Producer: Gremlin Graphics
Retail Price: £7.99 cassette, £12.95 disk
Author: Coding by Gaz, graphics by Jon and Kev

Famous the world over for more than 50 years, Mickey Mouse has once again got star billing - but this time in his own computer game. The little rodent with the squeaky voice has got quite a job on his hands: Disney Castle has been taken over by the Ogre King and all his nasty little cohorts.

The castle consists of five towers, each of which is viewed from the side and which scroll past vertically as Mickey climbs ladders from floor to floor.

All five towers are completed to save the castle - a mammoth task for such a little mouse you might think, but Mickey is not unarmed in his brave quest: he carries with him a water pistol and a hammer. Ghosts are killed by shooting with the pistol; ogres by hitting with the hammer. If the water runs out Mickey dies.

When our hero kills a nasty it leaves an object behind: a bottle of water to refill his water pistol, one of various magic spells, or a black bubble which stuns Mickey if it hits him. Occasionally a key is left with which Mickey can open one of the doors in the tower.

Each door leads to one of five types of room, containing a further sub-game. One of these is in the shape of a Pac-Man room where Mickey must collect hammer, nails and wood and find the exit to complete the room. Another involves running along a balcony throwing down hammers to burst the rising bubbles while avoiding or bashing approaching ghosts. The remaining rooms include the Donkey Kong room, the Tap and Platform room and the Ogre King's room.

Having completed a room, Mickey returns to the central tower. When he has completed all the rooms, he can pass through the highest doorway to complete the tower; another tower is then loaded from tape.

In the highest room of the fifth tower lies the Ogre King who throws fireballs at Mickey; only once this demon is defeated can Disney Castle be saved.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: superbly drawn and full of character. Colourful sub-stages
Sound: buzzy title tune plus spot effects

Gremlin have managed to make a decent game out of a rather strange licence. The vertical scrolling in the tower is very unusual but is very smooth and effective. Mickey moves well, as do the ghosts and ogres; I particularly like the way a large ogre turns into two small ones when hit with the hammer! The idea of having two different types of weapon to kill either ghosts or ogres is interesting and helps to improve the action in the main tower scene. However, this would soon get tedious if it were not for the five sub-games, which make for huge variety in gameplay. Sound is quite sparse but there's the odd tunelet between screens. The only problem is that the game is just that bit too easy and the first tower is soon completed. However it's very playable; one of the best cartoon licences yet.
PHIL [87%]

That cute little figure with big round ears, shiny nose and spindly tail is unmistakably Mickey. Having survived the transformation into machine code with a flourish, everyone's favourite mouse is charging around the towers and turrets of Disney castle in characteristic cartoon style. Whether he's bashing ugly monsters with a mallet or squirting them into a liquid pulp, bursting bubbles or collecting glue, he never loses his Hollywood cool. For a mouse, Mickey has plenty to do: with 'upside down' space invaders to pin to the floor, spells to cast, ogres to bash and complex mazes to explore (at breathtaking speed), it's extremely unlikely that he'll ever get bored. All this against a detailed, smoothly scrolling, castle background complete with flickering candles and heavy oak doors. The only elements missing are a few of Mickey's friends. With a guest appearance from Minnie, dopey Goofy or Pluto a great game might have been even better. Apart from that, there's little more a movie star mouse could desire.
KATI [91%]

Mickey Mouse, that legendary cartoon hero, has come to the Spectrum with a hammer in one hand and a water pistol in the other. Gremlin have excellently converted him and all his ghostly enemies and surrounded them with a Disney castle fit for a king. All the characters and backgrounds are detailed and animated well, colour has been used tastefully and the sound is great with a tune at the beginning and spot effects and ditties all through the game. Behind the doors in the castle are little sub-games which range from Donkey Kong to Pac-Man and upside-down Space Invaders so Mickey Mouse is in fact many games packed into one! This game definitely has plenty of lastability and the cute graphics will make it a favourite with young and old alike. Gremlin are on to a real winner with Mickey Mouse.
NICK [91%]

Gremlin
£7.99
Reviewer: Ben Stone, Mike Dunn

At over 50, Mickey Mouse is still performing better than most superhero types. Imagine the lifestyle of this world famous rodent; girls, money and copious amounts of ripe cheese; he's got it all, except the wrinkles (bah)!

This is Gremlin's second release based around the wonderful characters of Walt Disney, the first being the somewhat childish Basil The Great Mouse Detective. Gremlin has the licence to all Disney's characters so there's bound to be more on the way - and if they're all as good as this the world will be a better place to live.

Four nasty witches in the pay of the evil Ogre King have swiped Merlin the Magician's magic wand and cast a hugely evil spell of Poll Tax over Disneyland, leaving the peasants with no money (heard that somewhere before?). Just to make things seem even more bleak the witches have broken the Wand into four pieces and hidden them at the top of each tower in Disney Castle, where they're currently holed up. A birrova problem I think you'll agree.

With a cry of 'Never fear, Mickey's here!,' in walks our unlikely hero, volunteering to get back the four pieces of wand and so restore at least some normality to the land. He bounds into the game with vigour, determination, a hammer and a water pistol only to be killed immediately because he hadn't waited for us to explain the game properly (ha!)

Within each of the castle's towers there are platforms which are connected by ladders. The platforms are patrolled by minions of the Ogre King. There are two types of these; ogres which can be beaten to death with Mickey's hammer, and ghouls and spirits which can be squirted back to the grave with the water pistol. Pressing the space-bar toggles the weapons. Bashing ogres is easy enough; squirting the bad guys is more of a problem, as the water pistol occasionally runs out of ammo (touching Ogres and ghoulies also results in a loss of water), and when it does, it means instant death!

Luckily, when you squirt/beat the living daylights out of one of the meanies, their earthly remains mutate into some surprisingly useful gadget or other. This can be a smart bomb (which looks like a rocket), a sort of levitation spell which stops you falling off platforms (an eagle), a speed-up spell (a flash of lightning), a slow spell (which, oddly enough, slows down the monsters), and a snarly grarrrrrr face (which scares all the meanies so badly that they all run away from you!) to name but a lot. However, nine times out ten (well, probably), you'll be presented with lil' bottle of wickedly powerful enchanted water which can be stuffed in your pistol (fnar!) and squirted all over the place (fnar, fnar!). Alternatively you can just bonk the ogres (fnar, fnar) with your hammer. Occasionally you meet a super-'ard ogre who's twice the size of Mickey- bash 'im once, and he splits into two normal size meanies who can be disposed of in the usual way (bof, pow!).

On most of the platforms there is a door which acts as a passageway into the unknown realm of the sub-game. To complete each tower, all of its sub-games must be completed. Once a sub-game is finished the door boards itself up and you can't get back in. (The monsters can't get back out either so that's not altogether a bad thing). Keys are naturally a vital pre-requisite to getting through the door in the first place: you start with two and can collect more should any of the monsters happen to leave them behind.

The first of the four sub-games likely to be discovered is a pac-man type flip-screen maze game in which Mickey has to pick up a hammer, some nails and some wood. Dotted about are one or two black balls which guard each screen, hearts which give you extra lives (you have three lives on each sub-game - when all are lost you return to the platform) and power pills which give a few seconds invulnerability. Once all the bits are collected then it's out through the exit and off to find the next challenge.

Mickeys graphics are excellent. Obviously they're not quite Disney standard. but they're as good as you're going to see on a Spectrum screen. The sound is jolly: loads of bright breezy tunes help you through the 48K version and though the colour isn't used too liberally it certainly adds flavour. Gameplay is only marred by the maze sub-game which gets incredibly tedious after a few goes - the others make up for it heartily, though. There is plenty of variation and challenge in this game, which could have been as boring as a George Michael L.P. (well, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea...). We reckon it's well worth forking out for.

Label: Gremlin
Author: Gary Priest
Price: £7.99 cassette, £12.99 disc
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Not all of us are overjoyed at the idea of a Mickey Mouse game. For some of us the whole thing is just too cutesy. But Mickey is now starring in a game of his own, and I, despite being chief member of the Mickey Mouse Haters Society, have been given the task of reviewing it. So, here goes. First the plot.

It's a bit twee, but I guess Disney would turn in his cryogenic chamber if Mickey had actually been found doing serious killing. Here goes, are you sitting comfortably? As you might remember, Mickey lives in Disneyland. Unfortunately, a nasty band of ogres have invaded Disneyland (Tourists?) and it's up to Mickey to save his hometown. OK I wasn't enthralled at first but wait...

You play Mickey (so no swearing) and you have to climb a tower using various ladders and platforms. Most of the platforms contain large holes, if Mickey falls through, he tumbles down a few levels, which means he has to climb all the way up again. This makes Mickey very depressed. It's not just a matter of going up and up, though. As you can see from the assorted screens, Mickey is not the only sprite in the tower. Ghosts roam the various platforms (pretty wimpy) but so do giant ogres (more ooerish). To fight them you have to shoot them with, get this, a water pistol. Ogres find this considerably more threatening than you and I seemingly. The large ogres, though, take something a little stronger. What you say, a Kalishnikov, acid in the water pistol? No a little hammer, which, when activated, the mouse uses to hit himself very hard in the face (Is this right? G.T.) And they call me headbanger. I don't know...

On each platform there are doors which lead into the various subgames - there are 5 in all. Graphically, I should stress, the game is very good. The sprites are clear, well animated and amazingly like the original.

The screen scrolls very smoothly and the display is well laid out. The subgames, though nicely presented, are essentially pretty simple and anyway I always think subgames are an excuse for not having a good idea. Good for younger kids perhaps.

The sound I must say is a-p-p-a-l-l-i-n-g. Generally dull and twee, it is also simple and, horror of horrors, it actually plays the death march when you die! This hasn't happened in a computer game since 1948 and is very unwelcome. Sound and maybe simplicity aside (sophisticated kids) this is a pretty strong game with very high quality graphics - Gremlin has tried hard on this one.

Gremlin come to Disney's rescue.

Hey Pluto, licences don't come much bigger than Mickey Mouse. He's about to celebrate his 60th birthday, and far from thinking about his pension, he's getting even more active in his old age.

True to his squeaky-clean image Mickey is playing the good guy, trying to save Disney castle from the ogre king who has taken up residence. To evict the evil wretch he has to complete a lot of sub-games and beat off the hordes of nasties sent to stop him. All this while armed only with a water pistol and hammer - what a mouse.

The towers in which the game takes place are circular. You have a cutaway view through one side, revealing wooden floors connected by ladders. On the far wall are doors leading to the various sub-games, and from which the nasties come scuttling out.

The bad guys come in two sizes - little and large - and lots of different shapes. The little monsters are more plentiful and are no match for a medium sized mouse. Some types can be dispatched with the water pistol, others with the hammer. The big monsters split into two little ones when hit with the hammer, so you'll have to go after them as well.

When the monsters are zapped they leave behind an object. These are generally useful, but are sometimes bad for you. Mostly you'll be left water bottles to refill your supply which is drained by the monsters. The other spells that appear will, for a short time anyway, slow the monsters down, speed Mickey up, give you a shield, allow you to walk on thin air, freeze the monsters, and repel them. There's also a black ball which will stun you in the same way as falling through holes in the floor does.

Before being able to enter a room you'll need to pick up keys left behind by zapped monsters. Inside each room is one of four sub-games. The sub-game has to be successfully completed in order to block up the doorway. Once all the doorways are blocked you can exit to the next tower.

Initially you'll encounter the maze room. Here you have to make your way round a series of flick screens trying to collect a hammer, nails and wood. A black ball tries to stop you - you have three lives in each sub-game. There are also hearts for bonus lives, springs to give you reflective shots, a capsule which gives you immunity and skulls which lose you a life. As you complete more of these rooms the number of balls that appears on each screen increases.

The inverted space invaders room puts Mickey on a revolving balcony. Below him bubbles emerge from nozzles and float upwards, eroding the balcony beneath your feet. You have to throw hammers down to burst the bubbles and also hammer the ghosts who float along the balcony with you.

The other two rooms are a bit wet, because in one you've got to stop a pipe dripping and in the other you've got to turn off taps. To stop the pipe leaking you have to hammer corks into it, while avoiding the monsters, and hit the ogre at the top of the screen when his barrier goes down. The tap room has moving platforms which you have to leap around trying to turn four taps off. Once again the ghosts are doing their best to foil your efforts.

The towers get higher and harder as you progress, but initially it's easy to complete a few rooms. It's got a simple addictiveness which will appeal to most players. For those of you who have grown out of watching big-eared, clog-footed, red-shorted mice there's still plenty of action to cope with. The sub-games lack enough variety to make it interesting for long, but it's enjoyable while it lasts.

Reviewer: Bob Wade

RELEASE BOX
Spec, £7.99cs, £12.99dk, Out Now
C64/128, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent
Atari ST, £19.99dk, Imminent
Ams, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 75/100
1 hour: 80/100
1 day: 75/100
1 week: 65/100
1 month: 45/100
1 year: 20/100

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £7.99, Diskette: £12.99

RODENT CONTROL

With Basil The Great Mouse Detective under their belts, this makes Gremlin's second Disney game. Both licences have been programmed by Gaz Priest.

Mickey's binary adventure takes place in the famous Disney castle which has been taken over by four witches. Serving the evil whims of the Ogre King, the witches have used Merlin's wand to cast a foul spell - enslaving the surrounding lands - then broken the wand to make the spell indestructible. Each of the witches holds a piece of the wand and resides in one of the castle's four towers. To defend themselves from attack the witches have stolen all but one flagon of enchanted water and with it created a horde of evil ghosts.

The only thing that can destroy these monsters is a spray of enchanted water, reducing to the vial of liquid they once were. Merlin has given our hero mouse the last of his water and after loading his water pistol, Mickey sets off to defeat the Ogre King. Ghostly guardians can materialise from anywhere, so Mickey must be quick with his gun, and watch out for the King's ogres as well. Ogres are invulnerable to water, but the hammer Mickey carries with him can defeat the normal ones with a single blow, or smash big ogres into two smaller ones. Some of these monsters leave spells for Mickey to collect such as a mask (makes monsters run away) and glue (sticks the monsters to the floor.)

Occasionally however a hostile spell is released which chases Mickey. If spells or monsters catch Mickey they drain his water pistol - once it's empty he must abandon his quest. Collecting the water vials left by some creatures, however, can refill the gun.

MOUSE CONTROL

To finish a tower Mickey completes the subgames hidden behind the tower's doors. On the first tower these include an overhead-view-maze-game with Mickey searching for a hammer, nails and wood, avoiding bubble meanies, before escaping to seal the door. The second subgame has Mickey running around a wraparound rotating balcony, dodging monsters and trying to burst a certain number of bubbles by dropping hammers on them. Should a bubble be missed, part of the balcony is eroded. On both these subgames Mickey has three lives to lose before being kicked out. To retry the subgame Mickey must find another key by killing numerous evil guardians.

On later, multiloaded towers, more monsters and different subgames are added. One subgame involves jumping from platform to platform, evading monsters while trying to turn off four taps. Another is a Donkey Kong variant with Mickey hammering in corks to prevent them dripping while watching out for monsters. Finishing is achieved by bashing the big ogre when his shield disappears.

Once all four towers have been completed, Mickey crosses the Devil's bridge to face the Ogre King. While avoiding the King's fireballs Mickey must shoot him with the water pistol to finally end his horrible reign.