arry, you’ve come a long way, baby. Your uncle used to text his way through seedy bars and questionable ladies of the night, and now you follow in his footsteps by dressing up as the school mascot and sexing-up a marching-band alternate through an orgy of acrobatic maneuvers. Wow, there’s a sentence that I never thought I’d write.

Anyway, Magna Cum Laude is essentially a coming-of-age teen sex romp movie, but with minigames that players complete to get more of the narrative. There are only a few actual games with a couple of different veneers. For example, the rhythm version is used for trampoline jumping and dancing. The whack-a-mole type shows up for mixing drinks, making coffee, and spanking (don’t ask). Essentially, you’re doing the same thing through the entire game, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the actions are at least varied, but it’s really where Larry’s problems start.

I have a strong personal feeling about games where the narrative is the reward (Beyond Good & Evil comes to mind as another example), which is that I shouldn’t have to stop progressing the narrative to go collect something. I think that if I’ve completed a section, I should basically have everything that I need to head to the next objective. Magna Cum Laude does not follow this rule. Money is really, really hard to come by and the quickest ways to make it are a variety of unlocked minigames where winning gets you five bucks. Well, for the last group of ladies, you need around $90 each – and that’s if you don’t have to retry any of their minigame challenges (you have to pony up $15 per try for certain activities). This outlay of cash is time-consuming to get, besides the fact that after 20 rounds of the pong-like arcade game or quarters match-up, the activities start to wear a little thin.

But is all of this menial labor worth it? Larry’s break from the franchise’s adventure-game roots is honestly funny on many occasions, and the new gameplay style fits the series and its subject matter. There are clever touches on every part of the title – the sorority house features pictures of their alumni, which are all ladies from earlier games. And, during the conversation minigames where you drive a sperm through good and bad talking points, the little swimmer becomes less responsive with every drink you have.

As a big fan of the series since its early days, I’m happy about where Larry is heading in this modern world. There is a lot of room for improvement, but the core of what makes these games so memorable is still there in full force – pretty girls, unspeakably embarrassing sexual acts, and an endearing dorkiness that makes the entire experience feel more charming and humorus than exploitive.