Producer: Melbourne House
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Philip Mitchell, Clive Barrett, Russell Comte

Mugsy is the first interactive video comic strip. So says the cassette inlay, and they're probably right. Mugsy is a strategy type game in which the graphics are the stars. In a sense, what Philip Mitchell and his team have done is to bring graphics to the strategy game in much the same way that they did in The Hobbit for the adventure game.

You play Mugsy, Godfather to a gang of wise-cracking, back-talking hoodlums, and your aim is to be the toughest and most powerful gang leader in the city. To do this, you have to manage the gang by making money and deals, buying them weapons. You must decide how many 'clients' will be protected and how many 'squeezed', make deals with City Hall and play the rackets (no, this is not a tennis simulation). If you are a success your hoods will stay loyal, but if you are too successful one of the other gangs may hire a hit man to get rid of you.

The game is played along much the same lines as any other strategy of its type. But the look is very different. The loading screen sets the tone with its large comic strip graphic of Mugsy's mug. This cuts to a waterfront scene of heavily shadowed hoods staring out over the night time city reflected in the still water. Information is imparted in comic strip balloons - a run down on last year's activities, how many hoods are still loyal and how much dough there is in the safe.

It is then time to begin deciding how much dough to spend and on what to spend it on. In several dynamically drawn scenes, your friendly sidekicked accountant tells you each item and asks for the sum of money you are going to use. There is another comic strip balloon with a flashing asterisk in it. As you input the required figures, so it appears in your balloon.

When these decisions are completed, you are treated to a micro-movie highlight of the year before battle begins again, Should a contract be taken out on you by another gang, the scene cuts to a cafe interior and you have to shoot it out with the hit man.

COMMENTS

Control keys: (arcade scene) I/P left/right, Q/Z up/down, B, N or M to fire
Use of colour: very good, comic colours on strong black and white
Graphics: excellent, with some amazing animation
Sound: poor - a very good typical tune, but no sound during play
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1

A video comic strip eh! Well this is quite a good idea involving you in making decisions and running a Mob. The game is quite playable for a few games but soon gets a little repetitive. The graphics are excellent and the animation is also very good (it's only used in places). Generally a good game but it didn't have too much lasting appeal for me. The comic idea is a wonderful one and could be expanded upon to make a more involved and interesting game.

The graphics, which were all done using Melbourne Draw, are quite stunning. Not only because they are large, but because they really do look as though they have come from a comic strip. The scenery, the angles from which things are seen, like the overhead view of Mugsy and sidekick walking into a doorway, are all authentic and owe a lot to those 1940s American gangster movies as well as comics. I love the micro-movies - such a pity there aren't more of them. One is a street scene with a street walker passing by the window on the other side of the street. Then a large limo pulls up opposite and someone leans out to fire a burst of machine gun bullets at your window. Unfortunately there really isn't enough to do for the player in the game, as this program largely plays by itself. All you have to do is type in the sums of money to be spent and then sit back and watch the results.

It says stunning graphics on the cassette inlay, and for once its right. The amazing scenes are generated very quickly and the game can be speeded up in the informational sequences by pressing any key as soon as the balloon has been read. The problem I found with Mugsy is that it isn't really much of a game as such, and after a few "years" have gone past, you have seen all the pictures there are and it begins to lose interest. What we need now is the graphics of Mugsy and the complications of a real teaser like The Hobbit. Is it too much to ask? I hope not. Mugsy probably is worth buying though, because it certainty looks good.

As the 'Godfather' to a gang of mafia men, your job is to keep them all happy by making lots of money and buying arms to fight off rival gangs. You've also got to pay for police co-operation and buy 'customers' who are in need of your brand of protection.

Alex: As you might expect from Melbourne House, the graphics are exceptionally well defined; the detail is superb, right down to the cigarette smoke. There are several varying screens, each making good use of contrasting colours, and the overall display is very clear and pleasing to the eye. Added to this is the very fast response time which allows the game to proceed as quickly as the player wants it to, and the Charleston that's played in the introduction.

Alan G:The idea of interacting with a comic strip is excellent, and if you become too successful, a rival gang sends out a hitman; the cafe shoot-out that results is superb arcade sequence. Most of the game, however, is about entering how much money you want to spend on guns, bribes, customers and so on. There's also a wonderful micro movie at the end of each year's business. Superbly detailed graphics, excellent animation and choice of colours.

Alan H: The drawing of the graphics is incredibly fast; in fact, they appear almost instantaneously which is all the more impressive considering their very high quality. Equally astounding is the logic behind the game. It's consistent, but doesn't produce outcomes that are in the least predictable - every game seems to be quite different from the last. Even the title screen is very good. This game is well worth the money at £6.95.

PIZZA DA ACTION

Memory: 48K
Price: £6.95

In the days of lead overcoats and concrete boots, when bootleg liquor cost blood and Bogart ruled the Bronx, there was one gangster whose exploits have until now remained obscure. His name was Mugsy.

In Mugsy, the new release from Melbourne House, you play the part of a gangland leader. The game requires you to make decisions as to how much money to extort from your protection rackets, what to set aside for bribery and how much to spend on arms for your underlings.

Thus far the game is a moderately simple version of King, the land management game. Melbourne House has taken the concept and, by the use of extravagantly marvellous graphics, turned it into a minor masterpiece.

Each decision you make is portrayed in cartoon form, with the words in speech bubbles; a respectably large number of screens complement the story, in the style of old gangster movies. The pictures look to have been designed by a genuine artist and add immensely to the atmosphere of the game. At the end of each 'year' you also have an animated cartoon of an event during that year. There are only two of those short films but both are interesting to watch and they use the Spectrum graphics capacity to the full.

With so much visual display, the game must suffer from memory restrictions and there is not a great deal of variety in what happens from year to year compared to programs like Dictator by dK'Tronics. That said, Melbourne House has captured the atmosphere of old Hollywood movies so well that one tends to forget the limitations of the game and enter into the spirit happily.

Inevitably the graphics will tend to become uninteresting after they have been seen enough times but while they remain fresh they are a delight and make the game a pleasure to play.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Melbourne House
PRICE: £6.95

"Mugsy Schmugsy. Just who dus dis guy tink he is? Ten hoodlums gunned down by Rocco, only 200 customers squeezed in two years and now dis - de kops skimming two hundred thousand bucks off de top."

"Now listen up. I want big Louis from Detroit to pay Mugsy a visit. No - not Fingers. Big Louis himself. Dis time Mugsy has gone too far."

The gangsterspeak dialogue of Melbourne House's latest game - Mugsy - takes you back to the mean streets of Chicago where a guy had to be tough to survive.

Mugsys graphics knock spots off anything that has so far been achieved on the Spectrum. For this reason, we have made it the first of a great new review feature where we show you several screens from a game.

When our reviewer first looked at Mugsy, he kept calling people into the room to look at the pictures - so stunning are the images.

Using comic strip speech bubbles, Mugsy is a strategy-cum-arcade game. The strategy element sets you up as a gangland leader who has to make decisions about how much to pay off the cops, how much ammunition and guns to provide for your loyal hoodlums and how many customers to squeeze in your protection racket.

The computer keeps a running total of your cash in the safe and the number of loyal hoodlums and customers. You can also buy and sell customers om syndicate.

At the end of each go, when you have entered all your decisions, the computer gives you a progress report.

You have to be smart to do well at Mugsy. Make too much money and the big boys will start to see you as a threat, too little and they will soon send a hit man to rub you out. All this and you still have to contend with greedy cops and other hoods trying to muscle in on your patch.

The arcade element of the game appears when a hit man is despatched from Detroit. This is a shoot-out in a restaurant. Using the keys, you can move Mugsy around the screen in an attempt to out-gun your assassin.

Should the hit man do his job, you are given a percentage rating on your performance and, as usually happened in my case, some sort of scathing comment. It's not nice being called a schmuck by a Spectrum, I can tell you.

As well as putting the squeeze on Spectrum owners, Mugsy will also take the heat off Melbourne House now that they have announced that Sherlock Holmes will not available until September.

Using a punchy, fast-moving dialogue and stunning graphics, Melbourne House have really created an atmosphere of Al Capone and the world of organised crime.

Personally, I would have preferred this excellent scenario to have been used as an Adventure. Having said that, Mugsy must still rate as Melbourne's best offering since The Hobbit and that's saying something!

MAKER: Melbourne House
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £6.95

Despite having been foisted upon us by a mob of spat-spittin' Rent-a-Cagneys, Melbourne House's controversial gangster fest has lain largely unnoticed by the dodgy denizens of the BIG K office. Not surprising perhaps when you consider the astonishing inanity of this well-cloaked simulation.

As Mugsy, a two-bit hood in an eight-bit world, you must take control of the Chicago rackets. This is achieved largely by squeezing out rival gangs and oiling the paws of the local precinct. As your stash of cash grows your infamy spreads and Big Rocco and the boys move in on your operation, regardless of bribes. If he fails once he'll quickly try again. He's certainly not thin-skinned. It's all exceptionally repetitive.

Only the presentation of Mugsy is of note. Cleverly crafted as a video comic it features some extraordinary graphics and a nice line in dialogue, consequently the initial sense of atmosphere is superb. You can almost smell the aroma of mafiosa pasta as you wander along the wharf. Unfortunately prolonged play results in brain seizure. The game fails to live up to its early promise. Perhaps Melbourne House can make amends with a more engrossing sequel? It would be a shame to let such visual flair go to waste.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys
FROM: Melbourne House, £6.95

Word is out on the streets of a new game from Melbourne 'The Hobbit' House. Stunning graphics, unusual game concept, superb animation - Mugsy is definitely the Godfather of all strategy games.

Don't let the word strategy put you off, though. Whoever saw a strategy game with graphics like these? The scenes of downtown Manhattan - or is it the Bronx? - are simply superb. Some of the screens come to life before your very eyes, and the detail of the animation is extraordinary.

There are arcade elements as well in this excellent game as you struggle to stay alive in a battle with rival gangs, corrupt policemen, and even your own men (most of whom are distinctly untrustworthy).

Each year you must divide your bank balance between armaments, protection rackets, buying up 'clients', and police corruption. You may also have to buy off assassination attempts by both your own men and the opposing Rocco's mob.

Should your followers become dissatisfied (which they do with predictable and sometimes unjustifiable regularity) you will be plunged into a brief arcade sequence in which you must get the better of a hired assassin.

If you fail, that's the end of the game. Otherwise you can proceed to yet new heights of glorious infamy. At the end of the year you are treated to one of two stunning graphic interludes featuring an animated shoot-out sequence.

My only quibble with Mugsy is that the interludes become a little repetitive after a while, but the printed responses to your inputs are superb and often very funny.

This game had me at gun-point for hours on end. In the end I copped it in the saloon with a score of 48%. But what a way to go!

IT'S ALL BROOKLYN TO ME

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £6.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Melbourne House, Castle Yard House, Castle Yard, Richmond, Surrey

Melbourne House became a legend with the Hobbit, and all new releases are bound to be compared on quality. So does Mugsy live up to its famous cousin?

To be fair to Melbourne House, Mugsy is not a Hobbit II or Son of Hobbit. In fact Mugsy is not an adventure at all, more a strategy game with random factors and an arcade element thrown in for good measure - but I'll come back to that later.

During loading, I was treated to the best title page I've ever seen. Throughout the program, its graphics are "state of art" for the Spectrum. If you thought Hobbit graphics were good, wait till you see these. There are two animated sequences: one of a hit man in a bar, and the other (my favourite) of a car drawing up outside a cafe and riddling the windows with bullets.

The object of the game is to become a successful gangland boss and all the dialogue is in gangster slang. There is a natty little tune, but sound is used very sparsely in the game.

Many moons ago (before the micro was born) a game called Hamurabi was written on a mainframe computer. The object, as most of us know, was to plant crops, buy and sell wheat, keep your people alive, and not be deposed. Well, Mugsy is basically Hamurabi with fancy graphics. For wheat, people and deposed read clients, hoods and hit.

As for the arcade game, approximately every four years, a contract is taken out on you and you must shoot the hit man before he gets you. Either way, the sequence only lasts about 10 seconds each time.

Mugsy is mildly addictive, but I must admit to being a bit disappointed with it. Having chosen a good theme, and produced stunning graphics, more invention could have gone into the game mechanics.

I have to admit though, even with a lot of all singing, all dancing programs about, I still enjoy playing Hamurabi.

We look at the best and the worst releases in a month which offers new games from top software houses Fantasy and Ultimate.

Nice graphics, shame about the game. Never has that been truer of a Spectrum game than it is of Mugsy. The graphics are superb - many screens full of cartoon pictures, drawn quickly and in great detail. Some of them are animated and the large-scale animation is better than any produced for the Spectrum so far.

The game, however, is a straightforward simulation in which the aim is to run a mob of gangsters for as long as possible. Decisions to be made are concerned with allocation of budget and little else.

At first sight the game is astounding; within 10 minutes the graphics have become stale and the game is boring. What a shame. Produced by Melbourne House, Church Yard, Tring, Herts for the 48K Spectrum. Price, £6.95.

An expansion on the land management theme where, instead of ruling a small kingdom, the player enacts the role of underworld boss out to rake in as much money as possible from illegal activities before being rubbed out. Slush money is paid out regularly and the police will often visit the mob's private safe to collect for the police benevolent fund.

Mugsy unfolds as a series of pictures in an animated cartoon strip. Instructions and replies are put into speech bubble which provides the novelty value of the game. The cartoon strip concept has been well received by reviewers and customers alike.

Position 41/50

SOFTWARE SCENE

While some software houses are taking the Spectrum to its limits and beyond others doggedly continue to churn out ever more diabolical pieces of programmed junk. John Gilbert present a personal pick of the bunch, and Chris Bourne take an irreverent look at the dwindling ZX-81 software scene. Their talents are combinedd in listing the Top Ten Turkeys of 1984. Let the reader be warned.

SPECTRUM SOFTWARE

A cynic may argue that development within the software market in 1984 was non-existent. The same type of game appeared as those which took the lead in 1983, the most popular being of the arcade variety. The programs were written in the same style and to please the same type of customers.

That is only a superficial view, however, and if you look at the games market as a whole, dividing it up into sectors such as strategy, arcade and adventure, you will see that substantial and sophisticated changes have taken place. Despite what some pundits have said you will find that the world of computer games is still buzzing with life.

£6.95
Melbourne House

Another strategy game that grew in notoriety was Mugsy, a land management game with a difference from Melbourne House. You play the part of a gangland leader. The game requires you to make decisions as to how much money to extort from your protection rackets, what to set aside for bribery and how much to spend on arms for your underlings. Each decision you make is portrayed in cartoon form, with the words in speech bubbles; a respectably large number of screens complement the Story, in the style of old gangster movies. The pictures look to have been designed by a genuine artist and add immensely to the atmosphere of the game. At the end of each 'year' you also have an animated cartoon of an event during that year. There are only two of those short films but both are interesting to watch and they use the Spectrum graphics capability to the full.

Inevitably the graphics will tend to become uninteresting after they have been seen enough times but while they remain fresh they are a delight and make the game a pleasure to play.