"Ooo-arrr! I'm Oliver Tomorrowpeople, a farmer. Annoyingly, some bloody townie ramblers left open one of my gates, and because of them many of my horses have escaped! "I've managed to track them down to this list of games based upon British comedy institutions. "I don't suppose you could help me look for them could you? I know they're around here somewhere! And please: watch where you tread! I don't need my crops getting trampled. Like I need more to worry about with the uncertain impact of Brexit on the farming community! Ooo-arrr!" |
The game - released on most of the main home computer formats of the mid-80s - allowed you to choose your favourite character (i.e; anyone other than Mike) with a view to gathering up your belongings and moving out of your student accommodation as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, said belongings were hidden or broken, and reaching them required you to find helpful items. The other characters would typically get in your way, or give clues as to where you might find what you need.
It wasn't very good, it had a game-breaking bug which made it impossible to complete, and without the input of the show's creators, its slow-paced adventuring was a far cry from the series that spawned it.
Released in 1990 - 20 years after the show first aired - it was, absurdly, a shoot 'em up, in which the player adopted the role of Mr Gumby, in an attempt to retrieve the pieces of his mind.
With a graphic style inspired (but failing to capture) the essence of Terry Gilliam's animation, it was littered with Python references, in a sort of "Do you remember this?" way. Each level ended with a mini game based upon the classic Argument Sketch, and even its copy-protection was based upon Cheese Shop.
"Spam!" - ha ha! I remember that! So funny. Nice one. Love it. Let's have some more of that, yeah?
"Sorry to interrupt, but has anybody seen my horses yet? I'm starting to get a little anxious."
Though featuring many of the profane comic's characters (Biffa Bacon, Johnny Fartpants, Buster Gonad et al) - albeit involved, inexplicably, in a series of side-scrolling races - Viz: The Game was a watered-down affair. Though the characters recurred between races in the form of mini-games, it was - again - little more than a case of its creators' thinking that off-hand references would somehow be sufficiently authentic.
It was a surprisingly twee little platformer, with subtle adventure undertones, in which you'd play as René or resistance leader Michelle, tasked with finding the painting of the Fallen Madonna, or locating Officer Crabtree ("Good moaning..." etc.). A co-operative two-player mode succeeds in marking this out as one of the better sitcom-to-game translations.
"Well, we've caught one horse, but there are still plenty out there. Keep looking, and if you see one be sure to give me a shout. I'll be right over here."
Yes, its creators have since distanced themselves a bit from the transphobia and blacking up, but even at the time it made me uncomfortable. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if it had actually held up a mirror to our country, instead of insisting that minorities were somehow inherently funny.
Unlike the other games in this list, Little Britain: The Video Game was a collection of eight mini-games, which played like interactive versions of the show's sketches. Among them was a skating game for Vicki Pollard, some sort of Lou and Andy diving game, a Pac-Man clone for that woman from Fat Fighters, and a thing where you had to make those racist old women vomit on people.
In that respect, it had all the sophistication, intelligence, and searing social commentary of the TV show.
The game was surprisingly faithful to the sitcom, playing like a choose-your-own adventure in which you - as, yes, the Prime Minister - had to survive a week of political chaos. It had a slightly sneery streak of political incorrectness - rolling its eyes at "radical feminists" and the like - but certainly hewed closer to its origins. It probably would've been Margaret Thatcher's favourite computer game.
Following a hit single, an album and a tour (indeed; the first gig I ever went to was to see Neil live), Planer released Neil's Book of the Dead.
It wasn't quite as big a success as The Young Ones' own tie-in book - and was printed on horrible, cheap, paper - but did well enough that his fellow cast member Adrian Edmondson released his own literary opus: How To Be a Complete Bastard (and a sequel: The Complete Bastard's Book of the Worst, AND a board game). Unfortunately, Edmondson didn't own the rights to his Young Ones character Vyvyan, so for the purposes of the books he assumed the role of a chaotic version of himself.
The inevitable computer game version had you as Edmondson gate-crashing a party, and attempting to convince the guests that you were a "bastard" by vomiting, farting, urinating on things, cutting off the guests' hair, wearing a pair of dirty knickers, and the like. Sounds easy, but you also had to make sure you didn't accidentally kill anyone, as that would result in your arrest.
"Oh sweet Mary! When you were putting that last one back you forgot to close the gate - now all the others have escaped!!!! You utter idiot!!! I should never have asked you to help. This is literally the second worst day of my life. Between this and Brexit I'm ruined!"
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