<> @5{AMIGA FRONTIER - DISKMAG @6}by zYLAX / PTK @3 Amiga Frontier, now that sounds like a nice, respectable diskmag. Dedicated to bringing you the latest information on technical Amiga matters. It's serious! There's no time for jokes when there's a brand new hard drive to be reviewed. Yeah, that sounds about right. Nice and respectable. #3 Looks like I was totally WRONG though! @2 !i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i! @1 I have now realised what people meant when they used to say that there were no serious Amiga users. I mistook it by thinking they were refering to the gamers. But no, they were simply saying that everyone that uses the Amiga is completely OUTTA THEIR HEAD! The guyz that make Amiga Frontier are prime examples of this, and that's a complement! Enough of all this wibbling (I'm not crazy, I'm a potato!), onto the actual mag. Amiga Frontier hails from the place they like to call Merseyside. A place where everybody wears pink shellsuits and says stuff like "EHH, EHH! CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN!" and "ARE YOU STARTIN' ??". (Oh shit, I bet I've begun something now!) Although, the sixth issue may have been released, at the time I am writing this, issue five is the latest one I have. This is yet another diskzine created using DMC Gold, which must be responsible for half the magazines in the PD scene at the moment. I'll only write about the last two issues because, although I have copies of them, issues one and two were never officially released and issue three has lost itself somewhere in the depths of my diskbox. Besides, MSCIM has told me that they may be re-releasing the first couple of editions at a later date. @2 =/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/= @1[2 Amiga Frontier Five includes, like all the issues, one of AF's (ALElectronic Farts) famous intros. This time it is the UNOFFICIAL sequel to Nine Fingers, or more accurately it's MSCIM experiencing an epileptic fit to the soundtrack of the Spaceball's demo. Admittedly, it's only a digitised animation accompanied by a mod player and it ain't coded. But it's highly amusing seeing some mad guy dancing (if you can call it that) like he's off his head. Well, he's actually one of my contax and I can verify that he really is more loony than a COW (think about it!). Once the mag begins to load, the introduction screen is the spaceman picture from Personal Paint with an Amiga Frontier logo situated in the top right corner. After this, we're in! The muzik that forms the soundtrack of the magazine is well chosen in that it is background muzik. What I mean by this is that there are no booming rave or dance modules that grab your attention. Just some nice relaxing tunes that don't distract your concentration from the actual text itself. (It ain't something I can preach about though. I been guilty many a time of choosing ravy muziks!) Well, this is x'cept the second module which is a bit weird and comical, but this goes with the nature of the zany style of the magazine as a whole. I've got this far and I haven't even mentioned the articles yet. Well, this issue is of particular interest because they review Beyond Sanit-E 2 and give an overwhelming NINETY PERCENT! (Thanx, we appreciated it!) Most of the articles, wether they are essentially a serious or humourous subject, are written in the style of: Why should we write this review, for example, as a plain report when we can have a laugh at the same time! The result is a diskmag that leans more on making you laugh rather than being solely informative, and this gives it character. The articles themselves tend to be based around the Amiga (as the name of the mag suggests) as far as the topics are concerned. These include, for example: news, software, hardware, PD and a special feature about the Internet (or Information Superhighway if ya wanna talk like a puff!). Then there are all the regular features such as the superstar joystick known as Kevin. Look guyz, you always have a cat as a mascot, not a joystick. Take Pazza of LSD and Steve of V12-PD for example. A cat! Not an inanimate object! It's just the tradition on the scene. See I told ya these guyz were crazy. I mean, what you're doing could be classed as exploitation. Does Kevin have a written and signed contract, witnessed by his solicitor? Imagine the uproar from the whole "gaming devices" community after the blatent show of naked plastic you aren't shamed to parade around your magazine. @3[Shut up zYLAX!! You're waffling again! zYLAX!] @1 Overall, it's not coded in pure 680XX Assembler and it's doesn't use a custom written trackloader. But if you judge a diskmag on entertainment value rather than technical excellence, then you'll enjoy Amiga Frontier. @2 =/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/= @1 The fourth incarnation of Amiga Frontier has one of my favourite intros to date. Basically it's the "Looks like a pile of shite!" song. You really have to hear it to know what the attraction is. I also thought that this was the most graphically pleasing issue so far in that the control panel and the introduction screens in the mag had some real design put into them. The special feature in this issue is about using your Amiga in video work. Actually, I'd better double-check the mag ain't called Amiga Format. Have you noticed how they seem to dedicate almost every issue of Amiga Doormat as a shrine to the camcorder! Anywayz, (and that, to any Amiga Frontier readers, is a much more sensible way of spelling ANYWAY. If ya don't know what I'm talking about then you'd better grab yourself a copy of Amiga Frontier. (Boy, was that the easiest tenner I've made!)) the actual mag follows the same format as issue five, as most Amiga Frontier's use the same format as each other. @2 =/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/=/-/= @1 Well, I've only got one real critisium with Amiga Frontier as a whole, and it is that the mag seems to be set up to work on an A1200 and no machine below it. For example, I dunno if this was done intentionally but the second disk of AF5 was formatted to a specific KS3 standard. Therefore, the mag wouldn't run on my A600 at all. But after altering the filing system of disk two into the Fast File System, it made the mag KS2 compatible automatically. Maybe, when I get an A1200 I'll go completely AGA-only but I'm a hypocrite like that! Finally, this is a great little mag that you could do a lot worse than to have a gander at. @3 (Note to MSCIM: What d'ya think of diz review then? You see, I kept my promise and lied through my teeth! ONLY JOKING!)