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

Last updated: January 9, 2026

Overview

Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work, released in 1991, stands as the fourth entry in Al Lowe’s infamous adventure series¹. Despite being numbered as the fifth game, there was never a Leisure Suit Larry 4, which Al Lowe skipped intentionally as a marketing gag and narrative device². The game marked a significant departure for the series, being the first to abandon the text parser interface in favor of a fully icon-based point-and-click system³.

This adventure game alternates control between series protagonist Larry Laffer and Passionate Patti, each following separate storylines that eventually converge⁴. Larry has been assigned by his boss to scout models for the company’s upcoming release “America’s Sexiest Home Videos,” while Patti works undercover for the FBI to catch a criminal known as Mr. Big⁵. The game was designed as what creator Al Lowe described as an “interactive cartoon,” explaining why neither character can die during gameplay⁶.

Game Info

Developer: Sierra On-Line⁷ Designer: Al Lowe⁸ Publisher: Sierra On-Line⁹ Platforms: DOS, Amiga, Macintosh¹⁰ Release Year: 1991¹¹ Series: Leisure Suit Larry Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra Engine: SCI1¹²

Story Summary

The plot begins with Larry Laffer being assigned a dream job: traveling across the United States to visit three of America’s sexiest women for his company’s video production¹³. His boss figures that since Larry is so pathetic with women, any woman willing to get with him must be the perfect candidate for their adult video show¹⁴. Meanwhile, Passionate Patti is working undercover for the FBI, investigating organized crime connections in the pornography industry¹⁵.

The game’s premise cleverly incorporates the mystery of the missing Leisure Suit Larry 4 into its narrative. Larry has supposedly forgotten his fourth adventure due to amnesia caused by the villainous Julius Biggs, who stole the “missing floppies” containing the fourth game¹⁶. This tongue-in-cheek explanation became part of the series mythology, with Larry 4 forever referred to as “The Case of the Missing Floppies”¹⁷.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Leisure Suit Larry 5 introduced the series’ first fully mouse-driven interface, abandoning the text parser system that had defined earlier entries¹⁸. Al Lowe later reflected that this change had unexpected consequences: “I put the same amount of puzzles in Larry 5 as in Larry 3 but people solved the game much faster because they didn’t have to guess which words we wanted them to type”³. The new system featured what the developers cheekily described as a “no-typing ‘grope and click’ interface for quick-feel, one-hand action scoring”⁷.

The game introduced several unique interface elements, including the infamous “Zipper” icon for erotic actions and the “Bodily Function Keys”¹⁹. According to Al Lowe, these sound effect keys were added just three days before shipping: “We added these about three days before we shipped because it was late at night, we were tired, we were high on caffeine and pizza, we were all Letterman fans, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and we could”⁷.

Structure and Progression

Unlike previous Larry games, Leisure Suit Larry 5 is notably more linear in structure²⁰. Players alternate between controlling Larry and Patti as they travel to different locations across the United States, with the narrative switching perspectives when characters board airplanes²¹. The game is structured around separate episodes for each character, eventually bringing their storylines together for the climax²².

A revolutionary aspect of the game’s design was the removal of death and failure states. As one reviewer noted, “Unlike the previous Larry games, you cannot die in game nor get stuck. There are always ways out of a situation”²³. This design decision aligned with Al Lowe’s vision of creating an interactive cartoon experience⁶.

Puzzles and Mechanics

The game’s puzzle design received mixed reactions from players and critics. Many found the difficulty significantly reduced compared to earlier Sierra adventures²⁴. One walkthrough author observed, “Larry 5 is the only adventure game I ever played without actually solving even ONE of the puzzles. Basically everything is optional except the introduction and the ending part”⁵.

The complete game is worth 1,000 points, though many items and puzzles are optional and don’t affect progression²⁵. This departure from traditional adventure game design led to criticism that the experience felt more like “clicking the up & down arrows on a notepad window to scroll a story up & down” rather than engaging puzzle-solving²⁶.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

The game received mixed reviews upon release, with significant variation between platforms and publications.

Publication	Score	Notes
Adventure Classic Gaming	4/5 (Very Good)	“Best game in the Leisure Suit Larry series”7
Amiga Action	92%	April 199210
Amiga Computing	91%	July 199210
Computer Gaming World	Positive	”thoroughly enjoyable game”4
Amiga Format	50%	April 199210
Amiga Power	50%	March 199210
The One	50%	March 199210

Computer Gaming World’s J.D. Lambright called it a “thoroughly enjoyable game” in November 1991⁴. However, the Amiga versions received particularly harsh criticism for technical issues, with one user noting, “It’s hard to believe Larry 5 is genuinely funny and silly and thus enjoyable adventure if you look at the sheer ugliness of Amiga conversion”²⁷.

Modern Assessment

Contemporary retrospective reviews have been more critical. Modern gaming sites have given scores ranging from 4/10 to 7/10²⁸²⁹. Alex Bevilacqua’s blog review gave it 55%, noting that “playing this game sort of felt like I was ‘going through the motions’. There wasn’t much challenge, the game world felt very small and there wasn’t much to explore”⁸.

MobyGames user reviews have been particularly harsh, with one reviewer stating “Larry 5 is unabashedly, mind-numbingly, infuriatingly easy” and criticizing that “all the puzzles in the game are there only to score extra points”³⁰. Another user compared the game’s quality to Larry’s romantic failures: “Larry 5 is to adventure games (Larry legacy included) what Larry is to women”²⁶.

Development

Origins

Al Lowe originally intended the Leisure Suit Larry series to be a trilogy ending with Larry 3¹. When pressured to continue the series, he faced a creative challenge since Larry 3’s ending had seemingly concluded the character’s story arc⁸. His solution was audacious: “Don’t make Larry 4. Skip to Larry 5”²⁸.

This decision solved what Lowe called the “mind share problem” - how to grab people’s attention and make them wonder if they had missed something⁸. The concept was incorporated into the game’s plot, with Larry suffering from amnesia about his “fourth adventure” due to the villainous actions of Julius Biggs¹⁵.

Production

The game was developed using Sierra’s SCI1 engine, marking the first Larry title to feature 256-color VGA graphics¹². The production team included director Bill Davis alongside Al Lowe, producer Guruka Singh Khalsa and Ken Williams, programmer Brian K. Hughes, and artist Jane Cardinal⁹.

Craig Safan, an Emmy-nominated composer known for writing the Cheers theme song, provided the musical score³¹. The soundtrack was later preserved digitally, featuring Roland MT-32 score with Sound Canvas enhancements³¹.

Technical Achievements

Leisure Suit Larry 5 featured several technical firsts for the series. It was the first to use hand-painted backgrounds that were then digitized for the computer⁷. The game also introduced Sierra’s full icon-based interface system to the Larry series, though this change had unexpected consequences for gameplay difficulty³.

The game included copy protection through its airline booking system, requiring players to consult the included travel brochure³². Additionally, it featured an age verification system to prevent minors from accessing adult content³³.

Legacy

Leisure Suit Larry 5’s impact on the series was significant but controversial. While it introduced technical innovations like VGA graphics and the icon interface, many fans and critics consider it one of the weaker entries in the series¹. The game’s simplified puzzle design and linear structure marked a departure from the more complex adventure gaming that characterized earlier Sierra titles²⁸.

The mysterious “missing” Larry 4 became a running gag that persisted throughout the series’ history. Fans spent years speculating about what the fourth game might have contained, with Al Lowe playfully encouraging them to “DO keep looking for it!“¹⁶. The truth was eventually revealed that Larry 4 was originally planned as a multiplayer online adventure for Sierra Network but was abandoned due to technical limitations of dial-up internet speeds¹⁵.

The game achieved commercial success despite mixed critical reception, with the Leisure Suit Larry series as a whole selling over 1.4 million copies according to Sierra’s SEC filings³⁴. Sales data from 1991 indicated that more than 125,000 copies had been sold within two months of its September release³⁵.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• Available on GOG as part of Leisure Suit Larry Greatest Hits and Misses collection³⁶
• Steam release in 2017³⁷

Preservation / Information

• MyAbandonware page with user comments and ratings³⁸
• Internet Archive manual preservation³⁹
• Technical documentation at PC Gaming Wiki⁴⁰

References

Footnotes

1. 3rd World Geeks Review – - Release year and series information ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Adventure Gamers Walkthrough – - Numbering explanation and game background ↩

3. IGN Al Lowe Interview – - Interface system change details ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Wikipedia Article – - Character control mechanics ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. SuperCheats Walkthrough – - Plot summary for both characters ↩ ↩²

6. IMDb Trivia Page – - Al Lowe’s interactive cartoon concept ↩ ↩²

7. Adventure Classic Gaming Review – - Developer information ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. Alex Bevilacqua Blog – - Designer credits ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

9. MobyGames Database – - Publisher information ↩ ↩²

10. LemonAmiga Database – - Platform availability ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

11. Abandonware DOS Search – - Release year confirmation ↩

12. TV Tropes Page – - SCI1 engine information ↩ ↩²

13. Walkthrough King Guide – - Opening narrative description ↩

14. Archived Hardcore Gaming 101 – - Plot premise explanation ↩

15. Sierra Fandom Wiki – - Patti’s FBI storyline ↩ ↩² ↩³

16. Sierra Chest Information – - Larry 4 mystery incorporation ↩ ↩²

17. The Cutting Room Floor Wiki – - Missing floppies reference ↩

18. CheatCC Article – - Interface system change ↩

19. GameFAQs Walkthrough – - Zipper icon and interface elements ↩

20. IGN Walkthrough/FAQ – - Linear structure description ↩

21. Classic Reload Page – - Character switching mechanics ↩

22. GamePressure Database – - Episode structure information ↩

23. GameFAQs Review – - Death and failure state removal ↩

24. Gamer Walkthroughs – - Difficulty assessment ↩

25. GameFAQs Complete Walkthrough – - Point system and optional content ↩

26. MobyGames User Reviews – - Gameplay criticism quote ↩ ↩²

27. LemonAmiga User Comments – - User criticism of Amiga version ↩

28. Just Games Retro Review – - Modern review score ↩ ↩² ↩³

29. Metacritic User Score – - User review aggregation ↩

30. MobyGames DOS Reviews – - User review criticism ↩

31. MIDI Music Adventures – - Craig Safan composer information ↩ ↩²

32. Al Lowe’s Clues and Cheats – - Copy protection information ↩

33. Play Classic Games – - Age verification system ↩

34. SEC Filing – - Sierra series sales figures ↩

35. Newspaper Archive – - 1991 sales data ↩

36. GOG Database – - GOG availability information ↩

37. Steam Community – - Steam release information ↩

38. MyAbandonware – - Abandonware preservation and ratings ↩

39. Internet Archive Manual – - Manual preservation project ↩

40. PC Gaming Wiki – - Technical compatibility information ↩