PIC:barclip2.ilbm

CL9:     Assembly Production Review,
CL8:In Focus: Mental by PUSH Entertainment
PIC:barclip2.ilbm

CL4:             By Zerox/Gods

CL7:The Assembly 2003 - www.assembly.org

CL1:When: 7th to the 10th of August 2003
Where: Helsinki/Finland

CL7:Introduction

CL1:Another summer, another edition of the
Assembly  party.   But  before I write
more  about  that,  I also have to say
that  this  summer was pretty much the
same  as  the  previous  summers, some
cool  scene  events  were organized in
various European countries.

CL0:In  addition  to  the  Assembly party,
some  of  the  other scene events that
should  be  mentioned are the Symphony
party  in  Poland,  and the Underscore
party  in  Sweden.   We can't say that
these  parties were pure Amiga events,
but at least there have been some good
Amiga  contributions  in  all of them.
In  addition  there  were  some  Amiga
contributions  in  parties such as the
Euskal  party in Spain, the Syndeecate
-   Apocalypse   party  in  the  Czech
Republic   and   the  Evoke  party  in
Germany to mention some.

CL1:However,   I   did  miss  some  summer
parties  that  didn't  take place this
year, like the TRSAC party in Denmark,
the   Solskogen   party   in   Norway,
Lobotomia  in  Finland, the Flag party
in  Hungary, the Slach party in France
and  probably  some  more.  At least I
haven't  heard about any releases from
these parties.

CL0:I  have  to  admit  that there haven't
been  as  many contributions as in the
previous years this summer, and in any
case,  I'll just focus on the Assembly
party and mainly on the Mental demo.

CL1:Just  as  last  year  some of the best
productions  during  the  summer  were
released  at  the  Assembly party.  At
this  party  the  russian-based  group
Push Entertainment released a 4k intro
called  Pop  (Humus  4).  Again it was
done  by  Exploder  which  presented a
great  intro  which came second in the
combined  Amiga/PC  intro competition.
It's  definately one of the highlights
of  the  summer parties.  The intro is
like   its   predecessors,  with  fast
effects   and  now  with  even  better
textures.   The  two  norwegian groups
Ephidrena  &  Spaceballs joined forces
to  produce  another 4k intro together
that  came  fifth in the compo.  It's
called  Fistpig  and  also  quite good
displaying  2d and 3d effects.  Slummy
did  the  effects  and  Loaderror  the
music    and   soundengine.    Another
production  from  the  same  party was
delivered  by  the  finnish  group  dA
JoRMaS,   they   came   third  in  the
combined   oldskool  demo  competition
with  Ht.   A  demo with no stunning
effects, but some nice ideas.

CL7:Mental Review

CL1:The  demo Mental by Push Entertainment
was  released  at  the Assembly party,
and  the demo came 4th in the combined
PC/Amiga    competition.     It    was
naturally  the  best  Amiga entry.  As
written   above,  the  coder  of  Push
Entertainment, Exploder, also released
a 4k-intro called Pop (Humus 4) at the
same  party.   It  came  second in the
combined intro compo.

CL0:Mental  is  definately  the  best demo
ever  from Push Entertainment, a group
known  for  their  amazing  4k and 64k
intros.

CL1:Mental  is a rather big demo, it lasts
around  4  minutes  showing 26 parts I
would  say,  and  the  file  itself is
around 15 mb.

CL0:Let's start the real review.

       PIC:df1






CL1:The demo kicks off with a star effect.
We  see  a  blue  star coming from the
left  in  the screen, and it's getting
bigger  and  bigger.   We  see a light
reflection, and it's synchronized with
the  music when the star vanishes from
the screen.

CL0:The  next  effect  is  very  colourful
indeed.   From  one center we see lots
of  "pieces"  twisting  and zooming in
all   directions.   It's  almost  like
we're inside a room.

CL1:Afterwards  we see a bass-element in a
loudspeaker.   Some  blurred  bobs are
jumping  up  and  down  to  the music.
It's nicely synchronized.

CL0:Then  it's like we're in space.  We're
zooming in this weird bluish pattern.

CL1:Suddenly  a  cogwheel  (toothed wheel)
pops  up.  First we see it from above,
then  from the side and last from down
under.

CL0:Now  we  enter a very cool tunnel-like
effect.   Again  I  feel like we're in
space.   The  tunnel  is very colorful
and  stylish.   One  of  the best I've
seen.

CL1:Next  is a landscape effect.  We see a
very detailed mountain, and the strong
light  from  the sun which appears now
and then.

CL0:Again  we're  moving fast forwards, in
this next effect.

CL1:Afterwards  we suddenly move backwards
in  a  beautiful  tunnel-like  effect.
It's   very   colourful,  and  we  see
something     which     looks     like
light-beams.     The    effect    ends
synchronized to the music, quite cool.

CL0:A  great 3d-effect is up next.  It's a
very  detailed  image  of a girl.  She
reaches  out  her  hands  and  then  a
light-ball appears in her hands.  Very
nice.

CL1:The  music  changes to something quite
relaxing  and  we  see  many  dolphins
moving  in  natural  motion.  Dolphins
have   also  appeared  in  other  Push
Entertainment     productions,    like
Dolpins  Dream.   But  what is strange
with  Mental, is that the dolphins are
"swimming" in the air, infact over the
water and beneath the sky.

CL0:Now  we  see  a  very  detailed  water
effect.   The  waves  look   for real.
The sun appears in the background.  We
see  reflections  of  the  sun  in the
water.  Beautiful.

CL1:Then       there's       a       short
electricity-effect, of course in  sync
with the music.

CL0:After  this,  the  music  changes to a
faster  tempo.   We see two lightballs
which are moving/dancing to the music.

CL1:Then  follows  a lot of triangles-like
object which are moving up and down to
the music.

CL0:We  jump to something which looks like
a  3d-temple.   We  see  a  sky in the
background.  Inside the temple there's
a    transparent    and   transforming
ball-like  object.   Then  the  entire
temple is moving around.

CL1:Four  silver  3d-objects are twisting.
Our view is like we follow the objects
from the ground upwards.

CL0:Next we see something which looks like
a  pool,  it's  surrounded by pillars.
The   "water"   in   the   pool  moves
mysteriously around.

CL1:Fast  we  see  a blinking star, before
the next routine pops up.

CL0:We're   now   moving   fast  inside  a
building or something.

CL1:Now  we get to see a colourful blurred
line-cube   which  is  moving  in  all
directions,   it's  being  zoomed  and
rotated.

CL0:Afterwards   a  cool  effect  arrives.
It's  another  3d-cube,  with a mirror
which  is reflecting the surroundings.
Then  a  lion  face  comes  out of the
cube.  Nice.

CL1:Once   again  the  cool  tunnel-effect
returns.   But  now we travel forwards
instead.

CL0:Then  a very detailed and good looking
flame-effect pops up.

CL1:At  the very end, we see the Push logo
and  the group-sign appear through the
flames.     And   last,   the   flames
disappear and then the Push logo fades
away also.

CL7:The Conclusion

CL1:Mental, which is made on classic Amiga
(060  prefered  to  run),  continues a
fine demo tradition on the Amiga.

CL0:The  demo  got  lots  of nice effects,
perfectly  timed to the music.  We get
to see a mix of 2d and 3d effects, and
also some animations.  Even though the
demo  has  some modern touch to it, it
also looks like a demo that could have
been made during the great scene years
of  96/97.   It got a cool atmosphere,
nice  shifts between the various parts
and  is  certainly  among  the  top  3
classic demos of 2003.

CL1:It's    definately    a   demo   worth
downloading and watching many times.

The end.



        PIC:df3
