 5 forgoes that, and simply makes half of the puzzles optional. Other than the point total, all it does is affect is one of the later scenes, where an omniscient voice laments on all of the things you missed, but otherwise the rest of the game goes as planned.
Patti's segments are a little less banal, but they're just as short, and not even particularly funny. She was an amusing foil to Larry back in the third game, but by herself, all she has are the same few worn out innuendos. In one of her break-ins, she accidentally breaks a copy machine and gets toner over her face. She finds a shower in the next room and disrobes, only to discover that it's actually a secret elevator, made of glass, which exposes her naked body to everyone else in the building. (None of that really makes sense, but okay.) Immediately outside of the elevator is a pair of hip hop clothes - combined with the blackface disguise, Patti can now blend in with the other rappers. Maybe the developers thought this was too racist, because you never see a close-up, or anything that makes fun of the situation. You meet the rappers, a group called 2 Live 2 Screw, headed by an M.C. Hammer rip-off, but they never speak to you, or do much of anything. They're totally wasted. Patti's other chapter isn't even nearly as involved. You steal a record that has incriminating evidence, then you get the producer drunk, then you've finished the whole segment. At least this LSL5 can go down in history as one of the only games featuring a gynecological exam, from the first person perspective, no less.
When approached from the viewpoint as a casual adventure gamer, this may not necessarily be a bad thing, if you're just worried about being caught up in the adventure, but the essential steps are remarkably tedious. In Larry's adventures, you literally spend half of the game climbing out of limos, scanning your credit card, entering the copy protection code, getting in the airplane, getting off the airplane, scavenging through the airport to find spare change, looking for the ad for the local limo company, calling the local limo company, getting back into the limo, telling them your next destination, and conquering a few menial tasks. This happens three times throughout the entire game.
It also doesn't help that the game isn't particularly funny. There are some amusing moments to be sure, but the media satire isn't fully explored enough to be worth anything, and most of it just falls flat. It does introduce the bodily functions keys, which lets you burp, fart, or otherwise screw around at your leisure, even if it's only amusing for a few seconds. At least the fast-forward icon, to speed up cutscenes, is quite welcome. And the cartoony graphics style, combined with comic book pin up artwork for the ladies, looks fantastic. But otherwise, this one is kind of a bust.
Larry 5 was initially released on floppies, but never got a talkie version. One was planned, that would incorporate a studio audience that would randomly laugh at various lines, but that never came to pass. (The same idea was eventually used in Westwood's Legend of Kyrandia Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge.) It was later re-released on CD as part of a budget line, but it's identical to the disk release. There is no age verification present from this game going forward, although you can choose to password protect your save game.
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Theme Song
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 5
To get straight to the point: there is no Leisure Suit Larry 4. The whole thing is more or less a joke. There are two reasons:
Leisure Suit Larry 5 (technically the first game to have a number in its title, discounting the remake of the first Larry) begins with the two lovebirds apparently separated, with Larry working for a porn company, and Patti playing piano in putrid pisshole of a nightclub. Larry has been assigned to scout models for his company's upcoming "America's Sexiest Home Videos" - his boss figures that since Larry is so pathetic, any woman that gets with him must be the perfect candidate for their show. Meanwhile, Patti is hired by the FBI to investigate a few record producers, who have apparently been sneaking subliminal messages about drugs and porn in their songs.
