Like many a Monty Python skit, Blazing Dragons absolutely should not work...but it somehow does. Cute and cartoony, while still retaining its Pythonesque wit, Blazing Dragons is set in a medieval(ish) kingdom populated by talking, mostly good-intentioned (if occasionally dim-witted) dragons. Blazing Dragons is a refreshing change of pace from the seemingly endless slew of high fantasy, point-and-select adventure titles. This game features a few arcade-style challenges (Dragon Thumb Wrestling and 'Cat'-a-pult target practice come to mind), and even when a puzzle is less than ingenious the good-natured humor keeps the experience rollicking right along.
The game spins the tale of Flicker, an aspiring inventor-dragon, and his seemingly hopeless love for the fair Princess Flame. Princess Flame must soon marry, and her betrothed will be the dragon who prevails in the upcoming Knight's Tournament. Flicker, a lowly squire, knows that winning the tournament is his only shot at Flame's hand - er, claw - but cannot enter because he is not a knight. However, if he can become the right-hand dragon of one of the Knights of the Square Table, he will get his chance. Off he goes to seek the post - and thus begin the player's troubles: Each of the Knights, as it turns out, is a complete bumbler and has managed to get his royal tail in one sort of sling or another. Before the lowly squire can even become eligible for the tournament, he must first save each of the four bungling Knights from themselves.
The kingdom and its neighboring territories are populated with all manner of characters afflicted with Python-worthy weirdness: Rapunzel, harried by the countless requests of "Throw down your hair!" has gone at herself with a pair of shears and looks like someone from the colony in Alien 3; Dr. Sigmund Fraud has captured one of the hapless knights and is attempting to 'cure' him of his delusions of dragonhood (although, per his contract, he must release his reluctant patient on December 25th - "It's ze Sanity Clause!"); the Lady of the Lake has been reeled in and bagged by a trouble-making fisherman; the Cockney hostess of King Allfire's Castle Information Booth dispenses useless information to help with the game's puzzles; and Flicker himself must conquer his worst phobia...and discover the purpose of the almost useless and most annoying of his inventions, The Clicker.
A fairly straightforward fantasy adventure game, Blazing Dragons' gameplay involves moving the animated sprite of Flicker from room to room, or territory to territory, utilizing Look, Speak, Walk, and Use commands. Like the best cartoons, Blazing Dragons is suitable for kids of all ages, but is really intended for audiences capable of catching the sometimes-subtle, sometimes-risque humor (most of which is delivered in the British lilt of Terry Jones' superb voice-overs). Console video games have, over time, brought excitement, challenge, some genuine scares, and even something like intuition to the screen. Perhaps titles like Blazing Dragons will expand the possibilities of console games even further. Or, put another way: And now for something completely different.
