Rebels/Reviews

From ExoticA

Old Rebels (1989-1993)

Mini-BBS-Intro (ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Another nicely designed Rebels intro, this one's even a cut above the rest of the RBS stuff. Nice, clean design and graphics coupled with a bouncy Heatbeat tune make for some very cool entertainment!

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.

Small BBS Intro (ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Another nicely designed onescreen BBS intro from Rebels. This one has a beautiful plasma effect in the background, over which is overlaid some text detailing a few BBS numbers. A scrolltext at the bottom is also featured. Nice.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0. -- Note: Needs KillAGA.

Wild Side BBS Intro (ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Nothing spectacular here, and far from their strongest BBS intro. The show opens with a fullscreen picture, which is the best part, and from then on just plots text onto uninteresting background stuff. This intro announced Mogwie's joining, Analog Kid's joining, and the fact that the French section is NOT dead, despite rumours in some diskmags - among others Stolen Data.

A reset is recommended after running this intro, since it made at least my system highly unstable after being run.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0. -- Note: Needs KillAGA.

On Wheels of Steel (1989, 12.02, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

The very first Rebels intro ever, announcing its formation, must surely be one for the history books. No credits appear anywhere in the intro, curiously enough.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Tragic Magic (1989, 01.05, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

This intro refuses to work on my system, therefore no review!

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0 -- Note: see review.

Swimming (1989, 16.06, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Equalizers, coppers and a scroller. Not much to jump around for. Requires the file TEXT in df0: to work, but otherwise no problems. Finished on an internal meeting.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Sin O`Delic (1989, 07.08, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

This one's a quite simple demo, with the obligatory logo at the top and the obligatory scroller at the bottom :) The scroller's jumping up and down in time to the music, making it hard to read. I'm sorry, but this is uninnovative, boring, and incompetent. Get the picture? The scrolltext of this demo makes me almost believe this was hacked out of Rebels' Megademo...? The release date is assuming it was actually released at the summer conference.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

The Incredible Hulkdemo (1989, 04.09, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Errr...right. A theme demo of that lovable green cartoon character The Incredible Hulk! Well, it's original if nothing else :) The demo has an animated Rebels logo at the top, a digitized Hulk with some spotlights flying around him, and a scroller on the bottom. OK, not exactly revolutionary, is it? One thing that amused me quite a bit was the text before the scroller - 'Mess with the best, Die like the rest'. Seems familiar to anyone? Interpol? Taus' first real demo.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Candyland #30 packmenu (1990, OCS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

The menu for Jake's "Candyland" pack is frightfully ordinary, not offering much different from the thousands of other packmenus out there. Just a blue logo, selection in the middle of the screen by mouse, and two scrollers at the very bottom of the screen. Very very ordinary. The module is not in standard MOD format, may be a packer - no possibility to check yet.

Tested FEL /000-7 /2mb chip, 1mb fast/...

Waterproof (1990, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

"Waterproof" is a multi-demo demo, if that makes any sense :) What I mean is you load the thing, and you're presented with a small demo part from which you can select three other parts.

I only got this to work once on my machine, though I tried numerous times. Therefore credits are only an approximation based on the information I could retrieve.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0 -- Note: See review.

Coma (1990, .03, ECS File)

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Last Dimension (1990, 05.07, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Nice multipart friendship demo. The graphics are functional, and some are even good. Also the tune shows a little potential, but never manages to quite take off. The demo was supposed to be released for the TSL and Red Sector party (which was held 29.06 1990), it says, so it was probably released later then :) Though the demo runs with KillAGA, it is far from perfect.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0. -- Note: KillAGA.

Import Intro (1991, ECS Intro)

Tested A500 /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04. A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

The Hideout Thing (1991, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

This cool little intro was made to announce their new BBS 'REBELS' HIDEOUT'. As far as BBS intros go, this is not half bad, with some plasma-like effect and some cool vectors. Though the demo works perfectly fine on the 030, it's _WAY_ too fast. Also the music replayer seems to choke on the extra horsepower, so KillAGA is hereby recommended even though it's not essential. Why this small 50k intro doesn't have an exit is beyond me.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb cip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Snap! (1991, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

The then-new Finnish division's first production is a fun little demo, rather good for its time...and Heatbeat is Heatbeat. Day By Day was the first Heatbeat tune I ever remember hearing, and placed him firmly in my mind as a talent for the future...and he did not let anyone of us down!

Tested A500 /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04. A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Just Add Water (1991, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Just a one-screen intro from the Finnish division. It contains no release date, but must be somewhere between Snap! (that division's first production) and Heatbeat getting kicked. Anyway, nothing special - just a vector variation and a scroller. Nicely put together, though. Also known as "Instant Intro".

Tested A500 /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/3.0. A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0. -- Note: KillAGA or OCS.

Rebel Without A Cause (1991, .06?, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

With an unusually high amount of effects for a BBS intro, this one kicks off with a respectable picture by new member Krest, based on the title picture of an old game called 'Baal'. Then there are effects, a text plotter and even a sinus scroll! Though the intro works best with KillAGA, a few effects still have (non-fatal) graphical errors. The intro destabilized my system after exiting, so a reboot is definitely recommended after seeing this intro. Paleface and Seen were later the two people behind the runaway success group Melon Dezign.

This intro seems to introduce new member Krest, as well as calling PANTEON 'our new world headquarter'. No release date appears anywhere in the demo, but based on news in LSD's "Grapevine #1" [06/91] that Krest had now joined Rebels, the above date is a rough guess.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0 -- Note: Needs KillAGA.

Aars Intro (1991, 28.12, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Another onescreener this, with a scroller on top, an acceptable logo down the right side and a filled vector object in the middle. Trust me, it's not as bad as it sounds. Design is pretty much as good as it gets for this kind of thing. Music is a chiptune, though quite a dynamic, good little number. This is likely the same intro aka "Glenz".

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.

Claude's Runner (1991/2?, ECS File)

Review by Glenn Lunder

This one's a bit curious... It's just a cartoon picture and a tune. In the picture you can see the following text: 'Claude's Runner. Call Belgium at +32-91334268' and 'A Rebels Product'. Probably a BBS intro of some kind, but it's still a bit weird... Anyway, get it for the tune, which is classic vintage Heatbeat...beautiful melancholy!

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0. -- Note: KillAGA.

99 Boxes (1992, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

A small intro, but with tons of style, this one is mainly based on its animated background, with a lot of small filled vectorboxes and some other moving stuff. Fonts and design are perfectly fine, making this a competent little package. Just the way I like my BBS intros: Short, sweet and to the point!

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.

Swedish Top 30 #5 (1992, ECS Filechart)

Review by Glenn Lunder

This one opens in style, with a fullscreen picture by Hof, showing a semi-naked woman and a cool Rebels logo! The chart system itself is perhaps not the best ever seen, but still nice visuals and audials certainly help the production along. The charts concern the modem scene only, and are of stuff like 'best uploaders'. There's no indication of when it was released other than the tune, which says it's from 1992.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0. -- Note: KillAGA.

Sanity Is Dead (1992, early, ECS Demo)

Review by Glenn Lunder

The only production the ex-Sanity members ever made for Rebels... A remix of the tune "Stagebox" can be found on Jester's musicdisk "Jesterday" for Sanity.

Swedish Top 30 #? (1992, 01.03, ECS Filechart)

Review by Glenn Lunder

This won't run on my machine, so obviously it's hard for me to make a proper review :) Too bad they didn't mention what issue this is in any of the text...perhaps it's in a graphic display?

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0 -- Note: See review!

3 Day Hell (1991-late92, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

I can't really judge this fairly, as I have never actually watched it. The intro WORKS, as such, but the graphics are all scrambled up - even with KillAGA. There is a nice opening logo we get to see, tho'.

No release date appears anywhere in the intro, so the VERY general release date is based on some known facts; the Finnish division's first production was "Snap" (91). Ruben and Nugget were in their new group Movement early '93, so it had to be made somewhere between those two dates. The name of the intro refers to the three days spent making it.

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0 -- Note: See review.

Assembly '92 Partyinfo-Intro (1992, after 25.04, ECS Intro)

Review by Glenn Lunder

Another one-screen intro, this... It's got a vector cube with a moving lightsource and a realtime-rendering fractal on it as the main effect. On top of this there's a one-plane font with various information about the Assembly '92 party. The module was dated 25.04, so obviously this intro was released on or after that date.

Tested A500 /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04. A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

New Rebels (1994-)

Prurient (1994, ECS File)

Tested A500 /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04. A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Switchback (1994, 09.10, AGA Multifile, 2 disks)

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Whammer Slammer (1994, 28.12, AGA Multifile, 3 disks)

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

64k (1996, 06.07, 020+ 4MB Intro)

Review By Glenn Lunder

There's a lot of shading and mapping here, but not much else. There's phong, bump, texture, env... How about something new, people? At least it's competently put together.

The accompanying text file mentions it needs 020+ and 4MB of fastmem, but makes no mention of AGA or ECS... But if it needed AGA there would be no point in demanding 020+ now would there?

Tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.