»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 Hätä. 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»