Addonic/Reviews
Intro (1991, 16.11, ECS File)
Review by Glenn Lunder
This is a class example of 'if you can't do better than this, DON'T!' Seriously, I don't mean to be harsh, but come on: scroll, logo, vector object? Please!
Though the scroll clearly credits all graphics to Dragon, the intro itself has a logo signed 'Aragon'. Nugie's first production for Addonic.
His English is not the best, making it hard to decide what he's trying to say at times. The intro needs KillAGA, but still destabilizes my system after exit.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1
Message Center 11/91 (1991, .11, ECS Multifile Messagebox)
Review by Glenn Lunder
This is the third Message Center, and another ok release. First of all, it loads for a while with an unexciting loadingscreen, before we press the left mouse button and is treated to a nice fanfare and an even nicer title picture by Old Spook! The 'mag' part itself is not very exciting, but that was hardly expected either. This is a messagebox, and as such there really isn't that much exciting stuff to read. Apart from the messages, there's a handful of adverts, a couple of articles in German and finally the group's memberlist. The best part is the title picture.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
Message Center IV (1992, .01, ECS Multifile Messagebox)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Coding is much improved since the last issue, offering a wider variety of "articles". Nothing spectacular ofcourse, this is still just a messagebox, but at least an improvement on the prior issue. These were quite popular once, and this is not one of the worst. The intro is barely necessary, though. It's not good, and not bad, if you know what I mean. As it's just 22k, it would perhaps have been a better idea to link it in front of the mag and have the (not bad) tune as a selectable alternative to the one in the mag? The mag itself is not too bad either, though it's rather unexciting. The best part, I guess, is the B&W loading picture of a viking by Old Spook (later E. Toball/Sanity). Luckily the mag is not all messages, since that would have been thorougly boring for today. There's one or two things of interest, like the French scene report.
Conclusion: Not bad, but not terribly interesting either.
The intro needs KillAGA. The editor does not work at all; seeing as it does not open its own screen immediately, KillAGA does not help. It doesn't crash, but you can't see what you're doing, so... :(
The 'mag' itself is a little unstable. Sometimes it works perfectly, some times the graphics are garbled and sometimes it crashes when loading. Once it has loaded, though, I've never experience problems. Or advice is to use KillAGA, for safety's sake. The mag loader does not appear to have any problems with running from a harddisk, there's no assigns or anything necessary.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.
Message Center issue #5 (1992, end.03, ECS Multifile Messagebox)
Review by Glenn Lunder
No code has changed since the last issue, except perhaps some improved compatibility. The intro is also the same as last time, so no surprises there either. The title pic this time is done by the later wellknown graphics duo Groo and Rufferto, and is a graffiti style tag. So, the box itself then - any interesting reading this time? Well, actually there are a few things. With each issue MC does seem to resemble a real diskmag more and more... The editors could be doing a better job, though. There are adverts for people who are no longer in the group (Aqua), and a few other strange things... Like interviewing the Swedish musician Dexter/Shining when they themselves have a Swedish swapper with the exact same handle :=)
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
