Posted on: April 24, 2020

BentSea
Games: 400 Reviews: 3
A Complete Failure to Get the Joke
Similar to how Duke Nukem Forever's genuine sexism completely failed to get the joke of the pixelated bewbs in Duke Nukem 3D, Magnum Cum Laude totally misses the joke that made Leisure Suit Larry funny and its arcade gameplay udderly fails to deliver the same type of engaging experience of the series. It's worse than just missing the point, too. It's the most garbage type of filler gameplay. Eating your time by having you run around with graphics that were dated even when they were brand new. This is something that people don't appreciate about a good older game... is a good game is designed to look aesthetically pleasing with the graphics it has. And Magna Cum Laude drops the ball here as well with stiff animation, awkward composition, and tragically unpleasant character design. This never looked good. It failed both technically and artistically. I can't as harshly critique the comedy, because that's a very subjective area. What I can say is that for me, a fan of the series as a whole, I was disappointed. I found the comedy to lack the satirical edge of the franchise. Fart jokes are the bread and butter of the Larry games, but they've always been more elaborate fart jokes, and here they're just... fart jokes. Maybe I was too disappointed by everything else to appreciate it, but it just felt like it didn't get the joke. I can imagine the player who would enjoy this. Probably someone too young to play the game. But, I've played some of the newer games since then, Reloaded and Wet Dreams Don't Dry, and both entertained me far more throughout than any single joke in this whole game. Give it a pass unless you're just an insane completionist. But if you do try it, and hate the first 10 minutes, know that it doesn't get any better at all.
Is this helpful to you?