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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 of ten (well, probably), you'll be presented with a 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.
Mickey's 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 LP (well, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea...). We reckon it's well worth forking out for.

Verdict: 9/10
Review by Ben 'n' Skippy

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.

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



Water pistol in hand, Mickey heads upwards ever onwards

CRITICISM
"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%



One of the many sub-stages of Gremlin's Mickey Mouse

COMMENTS
Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: superbly drawn and full of character. Colourful sub-stages
Sound: buzzy title tune plus spot effects
General rating: Mickey Mouse, star of stage and screen, proves that there can be more behind a cartoon licence than cutesy graphics...


Presentation 91%
Graphics 89%
Playability 91%
Addictive qualities 89%
Overall 90%