Brainstorm/Reviews

Review by Glenn Lunder
Another small piece of history... The very first issue of Zine! The first thing that strikes me (having read a couple of the later issues) is how little the layout has changed since that first issue. It's already a nice mag, and probably the very first one on the amiga that scrolled the pages, and not just faded in the next one. There's no extraordinary visuals or anything here, you just enter slap bang right in the middle of the magazine. Editorially there's not much to shout about though, just 48 articles all included, and that includes a ridiculous amount of 'interviews' with more or less interesting scene people. This mag would improve over time, though. tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.

Review by Glenn Lunder
First thing that strikes you is that there's now an "intro" picture of sorts as you load the mag...at least that's what I presume it's supposed to be... I can't see it unscrambled on my machine you see, and caches off and original chipset doesn't help either :( But it doesn't crash and soon the second issue of Zine is staring you in the face. Nothing has changed graphically, the mag looks the same, and almost reads the same. There's still endless "interviews" with standardized questions for unknown groups, but just as in the first issue there's also a few interesting articles. tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.

Review by Glenn Lunder
I still can't see the loader picture, so that is pretty much lost on me, but the mag loads and you can immediately see that graphically it is still the same. It contains about the standard amount of information by now, some 60 articles - and still too many 'interviews'. This issue announced The Accused wasn't going to be working on the next issue since he has to go to the army. New editor from issue #4 would be Orlando. tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.

Review by Glenn Lunder
Some new blood in the editor chair for this issue, since previous editor The Accused had left for the army, was Orlando. And it seems the change was for the better: They present a mag with more to read than ever, 99 articles this time! Some changes since last time, writer Yankee was kicked, and their proposed party with Alcatraz was cancelled (hence this was not released there, as promised in the last issue). This was also the first issue with a real news section (though news that Shining 8 are dead were WRONG :). This is perhaps the first GOOD issue, as far as the reading goes, and it now comes across as a much more focused effort than the first three issues. The music is NOT good... :) tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.

Review by Glenn Lunder
Again, nothing has changed on the graphical front (perhaps time for a new logo?). But the improved editorial content is carried on, and the news corner is much more extensive than last time. Also the interviews that swamped the first issues of the mag are now more restrained, and with people that are actually halfway interesting to read about! There's a few less articles than last time (72). This was to be Orlando's last issue as editor, as The Accused had returned from his army service. Just one almost priceless anecdote: After announcing rumours that IBM are planning the release of a new home computer with an 80286 processor (possibly even 386 they claim), they deliver this little comment: "That sounds funny, a scene on a IBM-computer!". Oh, and this little newsgem: "Apple wants to produce a homecomputer, too!" tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.

Review by Glenn Lunder
The Accused returned, with the first issue to have more than 100 articles. Some changes and improvements to the coding and the graphics had also been performed, all changes to the better. This was the first time (actually, the first time EVER) we saw the bar under the articles that allows us to see how much is left of a given article - now a standard feature in any diskmag. This issue also celebrated the first birthday for the magazine, it was now one year old. Comparing this issue to the first ones, you can certainly say that the mag had matured! This was also another kind of celebratory issue, since last month the mag had finally overtaken Alpha Flight's "Cracker Journal" as the no.1 mag on the scene in the Official Eurocharts! tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.

Review by Glenn Lunder
Impressive for a 1991 demo, innovative coder Rob Rose here shows us routines that shouldn't really be possible on the Amigas at the time :) - like texturemapping and an incredibly fast mandelbrot fractal generator. The overall impression is good, and the fact that the texture-mapped cubes don't always look as good as they could, is quite forgiveable when you consider the achievement. The demo runs perhaps a little too fast on my machine, and cuts to the next part at exactly the moment when the credits are about to appear in the scrolltext. Peeking in the executable doesn't help either, since Rob Rose is probably using his own decruncher or something...I certainly couldn't rip it, at least :( Innovative but sometimes slightly boring. tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.