For those of you who are not familiar with Interactive Strip’s classic erotic PC game “Lula: The Sexy Empire“, the game revolves around having its players building a multi-million dollar erotica and XXX industry.
Well, I think you get the idea. So before I’m going to kick-off my review, here’s a brief introduction of Lula: The Sexy Empire’s background story.
As I was saying, after being betrayed by your fellow bank robbers, and left stranded with little money, you end up in a backwater, desert town.
However, just when you thought that you were all done for, you end up meeting a young wanna-be film actress (Lula) who is equally down on her luck.
Long story short, you team-up to try and make as much money in the pornographic industry as possible, all the while trying to avoid the FBI, who are busy looking for you.
As for the actual gameplay itself. Well, “Lula: The Sexy Empire” isplayed over a series of static screens. Simply put, the game is essentially a business simulator split into three parts, all with humorous adult situations.
Other than that, there are different towns in the game as well. The starting town consists of a motel, video store, sex shop, pawnshop, bar, distributor of videos and films as well as an out-of-town brothel (for when your partner needs a… partner).
In addition to that, there is a police station, where the officer is a masochist and a bunch of biker dudes who you can use to keep the FBI away, or deal the motel owner – all for a price.
Furthermore, every so often the gameplay is interrupted with news snippets detailing how the FBI investigation is going. Well…If you take too long to progress in the game, then the FBI will eventually track you down.
As bad as that might sound though, a new identity can be bought for a hefty price – or using the bikers to keep the FBI away for a day or so. However, both activities (along with everything else requires money) can be solved through earning money, and that’s where your female partner comes in.
So with the aid of a camera and a small amount of equipment, you can start making lewd photographs which then can be distributed to those in need.
In addition to that, she can earnmoney working as a pole-dancer, and the occasional blackmailer too.
It’s also worth mentioning that once you start gaining money you will be given the option to buy better equipment, sex toys, and the most important part: paying the motel bill!
And once you and your partner have made enough money (you only find out how much you need half-way through this section of the game), it’s time to take your newly found career one step further, and start making professional adult films.
This involves hiring staff, buildings, distributing the films and advertising too. In other words, everything that has anything to do with XXX movie production.
So, what about visuals then? Well, despite “Lula: The Sexy Empire”
being a twenty-three-year-old game, the graphics hold up pretty well (with some nice simple animations), as does the music and sounds effects (which are sparse and usually reserved for adult situations).
As for music and sound, the game’s music is pretty good with some nice jaunty tunes to go with it. However, the in-game movies are starting to show their age now…
You see, most of the in-game movies are of low quality, and the sound for the “real life” Lula movies are out of sync with her lips, which wasn’t uncommon even back in the day. On a positive note though, as these are just for the help sections, they can mainly be ignored.
Performing actions isn’t too bad in the game though, and the rather inefficient way of buying things is something you get used to quickly.
However, once you escape your starting town, the number of locations available (and what you need to do) does make things probably more complicated than they could be.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day, “Lula: The Sexy Empire” is still a very fun, exciting and naughty 18+ erotic business sim that still manages to hold up in the year 2020 even though it’s over 22 years old.
So, yes, if you’re into erotic video games, then “Lula: The Sexy Empire” is very much worthy of your time and money.
Pros:
+ Music is good, and sound effects are playfully used, if somewhat limited.
+ Graphics are still very nice.
+ Some screens have simple animations.
+ Characters you meet are quite funny.
+ The game is rather cheap.
Cons:
– Movies are low resolution and lip-syncing is out of sync.
– Not always easy to find where to leave a screen.
– Objectives aren’t layout and what’s clickable isn’t always clear.
Gameplay: 3/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound and music: 4/5
Controls: 3/5
Replay value: 3/5
Story: 4/5
Verdict: 4/5
You know, whilst Lula: The Sexy Empire is showing it’s age, it’s still a pretty fun management game, with quite a bit of longevity in it.
I mean, the game is fun, quite humourous and should certainly take quite a while to complete. However, just don’t expect anything too adult orientated (you play the game more for laughs than anything elese) or modern.
Title: Lula: The Sexy Empire
Developer: Interactive Strip
Format: PC Download
Genre: Retro softcore RPG/Strategy
Resolution: User-defined
Release date: 2020-10-17
Difficulty: User-defined
Spent time: + 3.5 hours
Average grade internationally: 5.5 Metacritic
PEGI age rating: 18+
Price: 5.53 Euros via GOG
Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor
***Disclosure***
We (TGG) are a part of the GOG family, and we may receive a profit cut out of your purchase via the GOG links in this post. We were also given a review code for this game.
Nicholas Kingsley
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @sku_te
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Tags: Adult Games, Erotic games, Hentai, Lewd, Lula, Lula: The Sexy Empire, PC games, PC review, The Sexy Empire