As long as I've been a part of this website, I can't remember an announcement that has caused more of an uproar than the confirmation of a new game in the esteemed Leisure Suit Larry series. Every word and every image related to Magna Cum Laude was dissected, analyzed, and generally flamed in a mighty way within minutes of the news breaking.

Now that we've had a chance to read a couple previews, talk to the designers, and generally digest the information we were bombarded with, we offer to you what's sure to be the first of quite a few previews of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. Here are the answers, as best we know, to the burning questions swirling around forums everywhere:

What's the deal with this Larry Lovage? Why isn't Larry Laffer the starring character?

It's true that the player-character will not be the infamous Larry Laffer, but rather his college-age nephew Larry Lovage. This has understandably caused quite a bit of frustration among fans of Larry's, but there is an important point to keep in mind: Larry Laffer's appeal as a nerdy, naive failed womanizer was shrinking and shrinking with every successful encounter he has. I think it's safe to say that after Love for Sail, there was no conceivable way to characterize him as a naive loser anymore. Perhaps the planned Lust in Space could have succeeded, but I think any reasonable fan knew that the series would be running out of ideas shortly.

The introduction of a new character opens the doors for future games in the series, and one must commend Sierra for trying to build for the future. That at least shows some lingering interest in the genre. We're told that Larry Laffer will definitely make an appearance in the game, though it remains to be seen in what role.

What will the genre orientation be? Because I'm sure it must be a platform action game!

There's no reason, at this point, to believe that this is not an adventure game. It certainly will not be point & click or 2D, and it definitely will feature more than its fair share of mini-games. But the elements that define adventures will all be present here, and the action sequences that define hybrids appear to be absent. It's too early to tell for sure, of course, but you should definitely never be fooled by marketing speak that the game "defies genre characterization" or "will transcend genre labels to create a new genre." They said all that about Broken Sword 3. And at least none of the mini-games appear as stupid as the famous burger-building of Space Quest 4.

So, like, does this new Larry get to score, and stuff?

The developers have told us there will be no less than fifteen well-endowed college chicks for Larry to get with. That's a lot. That's, like, eleven more than I've had this year (being married is tough), and frankly we're a bit concerned that fifteen is going to be too much. The important part, of course, will be how different Larry's quests are; if four or five of them start to feel the same, that will be a huge problem...but if the developers are truly successful in creating fifteen very different mini-quests here, I'll gladly say I was wrong.

One very important new aspect of the game, which will either be a huge homerun or a loud death knell, is the "conversation" system. The dialogue tree has been chopped down, in favor of a completely new sperm tree system. Your positive progress in conversation with these lovely ladies will be determined by your ability to maneuver a cute little smiling sperm. If you can get the sperm to hit the green happy faces, you're well on your way to scoresville. If you hit the red angry faces, you're well on your way to playing Counter-Strike alone in your dorm room for yet another night. It's tough to pass judgment on this either way until we can actually get our hands on something playable and see how it works, but at least it's new and different.

Is that all there is to the story? Getting it on with tons of hot chicks? (Not that I'm complaining)

The plot revolves around Larry's attempt to get on a "ridiculous reality dating show" (as opposed to a sensible reality dating show?) according to developer Josh VanVeld, and there are plenty of subplots throughout that journey. Of course, the game's ability to actually tell a well-paced, progressing story will be very important, and just because there is an eventual goal does not mean that the story isn't just window-dressing. We choose to exercise professional skepticism in the area of story until we see more—though the idea of goofing on reality shows is bursting with possiblities.

The LSL series got progressively naughtier as time progressed. How offensive will MCL be?

Very much so, apparently. Besides the still-amazing fact that you can score with fifteen different girls, there will be full-frontal nudity accessible without the need of an easter egg—a first for the series. The designers appear quite eager to take the series out of PG-13 territory and fully into the R-rated world of American Pie. The question here will be whether there's enough sweetness and likeability (and as mentioned above, genuinely interesting story progression) to save the game from being one big pornfest. Because let's be honest here; there are less frustrating ways to look at porn, if that's all you want to do, then play an adventure game.

What's all this I hear about Grand Theft Auto similarities?

When we leaked the teaser paragraph for the now-famous Computer Games preview article, we mentioned a reference to GTA, and immediately the Internet was abuzz with news of Larry's new life of crime, and Sierra's repulsive abandonment of adventures. The reality is, one of the early design documents included the heading "It's like GTA3, only with humor and sex" and that line found its way to the magazine's teaser, and the rest was history. Design documents, of course, are not exactly reliable sources of genre orientation. I would imagine there's a design document floating around that says "it's like Zoo Tycoon, only with sex and humans!" The only similarity to the super-hot GTA franchise is the openness of exploration and the ability to interact more with the environment, which should certainly be a-okay by any fan of adventures.

Are the guys at High Voltage qualified to make this game?

Well, they won't tell me where their degrees are from, but I assume they're accredited. The important thing is that all of the main developers are huge fans of the entire Larry series, and intimately familiar with all the usual in-jokes and quirks of the series, and they are eminently qualified to make a game that will appeal to hardcore Larry fans, being such fans themselves. A telling sign that proper tribute will be paid to the series' legacy: one main location of the game is a full 3D re-creation of Lefty's Bar.

What about Al Lowe?

Ehh, we were kinda hoping you weren't going to ask.

Okay, here's the thing. Sierra's official line, as of yesterday, is "We are currently in discussions with Al Lowe regarding this project and cannot comment further," Which is fine. Al Lowe's official line is "I would still be happy to do as much work on the project as they want me to do," which is more than fine.

However, the reality is a bit more unsettling, as Al posted this on his website last Friday: "Three weeks have passed. Not even an email from Sierra. Stay tuned to this page." Now, the only PR move possibly worse than Sierra not bringing Al on board at all for this, would be to make everyone think they were bringing him on board and then decide not to. We honestly can't imagine any publisher being that astoundingly blunderous, so we expect that whatever is holding up the contact will be ironed out soon and Al can offer his unmatched Larry expertise in order to make this project even better.

Even at this stage without Al's involvement though, there are plenty of reasons to be excited. One, Sierra is making an adventure game. Two, they're doing it with an eye for creating more adventure games in the future. Three, they're doing it not with an in-house team of empty suits, but rather by finding the development house most qualified to make such a game.

The early trailer looks very promising. The game seems colorful, energetic, and very much in the spirit of Leisure Suit Larry. Obviously there's a common theme of skepticism throughout this preview until we have something more in our hands, but we hold out a lot of hope right now and can only pray that the folks at High Voltage don't let us down.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is currently scheduled for release on PC, PlayStation 2, and X-Box in late 2004. Be sure to stay tuned to Adventure Gamers for all the latest coverage of the game.