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

1991 Sierra On-Line
Designed by Al Lowe
Reviewed 2003 May 25

Rating -3 Linearity straight, branching
Reasonability reasonable Connectivity moderate
Difficulty pedestrian Relevance strong
Interface 3rd paned simple Real-time minor

Larry now works for a porn TV network and is assigned the task of secretly auditioning the three finalists for the "sexiest" woman in America -- "sexy" meaning "easy" in the eyes of the porn-lords. Meanwhile, Patti takes on an undercover assignment from the FBI, looking to expose corruption in the music industry.

The game breaks down into framing sequences and five mini-games, three with Larry trying to score with each finalist, and two with Patti finding evidence from recording studios. The framework is mostly just cutscenes, and doesn't have much to do with the actual gameplay beyond motivation, but it's fun on its own.

The challenges are very easy, and many are optional, or at least have alternate default/automatic solutions. The real challenge is to achieve maximum score. Surprisingly for a Larry game, the challenges are all quite reasonable.

The control is a selection of cursor icons from a drop-down panel along the top. It's straight-forward and easy to use. The presentation is VGA graphics with a Midi score and Midi sound effects. It's clear and attractive.

The story and situations are fun, but they aren't intricate and involved enough to be memorable. The challenges are weak and uncreative, so there's not much to be had in the gameplay department. There's nothing bad about the game, but there's nothing notably good, either.


Beware! Here are some spoiler-ridden notes on the game. They're only recommended for people who have played the game and want to see some of my rationale for my evaluations.

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    Here's a description of all the gobbledygook in these reviews. It's also a bit of an essay on the nature of adventure games.