Aside from the gameplay that will usually leave you more frustrated than a Saturday night alone, the graphics will leave you wanting more. I understand the necessity of having the playful imagery of the characters; it is part of the humor. However, where does it say that everyone has to look like they have been run through the cheese grater at least once? The bulbous noses on the characters will also throw you for a loop, appearing like they are a separate entity all together.

The girls even look bad. Usually they are the redeeming quality, but there’s at least one girl that has whale lips bigger than Angelina Jolie’s 757 flaps. Too often I was wondering if they were trying to get Larry to do away with women when looking at the beastly Sasquatch brides. Aside from the character models, the environments are rather bland and stale. Whether this a direct result of framerate issues or the constant screen-tearing.

I could normally forgive the lackluster gameplay in a game if the concept and acting makes me laugh. I really had hopes of sitting down and at least enjoying the sophomoric humor. Unfortunately, the laughs weren’t there. Maybe once or twice I found myself chuckling deep down inside. Then again, maybe I just had gas. Penned by Allen Covert of Happy Madison Productions, the story and jokes fall flatter than Rob Schnieder’s career. The main problem is the jokes could have been funnier if the actors at least seemed like they cared enough about them to tell them right. Patrick Warburton, Carmen Electra, Jay Mohr, Jeffery Tambor, and even Dave Attell can be really funny people. Too often I felt like they were forced to read the material.

The musical score was another thing that destroyed my eardrums. In some cases, the music was this constant, repetitive, ho-hum, upbeat bull. It was always the same background music and if it wasn’t exactly the same, it sounded too much like it to be classified as something else. However, there were a few instances where the background music just didn’t play and those were complete moments of bliss in the game. Too bad I actually had an objective to do, which usually causes the music to start playing again.

The worst offense Box Office Bust makes is giving Larry something resembling a plot other than trying to get in the pants of the opposite sex. Instead of the simplest plots devices, we get a convoluted story with weak gameplay that never truly delivers on the funny. It’s sad to say that this game would have benefited from either having the people behind the last National Lampoon movie help or a little bit of nudity, but looking at the character models, thank God there’s no nudity in the game. Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust should never be played, it should be used as a paperweight.

By Matthew Walker
CCC Project Coordinator