[{"TitleName":"Mountie Mick's Death Ride","Publisher":"Reaktor","Author":"Ben Daglish, Timedata Ltd, Johnny Johnstone","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0003299","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 43, Aug 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-07-30","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Richard Eddy, Ian Phillipson, Ben Stone\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Sally Newman\r\nTechnical Editor: Simon N Goodwin\r\nAdventure: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy: Philippa Irving\r\nLondon: John Minson\r\nContributors: Gareth Adams, Jon Bates, Robin Candy, Mel Croucher, Mike Dunn, Franco Frey, Dominic Handy, Nick Roberts, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nLayout: Tony Lorton, Mark Kendrick, Tim Croton, Seb Clare\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Reaktor\r\nRetail Price: £4.99\r\n\r\nMounted Michael is stuck one the same train as a band of desperate gun-toting train robbers, who plan to make off with the railways gold shipments. To thwart their villainous plans, he must progress along the top of the train.\r\n\r\nMick can jump between carriages - and fall between them, which is fatal. He must also avoid the robbers' gunfire, or lose one of his three lives. And the train robbers have grenades too.\r\n\r\nBut a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, so Mick packs his trusty pistol. He can bop off the baddies by leaping upon them, or giving them a taste of their own grenades.\r\n\r\nThe train includes flat cars carrying unstable loads, and leaking gas tanks which can snuff out Mick if he's not quick enough to find a gas mask. Tunnels provide additional hazards for this intrepid Canadian, but with his torch and limited battery power he can battle through their dangerous darkness.\r\n\r\nThere are nine trains for Mick to traverse, each carrying a team of robbers (These were lawless days, after all.) When Mick reaches the front of a train, he must board the small handcart on the rails, pump its handle and travel to the next train.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: definable\r\nJoysticks: Kempston, Interface 2\r\nUse of colour: patchy\r\nGraphics: ugly but clear\r\nSound: spot FX and an unmemorable title tune\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: nine trains in one continuous scroll","ReviewerComments":["Stop The Express without the fun? Surely no-one would have the guts to reproduce Sinclair's three-year-old classic (CRASH issue 6, July 1984) as this load of rubbish? Mountie Mickie's Deathride is boring (and it's a pathetic name). The graphics are badly drawn, and there's no colour to speak of. Playability is the pits. Steer your train well clear.\r\r\nMike Dunn","\"Yeeha, ride 'im cowboy\", or something along those tracks. There've been a lot of games with old American locomotives in them lately - perhaps a new trend in software? And I couldn't help noticing the similarities this has to Stop The Express. It seems all you have to do here is shoot the baddies before they shoot you - but it's still an amazingly addictive game with good graphics.\r\r\nNick Roberts","The game is in total contrast to the title - it's simple and easily mastered, and has little lasting appeal. Still, the background graphics are very realistic and give a good feeling of depth. But this is spoiled by tacky and uninspired train and character graphics. And gameplay is impaired by atrocious collision-detection, which destroys the atmosphere.\r\nPaul Sumner"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Mark and Paul could see nothing good here, but Nick enjoyed the game within its limits, which brought the averages up quite a bit.","Page":"30,31","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"The fearless frontiersman still has seven trains to go in Mountie Mick's Deathride."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"46%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"43%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"48%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"47%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 21, Sep 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-08-13","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nSoftware Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nDesigner: Darrell King\r\nEditorial Assistant: Angela Eager\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Cliff Joseph, Tony Lee, Rick Robson, Rachael Smith, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nManaging Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nPublisher: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1987 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"Reaktor\n£4.99\nReviewer: Tony Lee\n\nHome, home on the range... Oh, wrong country! It's a tough life being a mountie. You have to do good deeds, and wander round the country on your horse. Yup, times are hard, and they're getting harder. Y'see, the McCluskey gang has robbed the Trans-Canadian Express of all its gold. I disturbed them, and now they're on the run from me. They can't escape, the law will prevail in the end... I hope...\n\nYou play the part of the intrepid mountie in Reaktor's newie, and you've got to run around on a moving train chasing the baddies. Unfortunately, though, Mountie Mick isn't as big and tough as he could be. All the figures look like they've been squished to two-thirds their original size, and they all run from right to left. Reminded me of nothing more than Butch Hard Guy and the rotten graphics therein.\n\nYou can run along the top or the bottom of the carriages, though you're more prone to the baddies bombs on the bottom. However, all is not lost, 'cos someone helpfully left some bombs around for you, as well as a standard issue Smith and Wesson shooter.\n\nAlso, you suffer from a weight problem - your portly little sprite can dish out death simply by jumping on top of any stray baddies. And you've been provided with a gas mask, so when some gas turns up, as it does from time to time, you've got to be pretty nifty to fight it and the McCluskeys. When the train goes through the tunnels, you'd better be handy with your torch, too, 'cos if you don't, you're dog meat. One last tip - if you press either the + or -, you get light weight body armour. This stops you being shot.\n\nThe graphics are pretty sub standard, even for a £4.99 game. The scrolling's jerky and the baddies just appear out of nowhere. Also, you can drop off the carriages in the middle, but not at the end. Once you've vanquished one train, you jump onto a handy hand cart and pump your way along to the next train, and the next, and the next...\n\nAll in all, Mountie Mick is a pretty 'yup' game, and I must admit, I had this strong urge to turn it off after a while. Not the greatest game in the world.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A dinky little game in the Express Raider mould with Butch Hard Guy figures. Reaktor should have spent more time on it.","Page":"30","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Lee","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 66, Sep 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-08-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Lee Sullivan, Jerry Paris, James MacDonald\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by PRS Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Reaktor\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\n\r\nWow! This is what I've always dreamed of doing. Racing along the top of the train, firing small blobs at large bouncing blobs. Yeah! Woa' Hold yer horses. This is an Iron Horse, trailing across the Canadian Rockies, an' guess what. It's being robbed by none other than the McCluskey gang and you have to go after them. It won't be easy. All kinds of things may happen. You'll go through tunnels. You'll travel between the trains on a pushcart. Your legs will continually change colour. You will probably die, if not from the bullets then from the boredom.\r\n\r\nWell, we've had the Nemesis conversion and the Nemesis clones. We've had the Gauntlet conversion and the Gauntlet clones. Now comes the turn of Express Raider. Not good.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"An Express Raider look-sound-and-play-alike. Not worth the money.","Page":"36","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]