Tag - Amiga Point of View

It’s been a good while since the last issue of APoV was released (about 8 months give or take) so it was with a mixture of both excitement and relief that I opened up the envelope containing issue 7. Glad to see the old girl is still alive and kicking!

APoV – Amiga Point of View Magazine

This issue we are back to having some proper artwork adorning the front cover with a nice rendition of Bubby from Rainbow Islands. Props to the team for keeping the price at £5 too even though the whole cost of living thing has made just about everything else more expensive.

APoV Issue 7 Contents Pages

This issue leans on retrospective articles about the Amiga’s past including an interview with some of the guys from Graftgold and retro reviews of classics like Rainbow Islands and Space Crusade.

Amiga News

It’s not all about the past though as the News section covers recent events like Perifractic buying Commodore late last year and the upcoming ‘The A1200’ from Retro Games Ltd. (Still haven’t decided whether it’s worth me picking one up!)

Rainbow Islands Review

As befitting a cover featured game, Rainbow Islands get a whopping four page review this issue.

Space Crusade Review

Three pages have also been carved at for a review of the hard-as-nails Space Crusade, a Warhammer 40K game that I never did ‘Git Gud’ at…

G-Wars

It’s not all old stuff though as the recently released game based on the old XBLA title ‘Geometry Wars’ also gets a decent look in. Could be one to play on my Vampire-equipped A500 I think.

PD Games

There’s plenty of other stuff to enjoy too like a look at the CDTV, and PD Games to name but two.

Emulating other machines

There’s an interesting articled delving into Amiga emulation scene. No, not WinUAE but rather emulating other computers like the Spectrum and ST on the Amiga itself.

Fist Fighter

I think the highlight of the mag for me was the scathing review of Fist Fighter. The reviewer clearly had a lot of fun writing this one as it’s littered with witty, deadpan cutting remarks and sarcastic quips such ‘technically a beat-em-up in the same way the Hindenburg was a safe and reliable means of air travel’ and ‘grim, like a truckers fart hanging in the air at a past-its-best roadside diner’. This is definitely my kind of humour.

Looks like an interesting read…

There’s plenty more in the magazine than I’ve touched on here, but suffice it to say that Issue 7 of Amiga Point of View is a great read. As ever, the content is entertaining, fun, and refreshingly self-aware — it never takes itself too seriously, and that’s very much part of its charm.

Where to purchase a copy of APoV 7 from?

If you fancy picking a copy up, Issue 7 is available for the very reasonable price of £5 plus postage via the magazines new ko-fi.com page. Issues 5 and 6 are also still available, along with digital PDF versions of all three if that’s your preferred way of consuming content. There’s even a three-issue bundle covering both print and digital editions, making it easy (and cheaper) to catch up in one go.

After being thoroughly impressed with APoV’s inaugural printed magazine back in January of this year I was thrilled to receive the latest edition through my letterbox a few days ago!

APoV – Amiga Point of View Magazine

How do I know it’s the new issue? Because it says so on the cover – its kind of hard to miss!

APoV Issue 6 Contents Pages

The contents pages confirm this issue’s strong emphasis on the modern Amiga scene with oodles of current game and hardware articles and reviews.

Amiga News

Just like the last issue the magazine is presented across seventy full colour glossy pages and it still costs just £5 which is great value for money compared to some of the competition.

Aquabyss Review

As promised in the last issue there’s an in-depth review of the rather splendid Aquabyss this time around and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Luma Review

Another game getting the full APoV review treatment is Luma – a really nice looking puzzle game that I have to admit I’ve not actually played yet but it’s definitely on my radar now.

Power Glove Reloaded Review

Power Glove Reloaded is another. I remember playing this on the C64 a few years ago and really enjoying it – this ‘reloaded’  version is basically an enhanced edition for the Amiga.

A500 Mini Review

Previously promised Amiga hardware reviews have also made an appearance in this issue, such as the venerable A500 Mini.

PiStorm Review

They also made good on their pledge to feature the PiStorm – a device that really offers a lot of ‘bang for your buck’.

Apollo V4 Review

If the PiStorm is just too lowly and cheap for you then they still have you covered with a nice rundown of the impressive but also jolly expensive Apollo V4 Icedrake expansion.

There’s much more in the magazine than I’ve touched on here. Suffice it to say, issue 6 is a great read. The writing style is just as engaging and witty as ever and the switch to more contemporary coverage is great to see.

Where to purchase a copy of APoV from?

If you’d like to avail yourself of a copy then you can purchase one for the bargain price of £5 plus postage from their itch.io page. Although the page is dormant right now I’ve been assured that it will be live again this coming weekend ready to take orders again.

It’s been too long since I’ve come across a new Amiga print magazine so I was over the moon when I was made aware of a new kid on the block in the guise of ‘Amiga Point of View’ magazine or ‘APoV‘ for short.

APoV – Amiga Point of View Magazine

Technically it isn’t completely new as it existed for a few issues as an entirely digital PDF publication; starting out in December 2003 and ending in 2010 having produced a total of 4 issues over that 7 year period. After issue 4 it went into deep hibernation until recently when the team behind it (the guys behind abime.net no less) kicked things into top gear and brought out a full blown printed magazine.

APoV Issue 5 Contents Pages

So whilst this is the very first printed edition of APoV it is in reality issue 5. The previous 4 back issues can be found and viewed over at the rather splendid Amiga Magazine Rack should you wish to read them. Incidentally this is a terrific resource if you aren’t already aware of it – it contains hundreds of complete scans of past Amiga magazines for your reading pleasure.

Naughty Ones Review

Comprising seventy full colour glossy pages and retailing for just £5 this is a very welcome addition to the, once again, thriving Amiga print magazine arena.

Putty Squad Review

The magazine is packed with reviews of past Amiga games for both ECS and AGA Amiga’s – including the CD32 console.

News

The magazine is unashamedly game oriented with gaming news, reviews and features galore.

If only…

The reviews are where I feel APoV really shines. They feature plenty of colourful screenshots and are very in-depth covering all aspects of the games. The writing style, at least to my mind, is very reminiscent of the classic ‘Amiga Power’ magazine with irreverent jokes, sarcasm and funny anecdotes littering the pages. Make no mistake – this is a good thing and ensured my time spent reading the magazine was as enjoyable as it was informative.

One of my favourite racing games on the Amiga

APoV includes some really great articles with the Magnetic Fields feature being a particular stand-out for me as I love the Lotus Trilogy on the Amiga. ‘Games from Dimension X’ was a fun read too as it imagined a bunch of games that never existed but would have been absolutely awesome if they had.

Emulating the C64 on the Amiga

Another really interesting feature was the Amiga emulation scene and I’m not talking about FS-UAE here either. No, this article covers emulators that run on the Amiga enabling it to emulate various 8-bit machines such as the Commodore 64 and VIC20 computers.

Emulating the VIC too!

It even goes as far as including the likes of the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and even the MSX. Although I was an avid emulator of the Mac (using ShapeShifter) and PC (using PC Task) on my A4000 back in the day, I never tried emulating old machines on it so this was a fascinating read and has given me plenty of new ‘tinkering’ ideas for future rainy days!

If only it was 1996 for real…

In keeping with the irreverent theme I loved the little ‘adverts’ that pop up here and there that take the mickey and made me chuckle. The letters page was also suitably oddball!

This looks like a game I need to add to my collection!

This issue had a big focus on classic Amiga games but the next issue promises to cover more contemporary titles such as Aquabyss, Tenebra and modern hardware such as the PiStorm and A500 mini.

Coming in the next issue…

I had a blast reading through APoV. The game reviews are excellent and the articles interesting and well written (in fact the whole magazine is well written). It seems to have a good balance of news, reviews and features with a writing style that is informal and entertaining. Needless to say I’m really looking forward to the next issue – I just hope I don’t have to wait until I’m drawing my pension to see it!

Where to purchase a copy from?

Until the team knock up their own website from which to sell the magazine, you can buy a print copy of ‘APoV’ magazine for the bargain price of £5 plus postage from their itch.io page. There’s less than a hundred copies available at the time of writing this so if you fancy a copy and would like to support the team and encourage them to work on the next issue then go and grab a copy now!

If you are happy to relinquish the pleasure of owning a real, physical copy of the magazine that you can hold in your hand then there’s also a PDF version available for £2.50.