Gods (group)/Reviews
A Few Good Men - A Little Slideshow (1995, 04.06, AGA Multif. Slideshow)
Review by Glenn Lunder
AFGM doesn't have the most impressive coding in the world, and I really don't like the music in this one either... It gives a cold, clinical feel for some reason, and I can in no way manage to be moved by the dire opening sequence. After a few gods - presents - screens, we arrive at the main menu. This is in monochrome, with the thumbnailed pictures choosable by mouse. You can also choose to run through all the pictures in a slideshow mode, if you wish. Another thing that annoys me about this slideshow is the fact that the pictures only stay on the screen for a few seconds, far too little time to get a proper impression of their quality =( I personally had to view several pictures more than once to get a good look, and I much prefer a system where it doesn't return to the menu before you press a mouse button. After all, slideshows are supposed to be about the art, and it really is a problem when you cannot get the time to properly view the art. It's like if a gallery opens its doors, and then the guards push you back out after 15 seconds =) Simplistic code (just music and a graphics shower, that's all) and unengaging music aside, this slideshow is still worth getting for the pictures. Even if the quality is uneven, there are still gems like "Warrior" and "Future Title" to savour...
There are 12 pictures to choose from on the main menu, and we're going to go through them one by one. "Pitstop Title" (64c) is not one of his best, with unrealistic anatomy and hair for a lying-down female, and a real lame 'PITSTOP' logo. "Illusionia" (64c) is much better, a dreamy picture of a girl's face seemingly suspended in the air. Much better hair on this picture. "Levelling The Land" (128c) is a picture of a middleaged man's face. Again the proportions of the face are a little off, though the picture displays a sharer style than in the previous two. The hair looks unnatural here too. "Warrior" (64c) contains a female cartoon-style warrior and a vertical DISC logo, and was probably used as a title picture for DISC #9. This is the best picture yet, as Bridgeclaw seemingly masters the semi-cartoon style much better. Nothing to remark on the full-body proportions, excellent. "Maldi" (64c) is another facial portrait, this time of a smiling black guy. Again, the proportions of the face are way off, nothing much else to remark about this one. "Monster" (64c) is the least impressive of all the pictures included, and looks like an early sketch for an abandoned picture. "No Aloha" (64c) is yet another facial portrait, and this one looks a lot like actor Kevin Spacey to me... but I may be mistaken. In fact, it resembles "Levelling The Land" more than just a little. "Good Old" (64c) is a strange portrait, of a strange man... It shows improved technique, and an almost believable facial proportion (we can excuse a few glitches here, since this is clearly not the face of a normal person). "The God" (64c) has a great gothic GODS logo suspended over a straight-on diabolical face with an evil grin... =) "Steel" (64c) is a cyber-woman rendition, of the kind made popular by a Japanese artist whose name I can't quite remember right now... =) ...damn! Well, anyway, it's a female robot (breasts'n'all), and I'm sure most of you know what kind I'm talking about. "The Curse" (128c) is a much more complete picture than most of the others here, again employing a cartoon style, not unlike what was done for "Warrior". Among the best pictures in this slide. The final picture is also the best of the collection; "Future Title" (64c). This, in a rare departure from his usual people-dominated pictures, depicts a spaceship in (duh!) space... It clearly shows Bridgeclaw's progression as an artist, and serves as the perfect conclusion for an otherwise uneven slideshow.
After clicking the icon for the endpart, we get another little picture with a GODS logo in the background, with an upscroller running over it. The entire slideshow ran without a glitch from floppy on my configuration.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
Jurassic Pack #4 (1996, late, 020+ ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
I'm sorry, but I'm rather unimpressed by Gods' mag. What bugs me the most actually, is how much POTENTIAL there is here, and how little has been made of it. The interviews had so much going for them to be interesting, but fail. Just to think what an editor like Mop could have done to these articles... This just plain and simple doesn't have the 'edge' that's required to be great.
Why on earth it demands a 020 or faster is totally beyond me, since it doesn't contain ANYTHING new that mags in 1990 didn't have. We've seen it before oh so many times...
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.
Jurassic Pack #5 (1997, early, ECS Multifile Diskmag)
Review by Glenn Lunder
The magcode and graphics are exactly the same as they always are, and the articles haven't gotten any better since last time, unfortunately. Not even the intro, provided by Darkage, is very interesting.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.
Energy - Fraction II (1997, 29.03, AGA HD File)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Overall, I didn't find Energy too exciting. Large portions of the opening is made up of vectors, which should have been a lot smoother with this kind of machine power. Also other effects tend to jerk along a little, creating an 'unfinished' feel to the production.
Highlights definitely include the stairwell at the conclusion of the demo, with its bumpmapped walls and envmapped handles :) Other highlights were the two excellent pictures by Typhoon and Bridgeclaw, though the latter looked like it had some raytracing in there...amazingly enough, when you consider the motive! Probably requires some fast.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.
