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            ***************             * DEMO REVIEW *             *      by     *             *   NEPTUNE   *             ***************  this month i have two demos t..."

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<pre> ***************
* DEMO REVIEW *
* by *
* NEPTUNE *
***************

this month i have two demos to review,
one called "demoslagerek #01", by mr.
fox, and another called "hard target" by
paradize.

so flip that page and let's get into
it.......

DEMOSLAGEREK #01
MR. FOX

well, i think those are the right names,
anyway. see, this demo is written in a
language which, being a quick thinker,
i soon realized was NOT ENGLISH!

so i couldn't read any of the scroll
texts, and it is only from the directory
that i worked out the name of the demo.

and not a bad demo at all, by the way.
i just wish i could have read the bloody
scrolls!
* intro: it starts off like dutch breeze
did, with text popping up at different
spots all around the screen. it was
also quite slow, so i had to sit there
and wait for all this hungarian stuff
to go away before the demo started.
once the text finished, quite a nice
logo flashes up, giving the name of
the demo and who made it.

* the next bit was a fli plasma, which
was very good. also, of course, a
scroll and another huge "fox" logo
below. quite good music, too.

* unusual but good tune in this part.
a picture of a sunset, with a silhou-
etted person. and across the whole
screen, a HUGE stretcher scroll which
stretched along with the raster lines.
probably the largest stretcher i've
seen - covers the full screen.

* this next part had a scroll on the
top line, and at first i thought that
was it! but about 30 seconds in, a
large plasma fills the full screen.
then the plasma sits there for about a
full minute before it starts moving!
but eventually, it does start wobbling
around the screen, and it's probably
worth waiting for. i don't like
plasmas that much myself, but even i
thought it looked pretty good.

* some hungarian writing up the top, and
some fairly average raster effects
below. a nice part to watch though.

* this bit has a cube rotating constant-
ly up the top, and you can change its
speed with your joystick. similar ras-
ter effects to the last bit. a fairly
enjoyable routine.

* the next part is quite innovative- a
whole heap of sprite scrolls fill the
screen from top to bottom, going into
both borders. they all say the same
thing, and the effect is quite strik-
ing. marred by a flicker near the
bottom, but still a very original idea

* i'm not sure what the name of the
effect in this part is, but it looks
good anyway! the "fox" logo in the
centre of the screen seems to shimmer,
and ripples run along it constantly.
you know what i mean.

* this guy seems to love HUGE scrollers.
another one is in this next part,
filling about three quarters of the
screen. there are some raster effects
behind it which flicker a bit.

* remember that song "don't worry, be
happy"? it forms the theme music for
this part, and it's probably the best
thing about the part. the code's just
raster effects that everyone has seen
before; and a stray graphics character
also adorns the screen for some reason
(that little checkerboard character on
the "b" key), which doesn't help.
* after pressing space for about 10
minutes in the last bit, i finally
hit reset and loaded this part up
myself. it features an effect which
i hadn't seen before, but i wasn't
missing out on much. lots of colours
swish around everywhere, and that's
about all that happens. wow. NOT.

* the last part finishes the demo with
a whimper rather than a bang. text
scrolls up the screen giving the
credits, and i think some greetings.
it is quite jerky. then it stops and

the screen goes black. and after you
sit there for a while waiting for
something to happen, you realise that
it's over. i'd rather see them save
the best bit till the end of the demo.

rating for this demo: i'd give it about
six and a half out of 10. most of the
effects are nothing new, but the ones
which are new are good and original. on
one of the plasmas the scroll mentions
a "world nevu demot", which could mean
"world first" in hungarian. so, summing
up, this effort is a mixture of some
really good and some really average
parts. i found it annoying that you
quite often couldn't press space until
a couple of minutes into the part; also,
several parts had bad flickers and
glitches in them. still, the general
standard was high, with good music and
graphics, and nicely executed routines.
another stylish feature is the way that
the parts fade out slowly instead of
just vanishing and loading the next bit.
so even though i would have liked to see
it finish more spectacularly, still a
fairly enjoyable piece of computerised
entertainment.

HARD TARGET
PARADIZE

i quite enjoyed this demo. obviously
there have been some rumours circulating
the scene that this group, paradize, is
dead, and they have come out with a demo
to disprove the gossip. only six parts,
but the standard of those parts is quite
high.

so flip the page for a part-by-part
description.......

* the demo starts off in silence as a
pair of full-screen pics are display-
ed. the first features a couple of
paradize logos, and in between them,
the words: "we are not dead". then,
for those of us who don't think very
fast, it says, "we are still alive".
the next picture is a drawing of a
girl's face. she looks rather like
someone trying to look sexy and fail-
ing.

next up, the screen goes black, and
you press space a few times. then you
wait a while, press space a few more
times, wait some more... and after
sitting there for about three hours,
wondering why it took so long to
uncrunch, i realised that my copy was
bugged and loaded the next bit myself.

* the second part starts off with anoth-
er full screen picture. it shows a
woman standing naked (except for a
black patch which i assumed was a
loincloth). behind her is a huge
roaring beast like a lion with dragons
wings. it wasn't wearing any clothes
either. but who's going to argue with
something that looks like that?

the main part then starts, which is
very good. there are some bouncing
sprites, and text at the bottom of
the screen... but the best bit is the
effect up the top. it looks like
a checkerboard, with holes where the
black squares should be: and through
those holes, you can see another,
smaller, checkerboard beneath, and
both boards are moving at once, if you
can imagine that.... and it looks very
nice indeed! a good start to the demo.

* in this part, there is a PARADIZE logo
up the top, with a HARD TARGET logo
swinging and bouncing across it. down
the bottom, there is the usual effect
with stars moving across the screen
at different speeds, and also an upper
scroll which swings from side to side
and can be sped up with the joystick.
sounds complicated, doesn't it?

* the next bit is probably the least
interesting. most of the screen is
taken up with addresses to contact,
and the only things happening are some
sprites sinussing around up the top,
and a 2 by 2 scroll down the bottom.
also down the bottom, it says "wait
for the shocker"..... so i waited, and
i waited, and nothing at all happened.
maybe that's the shocker?

* this bit is dominated by a full screen
picture of a guy standing doing noth-
ing except trying to look tough. along
the left side of the screen, a scroll
moves upwards, flashing and rippling
in the shape of a sine wave. you have
to tilt your head sideways to read it
as it moves up. due to a bug, the next
bit doesn't load when you press space.
* the last bit is the best bit, as it
should be. there is a large sprite
scroll over the top of some rasters,
and a swinging paradize logo... and
up the top, a scrolltext with a
difference! the letters come along
one by one, appearing in the distance
and slowly growing to their full size.
all this is very smooth and very
enjoyable to watch. down the bottom,
the words "and don't forget paradize
is not dead" flash on and off. and
after seeing this demo, i'd have to
agree. a fine effort.

rating: about 8 or 9 out of 10. like i
said, it doesn't take that long to watch
this demo, but "short and sweet" defin-
itely applies. the paradize crew have
done well to get themselves noticed
again after what must have been a long
break.

----------------------------------------
that's all. i hope you can get hold of
these demos and have a look for your-
self. until next month... l8r!
NEPTUNE/TSR
PS. anyone who needs more contacts: send
to me for a 100 percent reply.</pre>

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Jazzcat: Created page with "
*************** * DEMO REVIEW * * by * * NEPTUNE * *************** this month i have two demos t..."