The Link 12 Review

            ***************
            * 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.