ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170127
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: COMPUTER REVIEW
SOURCE: LARRY BLASKO ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
View One: Sophomoric. Witless. Tasteless. Disgusting.
View Two: Hilarious. Satiric. Ribald. Entertaining.
Few things in life fall so neatly into opposing views as reactions to Monty Python humor. And "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail" is a dandy case in point.
The CD-ROM for multimedia PCs, from 7th Level Inc. of Richardson, Texas, follows the movie version of the same title. It contains clips from the film, as well as challenging games, as the player tries to recover the Grail.
The software is rated ``Mature, 17+'' but the humor isn't exactly Bob Hope or Johnny Carson. For example, there's an opening fanfare of heraldic trumpets blown by ... well, let's just say the cheeks in question are seldom sunburned.
Or take "Drop Dead," one of the games to master. The object is to pack the bodies of bubonic plague victims into a pit, tightly, with no spaces. Since the bodies are contorted, they must be rotated until they fit like so many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Other games equally bizarre include "Knights in Kombat," "Burn Them! Burn Them! Burn Them!," "Catch the Cow," and "Spank the Virgin." In "Catch the Cow," the object really is to move the knights to safety, one by one, to avoid the cows hurled at them.
Production values are high throughout the game, with appropriately inappropriate sound and visual tracks. Those who complete the game get to watch an outtake from the movie, a scene called "King Brian the Wild."
The user interface is smooth and easy, and installation under Windows 95 was a snap. The only grumble is that the game doesn't include an uninstall utility, which all polite software should. But then, "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail" is anything but polite.
Parents probably won't want the game around those much under 17, but the humor is more barnyard than bordello and the only violence is comic.
The software retails for about $50. Minimum system requirements: 486 chip running at 33 megahertz or better, eight megabytes of RAM, 256-color display, sound card, CD-ROM drive, Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.
It was reviewed on a 120-megahertz Pentium with 16 megabytes of RAM and a six-speed CD-ROM drive. And the manufacturer says that while it will run on a 486/33, a 66 megahertz machine is recommended.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB