Magic Meanies
Description
The plot is that you're a good wizard called Meltec, who turns lead into gold. For plot related reasons all the lead is in the neighbouring country of Zeldor and guarded by the evil Magic Meanies, so to get the lead you tele-port in and steal it.
The game starts just after you've teleported in and the action starts almost immediately. The game screen is a green field with black paths on it. The Magic Meanies run around these paths and if they catch you, you lose a life. Scattered around are blue 'lead' crystals and a magic cherry and using cursor keys you march through the greenness to collect them. As you do so you create new paths which eventually the Magic meanies will find and will run down to catch you. If you cut across one of the pre-existing paths they are patrolling they'll find you much faster.
Once you start moving in any direction you keep moving until you hit the edge of the screen or get caught.
If it looks like you're about to get caught you have five crystal balls that you can fire at the chasing 'Meanies.One shot kills one meanie and every 'Meanie that gets killed is replaced, so wiping them out and cleaning up the crystals at leisure is not an option. In addition you can only fire in the direction you're traveling so you must turn and fire very quickly if there's a 'Meanie that's getting really really close. Also scattered around the greenness are red apples. These can be pushed into tunnels to block the 'Meanies or if you're really quick and really clever you can undermine one so that it falls onto a 'Meanie and kills it.
The game has a 'skill level' that is pre-set to 1 but can be any number between 1 and 9. Points are scored for 'Meanies killed and crystals collected. You move to the next level when the magic cherry has been collected. The game is over when all three lives have been lost, then you get to enter your name - if you've achieved a high score for this session, before being returned to the start screen to play again.
This game requires quick thinking and nimble fingers to play. Some old reviews called it a clone of Mr. Do!. If you have not played that game then the best way to describe the game-play is that its like a cross between the 'being chased around a maze' element of Pac-Man and the dig new tunnels/paths element of Digger with a shooty bit thrown in. It .
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Average score: 58% (based on 1 ratings)
Players
Average score: 2.5 out of 5 (based on 4 ratings with 1 reviews)
The game that lets Speccy users get a taste of two games in one
The Good
What does Mr. Do! have in common with Dig Dug Both of these games fail to have official versions for the ZX Spectrum. Enter Magic Meanies, a game by CDS Microsystems that is an impressive clone of these two games. First, you have the Space Invaders-like title screen, complete with score table that looks really good, and the option of controlling the game by joystick or keyboard, or turning the music on or off.
The gameplay is not exactly Mr. Do!. The cherries are replaced with pieces of lead (although there is a cherry running around the maze, which you have to collect as well), and there are no letters that spell the word EXTRA. But other than that, the game is extremely faithful to the original game in terms of graphics and sound. To get to the lead, you will have to move your character through the green dirt, creating unique tunnels for the meanies to get through. There are boulders scattered everywhere, and these can be used to crush the meanies or stop them from following you.
Once you complete a level, the game tells you which level you are entering. Now, the five digit number seems to indicate that there are 10,000 or more levels, but I only got up to level six. Magic Meanies game acts as a score attack game, in which you keep trying to beat your previous scores. All your scores are recorded in an impressive-looking high score table, where you can send a copy of the table to your printer. With the sound, the music is much longer than Mr. Do! and continues even if you lose a life.
The Bad
Maybe the dirt should be different colors, not just green.
The Bottom Line
This is an impressive Mr. Do! clone. The gameplay is extremely faithful to the original game (minus the EXTRA monsters) and the author of the game took the original's music one step further. The graphics are excellent, with different patterns in the grass in each level, and you can create some pretty unique tunnels. ZX Spectrum owners may have missed out on an official version, but this is as close as they could get.
ZX Spectrum · by Katakis | カタキス (43086) · 2014
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by piltdown_man.
Additional contributors: ZeTomes.
Game added August 23, 2010. Last modified October 11, 2023.