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The most famous mouse of all time has arrived to save the world Disney Castle anyway. The evil Ogre King has stolen the Wand of Merlin and used it to cast a sleeping spell all over Disneyland. He then broke the wand into four and gave the pieces over to care of the four witches: North, South. East and West. The witches have used their sections of the wand and some magic water (also stolen from Merlin) 10 conjure monsters to guard their towers. Only one bottle of magic water was left and that has been put into an enchanted water pistol. Mickey, armed with the enchanted water pistol and a large rubber mallet, has the task of collecting the four segments of wand and defeating the four segments of wand and defeating the Ogre King.

Disney Castle is split into four towers, each occupied by a witch. The screen shows a view slightly above floor level so that you're looking down and into the tower. You start play at the bottom of the first tower next to boarded up door. A ladder leads to the next level and your objective is to reach the top of the tower. The witch's monstrous minions walk through doors (or walls) and do their best to drain you of magic water. There are four types of monster: ogres, ghosts, skeletons and disembodied heads (called hedleys). The ogres and skeletons can be bopped with the mallet, though all that does to an ogre is create two little ogres. Little ogres be squished with a single mallet blow. Hedleys and ghosts are only affected by the water pistol.

When a monster dies, it leaves behind an object that can be picked up and it then appears as an icon, or it could just be magic water which recharges you. There are eight different icons that can be collected: key. bomb, bird's head, glue, shield, repulsiveness, slow and lightning.

When you have a key you can go through the doorways and into one of the four sub-games - puddle maze, bubble machine, pump room and dripping taps. In the puddle maze you have to explore the multi-screen maze looking for a hammer, nails and some wood. When you have all three you go out of the exit and the door is nailed shut. Inside the maze you have three lives and if you touch a roaming bubble, you lose a life. Lose all three and you're thrown out of the maze. There's also a skull that drains a life and a heart that gives you a bonus life.

In the bubble machine, you must run along a platform and burst the bubbles that float upwards. If a bubble hits the platform that you're on it eats away at it until eventually a hole appears. Fall through the hole or lose all three lives and you must leave the bubble machine. Ghosts live in the bubble machine and if they touch you for too long you lose a life. The bubbles are produced by magic water and you have to be around when all of the water has drained away to obtain the hammer, nails and wood. The pump room has corks that must be hammered into holes before you can leave and the dripping taps need to be turned off in a particular order. Both the pump room and tap room have nasty monsters who seek to take away your lives.

If you block every door in the tower then you can go to the top floor where you find a section of wand and after all four towers are completed you can take on the Ogre King.

Partway through loading, the game pauses to play the tune (from the Sorcerer's Apprentice, I think) and it's done very well. Sound effects arc simple, but serviceable. Graphics are bright and colourful and the animation good. The vertical scrolling is very smooth.

Mickey is unusual in that, unlike most games, it seems neither too hard nor too easy. It's tricky at first, but you build up expertise and eventually you'll complete the game. Licences are often very badly done - perhaps because there's so little money left after the licence is paid for - but Gremlin appear to have put a lot of effort into this one. It has paid off handsomely.

Colourful, smooth, varied, entertaining. Not a Mickey Mouse (=naff) game at all - more a "Moustergame" (ouch). It remains to be seen whether the presumably large sum spent securing one of Disney's greatest names has been well spent - Gremlin obviously think people like what they know. But this deserves to do well, simply because it's good.

Complete tower one.

No worries

Graphics 90%
P. Smooth vertical scrolling.
P. Very colourful graphics.

Sonics 76%
P. Excellent loading tune.

Grab Factor 83%
P. Ogre bashing and ghost splashing is great fun.
N. A little confusing at first.

Staying Power 87%
P. Four towers of increasing difficulty to complete.
P. The sub-games add variation to the game.

Overall 87%
For once a licence has turned out a very good game.