[{"TitleName":"Murray Mouse Supercop","Publisher":"Code Masters Ltd","Author":"Lorenz Twins, Michael A. Sanderson","YearOfRelease":"1992","ZxDbId":"0009382","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 77, May 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-04-02","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":67,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"WE'D DIE FIRST\r\n\r\nAbstinence is a good thing,but it should always be practiced in moderation. So just what couldn't you bear to give up? Hmmm?\r\n\r\nEditor: Andy (Flirting) Hutchinson\r\nArt Editor: Andy (300 BPM speed rock) Ounsted\r\nDeputy Editor: Linda (Brown cord cap) Barker\r\nStaff Writer: Jon (Apple pie sprinkled with cinnamon) Pillar\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne: (Brass bedstead) Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Cheryl (Red lipstick) Beesley\r\nProduction Coordinator: Lisa (Chips) Read\r\nPublisher: Jane (Black Russians) Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michelle (White handbag, matching stilettos and Saturday Night Fever album) Harris\r\nPromotions Assistant: Tamara (Toast and Marmite) Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg ('o'er-reaching ambition) Bingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue (Open University course) Hartley\r\nAssistant Publisher: Julie (Holidays and Harriet) Stuckes\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair (Insanity), Future (Your Sinclair) Publishing, [redacted]\r\n\r\nManaging Director: Chris (Curries. Any colour or strength) Anderson\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1992. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from Bishop Longbottom and his band of rubber ink doughballs.\r\n\r\nISSN: 0269 69683\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair zooms out of its boogie box with such groovesome and arse-kicking magazines as: Commodore Format (The right to vote; grey area that this is!), Amstrad Acton (Third Man video), Amiga Format (Watching footie on the box), PCW Plus (Trainspotting), PC Answers (Classifying fungi), PC Plus (Sticking bookmarks in their paperbacks), Sega Power (Pork chops, chips and Kellogs Supernoodles), Amiga Power (American Hard Gums), Amiga Shopper (Sunday roasts), Classic CD (Shostakovich's String Quartet No 7 in F sharp minor), Needlecraft (Being obsequious), Cycling Plus (Pink silk whalebone basque with matching suspender belt and stockings), Photo Plus (Agfa film), Mountain Biking UK (Mushroom and hummus pittas with really hot chilli sauce), PC Format (Money), Public Domain (Pretending to like bands), ST Format (Herbal cigarettes), Total! (Giving up) and Today's Vegetarian (Lying in bed on Saturday mornings and watching Going Live) and coming soon... Fishmonger's Weekly.\r\n\r\nBut what we really want to know why is... why it that as soon as you actually get a girl/boyfriend, three other equally suitable and utterly tasty possible partners turn up?"},"MainText":"CodeMasters\r\n£3.99 cassette\r\n[redacted]\r\nReviewer: Andy Hutchinson\r\n\r\nMice, eh? What utterly crap creatures they are. They shuffle around twitching their cute noses and gnawing seeds with their cute little paws. I mean, even their poos are blimmin' attractive, and they don't smell! No mammal should be allowed to get away with such overwhelming puke-inducing cuddleyness. As for guinea pigs (Oh lor', he's off on one of his winges again! Linda), they're even worse. (Stop it right there, I've got a deep personal affection for guinea pigs! Linda) Oh alright.\r\n\r\nMurray Mouse is a police rodent. He lives in 1930s Chicago, a town not famed for its polite treatment of citizens. Nope, 1930s Chicago is a dirty town, a town so riddled with crime and addled with robbers that ordinary people are forced to slink into rough saloon bars and kncok back far too many glasses of illegal hooch. (I'd love to have lived there.)\r\n\r\nOne sunny day in 1930, scientists make an amazing discovery: the moon really is made of cheese. Obviously every mouse in the land is overjoyed with this news; but, unbeknown to them, there's a conspiracy in the offing. A nasty mafia boss and nine of his hench men are planning to steal the moon and sell it on the black market.\r\n\r\nMOST CONSIDERABLE DUDE!\r\n\r\nObviously such a totally bogus plan has to be scuppered by some aspiring individual: namely one Murray Mouse. Hence the furball becomes an Untouchable, a government agent whose sole mission in life is to ruin the life that the organised gangs are leading and in the process 'save the cheesy moon'. Blimey, who writes this crap?\r\n\r\nThe game itself is a glorified explore-and-collect-'em-up. You wander around various screens in search of household implements such as saws, hammers and planks. The usefulness of these items becomes apparent later on when you keep repeatedly dying.\r\n\r\nNow, the main problem with this games is that it's crap. It's supposed to be set in Chicago, but the backgrounds look naff all like an American city. I mean, since when did Chicago have blimmin' great mountains downtown? Nope, what we've got here (I strongly suspect) is a game with a plot bunged on the end.\r\n\r\nHowever that's not the only crap thing about this game. Consider the act of jumping. Usually you can jump to the left, to the right, or straight up. Not in this game though, here you can only jump to the left or right, which means that you spend ages walking left and right trying to find the perfect spot from which to launch yourself into the great beyond. Get it wrong and you're highly likely to get your hair singed by a nearby torch and, thus, lose a life.\r\n\r\nTRIFF NIGEL, TRIFF!\r\n\r\nThe problem-solving in the game manages to be simple and obscure at exactly the same time. For instance, while a key opens a locked cellar and a plank bridges a gap, you'll need a jar of woodworm to get through a door. What's more, these items have to be dropped in exactly the right place. So, if you're a little bit too far to the left your item will make no difference to the obstruction at all.\r\n\r\nActually getting the objects is a bit of a problem too. Not only do you have the tricky jumping manoeuvres to contend with, you'll also discover that certain objects can only be grabbed whilst in mid-air. All of this makes it blimmin' tricky in the extreme to get certain items.\r\n\r\nNope, I'm sorry Codies, you're going to have I better than this. Murray Mouse is twee, derivative, unfunny, annoying and bland. I mean, it's all very well going for a cutesy angle on a game, but this is a schmaltz overload. Cheesy Moon indeed.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Bland an not-terribly-funny-at-all-matey game.","Page":"28","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Hutchinson","Score":"58","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"Oak dressers are so terribly passe now. The de rigeur mouse simply must have a black Ryuichi table by his bed, \" Murray pondered."},{"Text":"All things being equal, Murray though, you shouldn't be able to see the clouds so clearly, when it's so obviously night."},{"Text":"Then Murray though of how wonderful the finished gazebo would look. Resolute once again, he bounded over to the gaping chasm and celebrated with an echoey burp."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"BLIM!\r\n\r\nCheese was popularly used in the 18th century as an early form of hair lacquer. It was abandoned in the summer of 1757 after the famous dairy disaster of Moonbolten Fields when on a particularly hot day, three people died from Redleicesteritis."},{"Text":"FACTS ABOUT CHEESE\r\n\r\nThe Japanese are currently developing a cheese made from squid's milk. The results are said to taste remarkably like Wagon Wheels.\r\n\r\nCyril Handcuff of Ealing once ate 18 packets of processed cheese in seven minutes using only a pair of royal wedding commemorative toe-clippers.\r\n\r\nThe most expensive cheese in Britain is Lanark Blue which is obtainable from a limited number of shops at £7.50 a pound.\r\n\r\nThe cheapest cheese in Britain is Stig's Old Lumpy which is obtainable in cheese sandwiches in any motorway cafe in the country.\r\n\r\nIf all the different cheese varieties in Britain were lined up end to end, they'd probably get bored after a few hours, go home, put their cultures up and watch David Bryant winning the latest bowls championship."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"52%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"58%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 123, May 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-04-18","Editor":"Alan Dykes","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Alan Dykes\r\nDesign: Yvette Nicholls\r\nSU Crew: Garth Sumpter, Steve Keen, Ed Laurence, Pete Gerrard, Graham Mason, Phillip Fisch\r\nAd Manager: Tina Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Matthew Walker\r\nMr. Marketing.: Mark Swallow\r\nMarketing Ladies: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Mark Frey\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Colourtech\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher\r\nTypeset by Altyp Inc\r\n\r\nAbsolutely no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or used to prop up televisions or other electronic equipment without the express permission of the publisher. Summer is almost here again folks so it's nearly time to start going down to the beach for some mega fun. Remember though, don't get sand in your Spectrum! It doesn't work very well if you do. Oh yes, sorry about Mother's day mum, hope you enjoy your holiday! Pictures from Addams Family the movie were supplied by Columbia Tri-Star Films (UK). (c) Columbia Tri-Star."},"MainText":"Label: Code Masters\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Cyril Herelle\r\n\r\nAs a young child in west London I was always getting into trouble. Other parents used to scold their children or give them a quick whack with a slipper (which is a very bad thing to do) but my parents had a particularly heinous way of dealing with my misbehaviour.\r\n\r\nThey used to make sit in front of the TV, watch Coronation Street and, wait for it, eat half a pound of Gorgonzola cheese. My breath was smelly and all the other kids used to tease me something awful (they don't now 'cos I'm at least a foot taller than any of them). Anyway one night a mouse crept into the larder and ate their cheese. It was dead the next morning (that Gorgonzola is strong stuff) but ever since I've loved mice.\r\n\r\nNow it's your chance to become a mouse. Put on your Mickey mouse mask, start chewing holes all over your house, then buy a pair of Nike Air trainers so you can jump and run like a raving loony for hours on end.\r\n\r\nIt's time to stop the forces of evil from stealing all the cheese in the world (though I really don't care), and become a hero. This is the basic story behind Codie's latest budget character Murray Mouse. Murray is apparently a super cop and the reigning all England Dutch Red cheese eating champion (having beaten the likes of Danger Mouse into first place). He must battle against the Moufia to save the cheesy moon from been taking over and eaten. Along the way he must also save ten of his mouse pals.\r\n\r\nMurray Mouse is a puzzle/adventure game where you have to collect objects and use them in various parts of the game to help you progress further. It is a rather odd game because messages keep appearing every minute telling you about the area you're in, what to expect next and even the odd joke or two. For example: \"Why did the mushroom go to the party; Because he was a fun guy\". Yes, it is bad but this is the sort of thing you have to put up with in the search of good games.\r\n\r\nMurray Mouse in Mouse Mania is a fun game. Collect tots of important items and save your pals in a colourful world with big and clear sprites everywhere. It does however have downsides: The only real sound is the pitter patter of the famous rodent's feet as he potters around his cheesy world while control of the main sprite is unfortunately rather poor. However, putting these complaints aside, Murray Mouse is a fine, playable game that is in the final analysis worth a look.","ReviewerComments":["Murray Mouse isn't the most impressive or original game I've seen lately but it does have enough charm and playability to make it a favourite and another possible cult hit from Code Masters.\r\nAlan Dykes"],"OverallSummary":"First there was Mighty Mouse, then Danger Mouse and now Murray Mouse. He may not make it to the big time like his famous relatives but there is plenty of potential in this game for you to make him your own little big-eared star in the safety of your own abode.","Page":"32","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Cyril Hirelle","Score":"78","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"However is Murray going to get through that wall I wonder?"},{"Text":"It's the stretchy mice of doom!"},{"Text":"Lost a life!"},{"Text":"Murray in the slimy sewers of Mouse Mania."},{"Text":"Murray's ickle fwuffy bedroom."},{"Text":"This action-packed title screen goes some way to explaining the plot of the game. Or something."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"43%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"67%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"78%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]