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Meeting Terry Jones recently reminded me of a game I had played briefly some time ago, but never got around to reviewing. Quest For The Holy Grail is a game based on the Monty Python film, so I dug the tape out and started playing it again.

I found it a very difficult game to play. It has graphics and a split-screen presentation. The picture displays fairly slowly and under it, but above the split, follows a text description of what can be seen. Unfortunately, there is insufficient room for all of this text, so it is necessary to press a key to scroll the picture up and bring the rest of the text into view.

This wouldn't be so bad if only the pictures were worth viewing, but many locations are motorways and verges and one particularly fatuous picture was of a slowly-filling strip of grass with a strip of blue sky above!

However, much of the Pythonesque humour is there. "...the French guard unclogs his nose in your direction. You die a horrible green death..." is one such example (although I didn't think it was his nose he unclogged - but never mind!)

Reader Paul Stollard found the game hilarious, although "somewhat unforgiving of stupid mistakes", he said. So unforgiving, in fact, that his Spectrum blew up before he could complete the game! No doubt it will get a decent burial in a quiet shrubbery!

I would agree with Paul's assessment and feel the game would have been much better with no graphics and an expanded vocabulary and plot. As it was, the amusing short story introduction provided with the tape was by far the most enjoyable part of the Quest For The Holy Grail.

The Quest For The Holy Grail is for 48K Spectrum, from Dream Software.