Previous Next

Warning: the game reviewed in these pages contains exploding fluffy-wuffy cushions and suffers from a serious case of cutesy-wootsy kittens which go bang. Never mind, things explode everyday...

Monty Python's Flying Circus - Gumby Loses His Mind will be along in a moment. Any... second... now... I'm sorry, we've just heard that the review took the wrong turnoff from the M4 and won't be with us this month. Instead, here is a much requested repeat of the contents page.

Mun'y Pyfon'z Flyin' Shircush - ahem - stars DP Gumby, flower arranger and award-winning fish fancier, in a touching story of almost human tragedy. During routine brain surgery, Gumby's head explodes, allowing his brain to escape. It splits up into four pieces to avoid recapture and the segments head out (pardon the pun) into the Big Wide World. The Big Wide World has a lot more to offer than the brain bits than Gumby's head, which was uncomfortably cramped and not wide at all. A distraught Gumby sets off to recover the four rogue chunks of grey matter, armed only with a supply of fish and his intimate knowledge of the world's most popular cheeses. The four brain bits are hidden in different parts of the surgery and can only be coaxed back if Gumby collects sixteen tins of Spam for each of them. To keep his energy up during his search, Gumby can grab eggs, Spam, beans, Spam and sausages. And Spam.

His journey begins in the plumbing, through which a fish-like Gumby must swim, avoiding or fish slapping the deadly Norwegian Blue parrots, helicopter feet, vikings with exploding heads, half-bees, vicious Stay Left signs and flying hamsters. Shooting at the vast stockpiles of cheese that litter the surgery helps to reduce Gumby's score (yes, you start off with a score of 99,999,999 and the better you play, the lower it gets).

Sometimes, cans of Spam, Spam and Spam are hidden away within the cheese stores, so it's worth flinging a few fish in their direction. Firing fish into certain pipes often releases hidden Spam or opens new pipes.

Searching a screen thoroughly can lead to finding a bonus screen in which Gumby's fish-body turns into a massive foot with which he hops around, trying to collect the free Spam, sausages, Spam, eggs Spam, beans and Spam balanced precariously on descending and ascending cheesy platforms. The nearer Gumby gets to the end of a level, the tougher the baddies blocking his path - such as members of the Spanish Inquisition (bet you didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!) who lob exploding fluffy pillows all over the place. Once you get past the first level you encounter indestructible bouncing heads, giant fingers, airborne mouths, pulverizing fists and gnashing false teeth. Not surprisingly, this is known as the Parts of the Body Level. It requires more thought than the first level because the cheeses act as platforms which Gumby needs access to in order to pick up the Spam. Think! How do you avoid cute exploding kittens and Upper Class Twits and still get your Spam?

The last two levels consist of one in which our hero is transformed into a sexy looking chicken and flies around being harassed by bazooka-wielding angels. The final level is full of oily machinery and conveyor belts that make walking very difficult. If only we could get that far into the game, we could show you what it looked like.

Each level awards bonus points for the number of cheeses shot and the speed with which it was completed. Extra lives are awarded for every 10,000,000 points lost. Gumby himself looks in fine form and the graphics capture the feel of Terry Gilliam's surreal cartoon sketches from the original TV series. As a finishing touch, you have the choice of listening to fish-slapping sound effects or a disgustingly cheerful arrangement of the Monty Python TV tune.

All in all, it's challenging and funny enough to keep your interest for ages. Unfortunately, it's let down by a very bad screen-scrolling mechanism that makes you lose control of of Gumby while it shunts the display around. While the scrolling is the only really negative aspect of the game, it has to be said that once you've taken all the Pythonesque jokes away, what you've got left is a fairly standard arcade shoot 'n collect job. But who wants to take all the jokes away? At least this one is different. Virgin/Mastertronic have added a monumentally silly game to their catalogue: you should add it to your collection.

This review was brought to you with the help of 124,740mm2 of paper and 1084 words [that's enough silliness for one review - Ed].

The Monty Python story started with a television series, first broadcast in the late Sixties. It made absolutely no sense (with sketches about Pantomime Horses being employed by merchant bankers, and so on), starred some very funny people (John Cleese, Michael Palin and Eric Idle among others) and became an instant, if controversial, hit. Since then there have been books, films and records, all of which have proved just as popular and controversial as the original show. Because there were so many characters and stories from which to choose, the game designers wisely ignored all of them. They chose instead to have a game with the flavour of the original series, incorporated some of the best known jokes as graphics (Cheese Shop and Fish Slapping sketches, for example) and made the graphics themselves recreate the amazingly silly cartoons of American Python, Terry Gilliam. This brilliant decision means that they can bring out another game with Pythonesque overtones in the future. Probably...

1. Fairly standard shoot 'n grab.
2. Sticky scrolling makes you want to explode.
3. Gumby isn't all that responsive.

1. Hidden screens with bonus points encourage you to explore every nook and cranny.
2. Be a fish! Be a bird! Be a foot! Different Gumbys behave - well, differently - which makes them interesting. Oh, yes, and fun.
3. Cunning use of cheese - stand on it, hide things behind it, blast it out of existence.
4. Superb Terry Gilliam cartoon-style graphics.
5. Packed with Python jokes.
6. Good scoring system.
7. Extremely silly opening sequence.
8. Cheese-identification protection device.
9. A game with brains (and Spam).