Monty Is Innocent

Last updated
Monty Is Innocent
Monty is Innocent (Inlay).jpg
Developer(s) Chris Kerry
Publisher(s) Gremlin Graphics
Platform(s) ZX Spectrum
Release
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Monty Is Innocent is a video game written by Chris Kerry for the ZX Spectrum and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1985. It is a sequel to Wanted: Monty Mole released the previous year. While the game was marketed as Monty Is Innocent, it is never referred to by that title in-game; instead it merely displays Great Escape!. The inlay also features this title, on the newspaper that Monty Mole is reading in his cell.

Contents

Story

Monty Mole has been sentenced to five years in Scudmore Prison for stealing a bucket of coal. Monty's best friend, the mysterious masked rodent, Sam Stoat, is determined to set Monty free. Sam must face the evil forces, lurking in the depths of Scudmore, and rescue Monty. [1]

Gameplay

While billed as a sequel to the game Wanted: Monty Mole , Monty Is Innocent is very different; in addition to the obvious difference (the player controls Sam Stoat, rather than Monty) the previous Monty Mole game was a platform game whereas Monty Is Innocent is a linked, multi-screen 3D maze game. The player must collect a key from the Governor's office to open a cell door. There are eight keys (which open eight doors) and the player must return to the office each time until the key to open Monty's cell is found. A number of bottles containing a magic disappearing potion can be found around the prison, which will cause Sam to become invisible for a short time. There is also an armoury which contains an endless supply of guns, although the weapons have only five bullets each.

Points are scored for completing the game; the faster the game is completed, the more points are awarded. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Reception

Reviews were mixed, with CRASH giving the game 78% [2] and Sinclair User awarding 7/10, [5] while Sinclair Programs gave only 40%. [4]

CRASH declared that "Monty Is Innocent is great. It's really colourful and although the graphic movement is not ultra-smooth, it's okay", [2] and Your Computer said that "plenty of imagination has been used to create the backdrops - there are a couple of good 3D mazes and an ingenious sequence in a gymnasium". [3] Sinclair Programs said that, while the idea behind the game was good, it was "badly presented. Doors to other screens are often invisible, and the 3D pictures are confusing" and declaring that "the game is not a patch on Wanted: Monty Mole ". [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Sabre Wulf</i> 1984 video game

Sabre Wulf is an action-adventure game released by British video game developer Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1984. The player navigates the pith-helmeted Sabreman through a 2D jungle maze while collecting amulet pieces to bypass the guardian at its exit. The player does not receive explicit guidance on how to play and is left to decipher the game's objectives through trial and error. Sabreman moves between the maze's 256 connected screens by touching the border where one screen ends and another begins. Each screen is filled with colourful flora, enemies that spawn at random, and occasional collectibles.

<i>Realm of Impossibility</i> 1983 video game

Realm of Impossibility is an action game created by Mike Edwards for Atari 8-bit computers and published by Electronic Arts in 1984. It was originally released in 1983 as Zombies by BRAM, a company formed by Edwards and a friend. BRAM previously developed and published Attack at EP-CYG-4.

<i>3D Monster Maze</i> 1981 video game

3D Monster Maze is a survival horror computer game developed from an idea by J.K. Greye and programmed by Malcolm Evans and released in 1981 for the Sinclair ZX81 platform with the 16 KB memory expansion. The game was initially released by J. K. Greye Software in December 1981 and re-released in 1982 by Evans' own startup, New Generation Software. Rendered using low-resolution character block "graphics", it was one of the first 3D games for a home computer, and one of the first games incorporating typical elements of the genre that would later be termed survival horror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gremlin Interactive</span> British software developer

Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in the 1980s, their primary market was the 8-bit range of computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64. The company was acquired by French video game publisher Infogrames in 1999 and was renamed Infogrames Studios in 2000. Infogrames Studios closed down in 2003.

<i>Repton</i> (video game) Video game series

Repton is a video game originally developed by 16-year-old Briton Tim Tyler for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and released by Superior Software in 1985. The game spawned a series of follow up games which were released throughout the 1980s. The series sold around 125,000 copies between 1985 and 1990 with Repton 2 selling 35,000 itself. The games have since been remade for several modern systems, including iRepton for the iPhone / iPod Touch in 2010, and Android Repton 1, Android Repton 2 and Android Repton 3 from 2016 to 2018.

<i>Monty on the Run</i> 1985 video game

Monty on the Run is a computer game created by the software house Gremlin Graphics and released in 1985 for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 16, written by Peter Harrap for the ZX Spectrum with the iconic in-game music on the Commodore 64 provided by Rob Hubbard. It is the third game in the Monty Mole series.

<i>Wanted: Monty Mole</i> 1984 video game

Wanted: Monty Mole is a platform video game published in July 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 home computers. It is the first game released by Gremlin Graphics and the first game in the Monty Mole series. Monty Mole is a fictional mole created by Ian Stewart, the director of the company.

<i>Nodes of Yesod</i> 1985 video game

Nodes of Yesod is a video game developed and published by Odin Computer Graphics in 1985. The game is similar in style to Underwurlde by Ultimate Play the Game, which was released a year earlier, and Metroid which was released the following year, in 1986.

<i>Android Two</i> 1983 video game

Android Two is a shoot 'em up maze video game written by Costa Panayi and published by Vortex Software in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum and in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC. It is the sequel to Android One: The Reactor Run, released earlier in 1983.

<i>Moon Cresta</i> 1980 video game

Moon Cresta is a fixed shooter video game released by Nichibutsu for arcades in 1980. In North America, it was licensed to Sega/Gremlin and Centuri, the latter releasing it in arcades as Eagle. Incentive Software published ports of Moon Cresta for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Dragon 32 and ZX Spectrum home computers. In 2022, the original arcade version will be included as part of the Sega Astro City Mini V, a vertically-oriented variant of the Sega Astro City mini console.

<i>Deflektor</i> 1987 video game

Deflektor is a puzzle video game developed by Vortex Software and published by Gremlin Graphics in December 1987. The game was followed by a sequel in 1989 called Mindbender.

<i>Escape</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Escape is maze video game for the ZX Spectrum developed by New Generation Software and published in 1982.

<i>Saboteur II: Avenging Angel</i> 1987 video game

Saboteur II: Avenging Angel, also known as Saboteur 2, is an action-adventure game created by Clive Townsend and released by Durell Software in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS compatible operating systems. A sequel to 1985's Saboteur, the player controls a sister of Ninja from the first game on a mission to avenge his death. Saboteur II was one of the first action-adventure games with a female protagonist and was well received by critics.

<i>Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers</i> 1987 video game

Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers is a video game by Gremlin Graphics released in 1987 for ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and MSX. It is the sequel to Jack the Nipper. As with the previous game, Jack the Nipper II is a side-view flip screen game with puzzle solving and platform elements. The false-3D effect has been removed, making the gameplay pure 2D.

<i>3-D Monster Chase</i> 1984 video game

3-D Monster Chase is a first-person maze game written by Dave Noonan and released by Romik in 1984 for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. A version for Camputers Lynx titled 3-D Monster Craze was developed by Camsoft.

<i>Moonlight Madness</i> (video game) 1986 video game

Moonlight Madness is a platform game for the ZX Spectrum home computer, published in 1986 by Bubble Bus Software. The player controls a boy scout attempting to unlock a safe within a mansion to obtain pills for the mansion's owner, a mad scientist, who has collapsed. This requires the player to traverse the mansion's rooms while avoiding hazards such as dangerous house servants and fatal falls.

<i>Soft & Cuddly</i> 1987 video game

Soft & Cuddly is a horror action-adventure game released for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was developed by John George Jones and published by The Power House in September 1987 in the United Kingdom and in early 1988 in Spain. The player assumes the role of a man armed with a laser gun and a jet pack, whose mother, the Android Queen, has been dismembered. The player's task is to locate the scattered body parts of the Android Queen and sew her back together.

<i>Black Crystal</i> 1982 video game

Black Crystal is an action-adventure game released in 1982 for the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and TI-99/4A computers by Carnell Software Ltd. It was the first in the "Third Continent Trilogy" of adventure games; followed by Volcanic Dungeon and The Wrath of Magra.

<i>Grumpy Gumphrey Supersleuth</i> 1985 video game

Grumpy Gumphrey Supersleuth, often known simply as Super Sleuth, is a computer game for the ZX Spectrum by Gremlin Graphics, a software developer based in Sheffield, United Kingdom. It is an action-adventure game: the player controls Grumpy, a store detective and general dogsbody working in a large department store. The game was developed by Shaun Hollingworth with loading-screen graphics by Marco Duroe.

References

  1. 1 2 Monty Is Innocent Inlay, Gremlin Graphics
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Monty Is Innocent Review", CRASH , March 1985
  3. 1 2 Bond, Paul (March 1985), "Monty Is Innocent Review", Your Computer
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Monty Is Innocent Review", Sinclair Programs , April 1985
  5. 1 2 3 Edgeley, Clare (April 1985), "Monty Is Innocent Review", Sinclair User