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And now for something completely different. The true love story of Ken Shabby and Rosemary. No! Actually, it'ssssssss... the game of the film of the program of the soundtrack of Monty Python's Flying Circussssss....! Learn how to recognise several different types of trees from quite a long way away! Argue with people! Do silly walks! Speak in a whining, nasal monotone, changing the word "and" to "swollen" every time it occurs! Sit in pubs and quote the parrot sketch with your friends for hours! Yes, it's time to don your silly hat, lock the door and put down that Cabinet Minister: you're about to enter an extremely surreal world...

You are Mr D. P. Gumby, complete with knotted hankie on head; the picture of sartorial elegance. But, as so often happens, your brain has split into four parts and run away.

Don't ask why - we didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition ... Whoosh! "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our main weapon is fear and surprise... our two main weapons are..."

Anyway, brainless Gumby must undertake to find the missing parts. He walks off and becomes a fish. He swims off into the pipes and tubes of the TV programme's opening sequence, shooting at tins of beans and eggs and lumps of cheese, as well as encroaching nasties such as Eric the Half-a-bees, dead parrots and flying feet. Hidden in all this are tins of spam. "Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam, wonderful spam!" Yes, you need this spam. Collect sixteen tins of it and you progress to Level Two, having enticed a quarter of your brain back.

Level Two sees Gumby (no relation to E. J. Gumby, or L. D. Gumby the famous playwright) back in his body. Still firing at nasties, collecting food for his energy levels, and probably summarising Proust, he must find more spam. Ranged against him are Ministers of Silly Walks, moving mouths and of course, exploding cats. Obviously. The idea of this level is exactly the same; collect sixteen tins of spam, ("spam spam spam spam... shut up! Bloody Vikings") and you gain another part of the brain. Fail, and you may as well nail your head to a coffee table.

On Level Three you will come up against the Spanish Inquisition... Whoosh! "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Cardinal Biggies, get the comfy chair!"

And Level Four? Not one person working on any magazine in the entirety of Future Publishing has ever got that far, so you'll have to find out for yourselves...

As you may have gathered, the gameplay may be daft, but it ain't stupid. Indeed, it's pretty tough right from the start. Some of the baddies are intelligent, and follow you around, sapping your energy (unless you can kill them quickly) while the coveted spam tins are hidden around the place, requiring you to be careful about finding and collecting them; some are booby-trapped and require a touch of lateral thought as well as deft joystick movement.

There are many cunningly-hidden screens on all the levels, with seemingly impossible exits, entrances and 16-ton weights suspended precariously above. You can explore these and get extra points. If you live in Leeds or Sheffield, you could also tie a piece of string to your toe and go "Bong!"

For a probably very good reason, your score at the start of the game is 99,999,999. As you progress, it gets lower, so you are continually aspiring for the day's lowest score. You gain an extra life for every 10,000,000 points lost. Strange, but not as strange as a man with a tape recorder up both his and his brother's nose.

Gumby's motivation for all this manicness [Manicitude - Ed] is simple. He wants to be a Chartered Accountant. We understand his dilemma. We didn't want to be games reviewers. We wanted to be lumberjacks. Leaping from tree to tree in British Columbia... But enough dreaming - Back to Gumby. He fondly believes his brain would be an asset in his chosen profession, so must retrieve the pieces without losing his three lives. And spam is the key. ("Spam spam spam sp..." [Yes, yes, all right! - Ed])

Monty Python is a very slick game. The intro screen is that famous logo roughly hewn from giant rock, and a boppy version of the theme music plays in the background. The graphics for the game are as near to Terry (not Jones) Gilliam's animations as the CPC will allow, and they move well with no flickering or jerkiness. The screens change bit by bit, rather than scrolling smoothly, which fits in quite well with the exploratory nature of the game. The backgrounds are detailed, but not messy, and the nasty ex-parrots and so on that attack are nicely drawn.

During the game you hear the sounds of the little fishes that Gumby uses as offensive weapons being fired, as well as the other nasties being blown up. They often make little sounds to announce their appearance, too. The net result being a satisfying cacophony of blasting, squidging and appearing noises.

Initially, the game is a bit overwhelming, and the Pythonesque humour so concentrated that you sit and laugh at it all, because it is very silly indeed. But as you progress further and further, you realise that it is a very real challenge. This is not a game you will master easily. However, there is a possibility that, unless you are an incredibly dedicated fan of Messrs. Cleese, Palm et al, or have an incredibly short memory, you will cease laughing at the humour, and start to notice that each level of the game has exactly the same objectives.

The graphics differ, as do the movements of the sprites, but the essential similarities remain. It's a very good game, though, and is pitched at just the right difficulty level to make it compelling as you try to get further and further towards that accountancy job. The Monty Python idea is certainly a good one, and is done well. You do need to be acquainted with the programmes to understand a lot of it, but it is funny, and you can have a great time avoiding the Spanish Inquisition ("Nobody expects...") and looking for all that spam. (Lovely spam, wonderful spam spam spam...)

Actually, it really is about time they showed Monty Python's Flying Circus again on TV. "Hello, this is Wing Cdr James Telescope Vole-Strangler Mangrove Leach. Is that the BBC? I wish to register a complaint..."

The Larch.

Complete the first level.

Graphics 88%
P. Great Gilliamesque animation.

Sonics 81%
P. Well, how does a dead parrot sound?

Grab Factor 87%
P. You'll chuckle a good deal.

Staying Power 82%
P. Python fans will never get tired.

Overall 84%
P. It's a real go-er (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more)