Review of STS-02: Electric Kool-Aid (By Wie8 of Asenses)
Synesthetics is not a typical group. They have surprised us many times, releasing demos like "Instant Zen" and "Aeon Flux" last year. It is not typical to release demos in reverse order :) Their previous productions impressed me, but their latest work of art with the magic name "Electric Kool-Aid" just kicked my ass in every way. S-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N-A-L visualizations. I'm shocked that this production was entirely made by two people! My article is not long because there is nothing in this demo I can fix, so I can only glorify the demo in all possible ways.
First of all - splendid demo concept. Although everything smells like "Mfx - A Deepness in the Sky" or "A Fire Upon the Deep", this is a fresh breath for the demoscene. You won't find similar effects in the other demos. Let me just say that this is in a class by itself. It's impressive how shaders can transform ordinary boxes and other primitives. I liked their color palette a lot. It's a bit agressive, but matches the music (which accompanies us to the end) perfectly. The interesting model of a space ship is also worth mentioning - it appears in every Synsthetics demo. It's a kind of logo, advertisement or trade-mark for that group. I am sure we will see a space ship in the forthcoming STS-01 demo. :)
The scene with the city is probably the best part of the demo - not that it's unique to that demo, because we could see cities in many prods - but a city was never realized so monumentally :] Need I say more about how superb this demo is? ;) Just download it and see. It is hard to objectively describe it using words and it's hard to find weaknesses in it. Synesthetics showed us their capabilities, but I don't think that this is their "full power"... They know what good design means, they have a unique style, and they do not overact. The demo at once flashes in all possible ways - what a pity that they didn't use anaglyphic mode.... hehe.
What could I say in summary? Above all, I don't recommend that demo to epileptics, unless they have goggles 8-)
Wie8/Asenses