Zzap


Mickey Mouse
By Gremlin
Amiga 500

 
Published in Zzap #47

Mickey Mouse

You know that castle thingy that you see on the titles of The Wonderful World of Disney, the one that looks all peaceful an' everyfin'? Well, all is not as it seems. Inside the tower Mickey is fighting for peace, justice and the American way (although what peace and justice have got to do with the American way is beyond me).

Merlin the magician has had his magic wand stolen by the evil Ogre King. The wand has been split into four pieces and given to witches at the top of the towers in the castle. The ogre has put ghosties and ghoulies and things in the towers to try and stop you from getting the wand back together, but you are armed with a squirt gun and a hammer to deal with them. Eventually you must seal up the doors and stop them from emerging. This is done by entering a series of sub-games:

  1. The Puddle Maze
    Mickey must search for wood, hammer and nails to close the door up, whilst dodging or shooting the monsters.
  2. The Bubble Machine
    Mickey stands on a randomly moving platform patrolled by a ghost. Bubbles rise from beneath and damage the platform if Mickey doesn't hit them with a carefully aimed hammer.
  3. The Pump Room
    This consists of a long pipe with corks at intervals. Mickey must hit the corks to seal the gaps and lower the forcefield guarding the demon, all the while dodging nasty monsieters.
  4. The Dripping Taps
    Four taps must be turned off in a particular order via a system of moving platforms. Oh - and there's a nasty ghost as well.

At the top of each tower is a guardian thingie that must be shot in the head to retrieve a piece of wand.

Gordo

I thought at first that Mickey Mouse wouldn't make a good computer game, as it was quite an awesome undertaking to make the game a worthy addition to the already colourful history of the famous rodent.

Fortunately, this Amiga conversion fully captures the fun-loving Disney atmosphere, complete with cute cartoon characters and slapslick action. It's not the most inspiring game of all time, but it sure is a lot of fun - and isn't that what really counts?

Well, it is in my book, so I advise you to get a look at Mickey Mouse as soon as you can.

Maff

In my experience, cartoon character licences very rarely make good computer games, but I'm glad to say that the most famous of them all has managed to keep his reputation by spawning a cracker of a game.

The graphics are nicely detailed and coloured (you could almost believe they're taken directly from the cartoon cels), the ghosty music is more funny than spooky, creating exactly the right atmosphere to suit the already amusing gameplay - smacking teddy bears over the head is great fun (that doesn't sound very nice, does it?).

I think I can say that Mickey Mouse is my favourite cartoon licence. Get it!

Verdict

Presentation 89%
Clear appearance, good control and loads to do. In a word, great.

Graphics 86%
Wonderfully detailed and coloured sprites and backgrounds catch the Disney feel.

Sound 78%
A brilliant rendition of Fantasia.

Hookability 90%
It's so cute you get drawn in immediately...

Lastability 80%
...and it stays being cute and playable for a long time.

Overall 85%
A cracking cartoon licence and a cracking little game in its own right.