Alpha Flight/Reviews
Cracker Journal issue #1 (1988, 10.01, ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Now, THIS is history - the very first issue of CJ! Of course, this is entirely in German, so I didn't understand much. It's amazing, though, how little it changed over the first issues.
Though the mag itself works satisfactory, the intro does not. No matter what I attempt, it always gurus. There are no real credits to be seen anywhere, except for in a few of the articles.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1
Cracker Journal issue #2 (1988, 10.02, ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
The second issue is a marked improvement as far as content goes, and is even mostly in English! There are perhaps too many game reviews for some people's liking, but I guess that's a matter of opinion. Unlike the first issue, nothing works here; neither the intro or the mag itself can be safely executed without crashing.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1
Cracker Journal #9 (1988, 24.09, ECS Diskmagazine)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Another non-special issue, nothing much to report about it.
No-one credited for music.
tested UAE /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04.
Cracker Journal #10 (1988, 15.11, ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Not much different from any other issues, expect in the contents of the articles. The german articles irritate me, especially since most interesting ones to me, the party reports, are mostly in german =( This issue presents interviews with Bamiga Sector 1 and Defjam. It also features what is probably the first reference to the term "Tracking" =)
History was being made...
tested UAE /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04.
Cracker Journal #11 (1988, 30.12, ECS Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Nothing much to say, it's the usual mix of party reports and game reviews.
tested UAE /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04.
Cracker Journal #13 (1989, .03, ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Remarkably, this issue of CJ seems to be a lot better laid out, a lot more compatible and a has a lot better English than the only other issue I have - #28! There's also not the same sense of showelware - all of these articles were MEANT for the mag, they're not just files off the boards! There's more articles in German here, though. The mag's content is quite limited, at just over 50 articles, but they are one hell of a lot more interesting than the ones in #28... There doesn't appear to be any kind of credits except for the articles in the mag itself, but then again there's not much code to speak of... You see, each and every article is an IFF file, so all the coder had to make was a picture shower that could change pictures and play some music in the background :)
I like the atmosphere in this. There's a genuine sense of stumbling to establish the scene. These were pioneers, and as such ofcourse there were two mistakes for every innovation. Still, they make their small mistakes with unmistakable amounts of charm. Nice, this is.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.
Cracker Journal issue #23 (1990, 31.12, ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
This issue was the first to feature the new code for the mag, meaning no more iff pictures! That alone was an enormous step up... Design did not change significantly, only the inner workings of the mag did. I have chosen not to rate Satan/Vision One/AFL's small intro here, since it's not AGA compatible and really little more than a boot intro.
The compatibility rating is only for the magpart, the intro for this mag does not run under AGA. Also, I had to run the mag with caches off, or my keyboard would not respond after a while. Otherwise, no probs!
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
Ultra Intro (1991, 11.11, ECS Intro)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Now this is more like it! This intro says STYLE in big bold letters! Well, actually it says Alpha Flight, but you get the picture :) The intro consists of just one nice logo in the middle of the screen, which is in hires-lace, and a scroller that twists inbetween the letters. It's a simple concept, but superbly executed.
The intro reviewed was the one released in connection with their release of AutoDoc 37.1.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0. -- Note : Needs KillAGA
The Ghetto (1991, 19.12, ECS Intro)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Nothing interesting in this BBS intro, just a black background with some dots and a 16x16 text writer on top of that. There are a million of these! Thank god that someone discovered design!
This intro is earmarked as from 'the Swedish division' and also announces the new memberships of Rex, Butch, Cevin Key, Rave, Link and Cevin Key's upcoming BBS.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.
