Monty Python's Flying Circus began as a British comedy troupe in 1969. From 1969-74, they had a television show that, while only lasting 45 episodes, became one of the most influential shows in history.
Some 16 years after the final foot came down on the show, Core Design and Virgin Interactive released the Monty Python Flying Circus video game into the world.
The first thing I need to talk about is the manual. This game came with a 64-page manual (!!). Once you get past the girth of the manual, you begin to realize that the majority of the manual is humor based on old Python sketches, or humor taken directly from old Python sketches. You learn how to install the game on Page 5. You learn how to play the game on Page 36. It's a manual very fitting of the subject matter. If you'd like to read the manual, check this link. As with most Monty Python material, it can get a little raunchy, so maybe don't give it to your 9-year old.
The basic gist of the story is that you play Mr. D.P. Gumby, and your brain has been split into 4 parts and scattered all over the place. Your job is to retrieve your brain. So, just your average Thursday. Unfortunately for you, your brain has decided to get lost in some pretty surreal places. Logically, you have to do some pretty surreal things to retrieve the pieces.
The first screen of the game gives you a brief idea as to what to expect. You have to run to the right, dodging 16-ton weights while being chased by a shrubbery.
You are able to throw fish at the shrubbery, but they don't seem to have any effect.
At the end of the screen, you fall into a pipe filled abyss. When you land, your head is unceremoniously removed from your body, and attached to a fish body.
You are then placed into an underwater maze. In this maze you have to fight off an assortment of dead parrots, cans of spam, and other assorted Python references in what amounts to a basic side-scrolling shooter.
Along the way, you may interact with some semi-randomly timed Monty Python sketches such as this classic of arboreal education...
The first time The Larch bit comes up it fairly set pretty early on. I have had it pop up 1-2 other times, seemingly at random. The big issue with these "pop-up" non-sequiturs is that they are dismissed instantly upon hitting the fire button. Which, in a fast-paced shooting game, happens ALL THE TIME. So many times, these jokes get lost because you're in the middle of an intense firefight with a flying foot.
My favorite gotcha screen is just when the game ends for no reason.
Of course...
Then the game resumes exactly where you were before, often resulting in your immediate demise.
If you make it far enough in the underwater maze, you will discover a sort of bonus screen where your fish body is swapped out for a pogo-stick leg. You are then put in a room to jump around on crumbling boxes to try and get various bonuses.
If you are lucky enough to make it all the way through the maze, you get to fight... Sir Isaac Newton with a propellor on his head??
I've yet to beat him. I rarely get this far with much life left, and he just carpet-bombs the board with shots while flying around much nimbly than you can move. Which means, no I did not finish the game. I couldn't even pass the first boss after about 6 hours of play.
Honestly, I'm wildly conflicted about this game. On one hand, I admire the amount of Monty Python jokes and references crammed into this package. On the other hand, I don't find the game to be very fun at all. While it looks like a side-scrolling shooter, it doesn't scroll. This means you have to spend a lot of time at the edges of screens where enemies like to randomly spawn from. The non-sequiturs also break up the shooting at mostly inopportune moments, making this one of the cheapest games I've played outside of an arcade setting.
If I ever make it past the first boss, I may update this post with more thoughts. I do intend to keep this one installed on my system. So that says something, I guess.
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