--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           ALIVE! MAGAZINE ISSUE ONE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

system... ST, STe, Falcon, 1MB RAM, RGB/VGA, intro only STe and Falcon

size..... 944 KB on harddisk (including the special files)

intro.... coded by GGN of KUA
          grafx by EXOCET of PYJAMA/JFF
          musix by MILHOUSE

menu..... coded by EARX of FUN
          grafx by STS of LOUD, EXOCET of PYJAMA/JFF, COSMOSH of FLA
          musix by TAO of CREAM, 5o5 of CHECKPOINT, MILHOUSE

writers.. STS of LOUD, CIH of MAGGIE TEAM, PARANOID of PARANOIA, THE BERZERKER
          of TEENAGE, DMA SC of SECTOR ONE, 5o5 of CHECKPOINT, EVIL of DHS,
          DEEZ of MIND DESIGN, STRIDER of SUPREMACY, EXOCET of PYJAMA/JFF,
          COSMOSH of FLA, GHANDI, GGN of KUA, MAD BUTSCHER of F2...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boink! Just  one week to late the so called follow  up of  UNDERCOVER and MAGGIE
appeared on the  scene. I must say that I hadn't thought to see  it so fast, but
if you think on that there are many people included in that magazine, it is more
or  less  understandable, esp. since lately  several other  people  joined their
forces, just as 5o5 of CHECKPOINT, who wanted to do  another "AFTERCOVER" at 1st
or DEEZ and STRIDER.

So, here it comes  finally, but UNDERCOVER isn't dead so far and the competition
is going on, hehe. At first I  must congratulate the makers, because I thought I
could manage it first, to release UNDERCOVER before "ALIVE!", but because it was
secret and  thought as .tSCc. only release  there  was a lot to  do, and working
nearly alone needs a lot of time, hehe.

Anyway... I'm anxious to see what the brains of MAGGIE and the latest UCM issues
have brought us with "ALIVE!". And so I will start the review now...

At first, "ALIVE!" comes  along with a nice intro, done by  GGN of KUA, who also
did the last MAGGIE intro and is going to join the ALIVE! posse as resident code
wizard. His intro runs, as his most other productions, only on STe and Falcon.

GGN gives us with his intro another view on  his drug, the sierpinski triangles.
The intro features several views on them, using  them as moving  sprites, scroll
and disting  background. Furthermore the intro features a  nice and bloody piccy
by EXOCET of JFF, showing a little girl with a saw and some damaged legs, hehe.
Another nice  idea is the fireworks end part, where  logos of  the greeted bands
are flying around the screen, exploding and spreading the letters around.
Furthermore I have to mention that the intro features some  nice chip music done
by the most impressive newcomer on this sector, MILHOUSE.
After all it  is a nice intro, not an  effect or design  overkill, but  a fairly
interesting thingie... congrats...

The coming  loaderpicture is a nice one, but shown a bit  too short, to check it
out in all points... shit... but it's done by STS and that should  say all, nice
16colz pixelwork.



After that  the "usual" menu comes up and if there wouldn't  stay "ALIVE" on the
upper part you could think, that you have another issue of UNDERCOVER running on
your machine, esp. because the ascii design of  the menu wasn't  changed much. I
wondered about the menu grafix, because they just feature 4 colours or something
and so  the whole thing looks a bit boring... No, no... the design of  the lower
part is quiet ok, but the upper part, hmm, dunno.

After scrolling  down the menu, I checked up the same building up as the old UCM
menus. The  regulars, a huge scene part, splitted up  into several  other parts,
just about scene news, sceners views, parties and so on. Later on the usual demo
part comes up, featuring a bunch of reviews of the latest stuff, followed by the
tools area, that  strangely features some hints  for coding and  making musix as
well... Last but not least the mixer comes up, featuring  some interesting texts
as well, craptalk and not computer related things.

Overall there are from top to bottom  nearly 7o articles  included, covering the
most themes and focusing mainly on Atari and scene ofcourse. Because  of the big
bunch of contributors there are a lot of interesting articles included. The most
articles are fairly detailed, not as  in some UCM issues under STS's editorship,
that not even filled one screen up.

So, just a roundup, of the highs and lows on the article side. I must say that I
enjoyed the most articles, funny  to read different views on some parties, but I
also checked  STS's attack in our  direction... and I don't  want to  go without
leaving some words about that...

Be sure, Seb, I checked out that you weren't in the best mood, at least you have
left that impression to me. I even would understand that, driving alone hundrets
of kilometers to attend to such a small party, not finding the people you hopped
to find  there and so on... But why I and  mOdmate for  example, shouldn't watch
old demos with "nearly tears in our eyes"... Why not remember the old times?
You don't see the point, we, Torsten and me, know each other  since 7 years now,
we droved to parties, met friends, worked together in the same band, we saw many
people leave our lines, people that  also were friends sometimes. While watching
those demos we just remembered back, to funny events, but also to sad happenings
too... Yes, Seb, I'm  a bit sentimental from time  to time and after seeing some
people just on parties, why not spending some minutes  in watching old demos, we
mostly bound memories on them, and what's the problem in remembering back?

Oh man, surely  you don't like it to see someone being  inactive, but still open
his mouth... don't forget, I never weared pink glasses and will never wear them.
Who  decides who has to lament  about something? Who has the right  to say, that
inactive people must shut up? As you can see I'm back...

...and I needed a bit longer, just because sometimes I saw no big sense in doing
so, just as several quarrels about clones or something  where fighted out... but
finally I decided to do so, just  to show that there are also people around that
aren't as fanatic as some others, who don't running afterwards some small trends
set  by other fanatics. Meuhi... I'm back... here and  now, even if some  people
surely will dislike it, but I don't care about it!

Back to the review... I enjoyed  reading the scene  corner, esp. the interviews.
Hehe, I read an  interview with our new coder, kewl ;) and the  other interviews
as well. The reviews  were quiet ok too, but a  short read at  all, there wasn't
much around to review the last months, I know.

Interesting to me were also some views  onto the scene, esp. the  article by the
pissed off STS... just some hint... hej Seb, don't you think other people aren't
pissed off by your comments sometimes as well? Hey man, rage is  the motor! Your
sucky comment in your party review forced me to sit hours in front of my machine
just to finish this damn issue of UCM... Thanx, hehe...

Further to mention are the 8bit demo reviews (I missed screenshots!), the review
corner  of game music cd's  and some  stuff  written  in the  mixer (making your
computer life easier... huahua).

All in one  a nice mix  up of articles, no question. It gives you  a fairly long
read... not long enough for me to reach the final words...

"ALIVE!"... hmm... the first issue looks quiet  like UCM... hehe, but  using the
same shell  isn't a big  problem... it features enough  possibilities  to create
something other, as this issue of  UNDERCOVER  shows. Anyway, "ALIVE! one" lives
from the nice intro, the good menu musix, the fairly ok ammount of articles that
are given by a lot of writers. Because of the many people included the mag don't
got a special's people touch. It also doesn't smells like MAGGIE (hehe).
Just to say, they did a good first  issue, offered a high level  and we will see
if they can hold up that quality...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
contents........  8o % - about 7o articles, several interesting themes, scenish'
shell........... ------- what to say, the same as ours ;) no rating!
shell grafix....  7o % - quiet ok, but I miss some colours...
shell musix.....  9o % - cool soundtrack and chippies without nerve factor...
loader pic......  8o % - good, too short shown (you can find it in the mag...)
intro...........  75 % - a nice intro with good chips and piccie, lacks design
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
overall.........  79 % - a good magazine, very scenish', get it!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before I  forget, some extras  just as some coding  related things  and a polish
translation of the EIL invitation appearing as well.

.tSCc.                                                                   moondog
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------