MIXED REVIEWS 1
~SECOND.FIL~

/////////////      'He who insults heaven, has
MIXED REVIEWS       no one to direct his prayers to'        ~MOUSE.BLK~
////////////
 by Slimer          Confucius

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TAUTOLOGY
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'Time is an ever onwards moving fasttrain on the track of 
eternity. We jump on one of it's wagons and may ride along for 
only a while. It delivers all of us to our endstations were 
we have to jump off, because nobody is allowed to ride till 
the end....'

Funny how strange things spring in your mind while you take 
a shower, hum. This is actually a review article about a game 
in case you didn't noticed that already. This game was 
originally coded for the ST by 'Delta Force' and they named it 
'Match-It'. Now another democrew has done a version for the 
Falcon and that one goes by the name 'Tautology'. The game 
seems to based on the Oriental boardgame Shanghai.

The playing rules are relative simple and it basically comes 
to matching two identical tiles with each-other within a 
certain period of time. However the tiles can only be
matched if they can be linked by an imaginable line. Further
more there are some special tiles that can be linked to a
series of others. You can get stuck with some tiles that
can't be reached because of the wrong use of these special
tiles. You are then checkmated and the game is over. Like
I said before the game is relative simple...

'Tautology' is quite comprehensive with a lot of options and 
features. You can choose between different sets of tiles 
and you also can turn the time on/off. There are many more 
options available. A highscore table is also present that 
automatically saves your achievements.

The game has good graphics and runs in the true 
color/overscan mode on RGB monitors. It runs also on VGA 
monitors but the score and other information is placed 
outside of the screen (caused by overscan). This doesn't 
have to be a problem, it stays playable. The game 
is accompanied by a module that gets on your nerves after  
a while, however you can turn it off.

We can conclude that 'Tautology' is a good Public Domain 
game with good graphics and sound. It's very addictive and 
you keep playing it to achieve an even higher place on the 
scoretable. I hope that the coder 'Mr. Pink' enhances the 
game to be used decently on a VGA monitor and with the mouse 
instead of the joystick !

Code        : 7
Graphics    : 7
Sound       : 7

Playability : 8 (could be improved by the use of the mouse)
Addiction   : 9-

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GUTS DEMO BY ALLBRAN
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In my everlasting quest for demos, I stumbled upon a new 
demo by an unknown crew. They go by the name of 'ALLBRAN',
at least that name keeps popping up in the demo. Somehow the
name seems like something coming from Middle East or so...

I think that the demo must be more interpreted as being a 
dentro were several effects pass the revue. Those effects 
include plasma, a dot tunnel, zooming objects, some 
colorcycling, rubber balls and few other things. Everything 
gets thrown at you in an couple of minutes. For sound they 
have chosen for a looped sample which ofcourse like all 
looped samples gets on your nerves soon. There are only one 
or two really nice effects in this dentro, making it an 
average production. 

There are only a few remarks that I would like to cast upon 
this product of diligence. Several times the words 'Design 
rules' gets transformed on the screen, but which design is 
meant here !? I don't find the colors appealing, the effects 
original or the looped sample ripe for an Oscar. Beside all 
these things there is the sudden ending of the demo, it 
just stops... 

Code     : 7
Graphics : 7
Music    : 5

Overall  : 7 (esp. for the fact that it runs on VGA !!)

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WEIL SONDST GULLE AM BACH BY AURA 
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This 'shorttro' is already a couple months old and was made 
for the 'Fried Bits' coding convention in Bremen. It 
actually won the first price in the competition and left 
quite an impression on the audience. This 'shorttro' is
basically a demonstration of the capabilities of the DSP chip.
It's divided in two stages, the first one revolves around
1400 dots that form a cube. That cube has 'Aura'(also dots)
written in the middle of it. The whole lot gets rotated
and moves over the screen with an impressive speed. Quite
breathtaking and restoring everyone's fate in the
possibilities of the Falcon again who doubted them. Another
amazing thing about this 'shorttro' is, that it is all
real-time calculated, according to the ape who walks by on
the screen that is. A module track is playing throughout 
the show, it's a 'normal' replay routine executed by 
the 68030. It's a pity that there is an occasional hick-up
every now and then, and the music sometimes even crashes !

The second part of the 'dentro' contains 400 points 
connected to 200 lines. This means that all kinds of vector 
objects are formed on the screen. It has something of a 
CAD/CAM demostration. Also quite impressive. A very nice 
demo indeed, a pity about those bugs though....

Code     : 8+
Graphics : 8 (It has an impressive title pic)
Music    : 7+ 

Overall  : 8

It has to run on both RGB and VGA, but it only works 
properly only on my RGB !

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X-OVER DEMO BY X-OVER
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I'm not quite certain if this a STE or Falcon demo (or 
both?)but that's not really important with this "demo".
Why is "demo" standing within quotation marks you might 
wonder, simple, the word is to far-fetched for the program 
reviewed here. Lets have a look,

Some 'unfilled' characters form the word 'XOVER' in the 
upper part of screen. After this process, the characters get 
filled with a blaze of colors, bringing tears to your eyes. 
A starfield (more like a snowstorm) unveils itself behind 
the colorful logo.... Hang on, there is even more, they 
invented a text-routine and the computer actually writes 
its own text ! Brilliant, clap ,clap,clap ! There are now a 
dozen people gazing at my monitor with eyes filled with
unbelief. Who could imagine that technology would bring us
all such miracles as these.... If they showed this to
a couple of bushmen a century ago, the coder would have
been seen as god....

The text in this single 'demoscreen' explains the cause of 
all this misery, the whole things revolves around a module !
According to the text-writers, the module was worth it's own 
demoscreen. Well it's up to you to decide if this module is 
that good, if I also do a run down on the module there will 
be nothing left !

Coding   : 5
Graphics : 5
Music    : 7

Overall  : 5

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TECHNO DRUGS BY N.L.C.
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When Omega decided to create their 'Grotesque demo' they 
never could imagine that many would follow their lead. 
Ofcourse the kind of demo that Omega did was not an entirely 
new concept, but it never was that well executed. It was 
because of that high set standard that many tried to 
dethrone Omega. Even on the Falcon the slightly enhanced 
version of the demo is hard to beat, the Mugwumps did a good 
try with 'Spychedelic Knockout' though, although their
concept is more based on colorcycling. Another attempt comes
from N.L.C. from which I'm not sure if they are German, 
French or even English ?

They have taken several effects from Grotesque only to 
insult them in a soporific 'slideshow' ! They start with
the name of the demo(more a dentro)explored by a spot-
light...From then on it's transforming 3D objects, spinning
logos and several other effects. The lot is accompanied by
a techno-module from dubious (sound) quality. All the 
effects pass the cathode-ray tube in a relative slow speed.
There are only a few boring effects spread over quite a long 
period. At the end of the show all the effects pass the 
revue once again in a much higher speed (just like 
Grotesque)and the show stops.

I can conclude here that this demo is far below par, 
especially for the Falcon. You won't catch ophthalmia from 
it, that's for sure.....

CODING   : 7
GRAPHICS : 7+
MUSIC    : 7

OVERALL  : 6+ (It runs of VGA though !)

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PLUTOS
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This is not a particular Falcon game, as a matter a fact 
its a ST game. So, don't expect fancy graphics or a 
brilliant soundtrack. The graphics are functional and so is 
the sound, the game must have it from it's playability. I 
must say that the game is quite old already, but you know 
how it goes when you don't have decent software for your 
computer.

Plutos is a vertical shoot-em-up(though I rather prefer 
shoot em' down)with a small difference. With normal 
shoot-em-ups you don't have to worry about fuel, except for 
Plutos that is. If you don't manage to shoot enough fuel 
objects, you become a sitting duck. There waves and waves of 
baddies coming down to shoot at and there are also other 
objects to destroy. When I switched on my accelerator 
things moved twice as fast, making the game almost 
impossible to play. Even on the VGA it's quite tough.
  
The game is PD and can be obtained from most of the PD 
libraries. Lets hope that somebody does a full colour/DSP 
version of the game(hint), till then.....

CODE        : 8- 
GRAPHICS    : 6
SOUND       : 5

PLAYABILITY : 8
OVERALL     : 7+

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STARDUST TUNNEL SEQUENCE CONVERTED BY AGGRESSION
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Here we go with another demoversion of a game. This time it is a 
game converted from the Amiga to the Falcon. Well, game is a bit 
exaggerated in this case, it's only a part of it. I don't know 
what the actual game looks like but the converted part looks 
rather nice. I'm a bit sceptical about the release of a fully 
working version as many previews on the Falcon never made it to 
a mature version. Lets hope that Aggression finishes this 
project, we could use some good games ...


LETS TAKE A LOOK,

Lets see what Aggression has so far ... The opening screen is a 
black screen with 'Stardust' drawn on it in gold. Shortly after 
that you get dropped in the middle of the tunnel sequence of the 
game. Module sound accompanies the spaceship as it makes it's 
way through the blue squared tunnel. The tunnel is filled with 
hundreds of 'golden' objects that come flying towards the 
spaceship. You must dodge them or take them out with your 
onboard laser cannons. You can either use the joystick or the 
keyboard to do this (about the mouse I'm not sure). When a 
'golden' object gets hit, it will explode. There are some nice 
soundeffects to make it even more spectacular. The graphics 
effects, especially the explosions are nicely done and look 
realistic. The instrument panel with the score and other stuff 
on it, isn't really working yet. 

After the short but exciting journey the end is near ... A 
screen with dot explosions (dot fireworks) and information pops 
up. I franticly press the spacebar, esc and any other button on 
my battered keyboard but no avail, the resetbutton is the only 
way out. A bit slovenly from the part of the coders. On the 
other hand the demo works on both RGB and VGA monitors. Well, 
it's no use giving this demo any ratings because I rather test 
the fully working version of the game !

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~MINT.PAL~
