News :: 15MR: 3D Waterfall Screensaver

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is 3D Waterfall Screensaver (No version information available) by Astro Gemini Software

A note: For this review and all future screensaver reviews, the review will be kept short and expansion will be limited for most cases due to the general simplicity of a screensaver.

As Giveaway of the Day states:

_“A beautiful waterfall setting is waiting for you far away from the noise of the city. Watch the eye-pleasing scenery surrounding this enchanting wonder of Nature. Listen to the melodic sounds of the waterfall bubbling by and see the fish rushing up and down the stream._

This is not just another slide-show or simple flash screensaver. The whole setting was built in 3D from scratch and the quality of animation can rival that of Disney.”

Quick Pros

• Antialias support (Up to 4x)
• Ambiance sounds are pretty good & Grass is gorgeous

Quick Cons

• Hillside really could use bump-mapping—Just not enough realism
• Water could use some sparkle—Could be some ‘splashing’ effect as well
• Water appears to move too fast
• Still installs icons outside start menu directory you choose
• Three icons on the desktop too much

Expansion

As mentioned, I’m not going to go into a great deal of expansion on this application. It is nice there is antialiasing support and the grass looks good, as do the butterflies. The problem is, is that the rest of the scene doesn’t look decently realistic (At least within the confines of current 3D hardware.) On top of what I mentioned in the cons section, I will mention that somehow the top of the waterfall doesn’t look realistic somehow. I can’t put my thumb on it, but it must deal partially with the trench that the water comes out of is way too shallow.

Again, as my usual issue with software from this company; Way too many desktop icons without the option to disable them, and still installs icons ourside the Start Menu folder I chose as well. Why even give us the option if you’re not going to honor your own settings?

Final Verdict

An improvement in 3D features, including the grove of grass and 4x antialiasing is bringing the 3D features from this company closer to current hardware, but still off a ways. While it is more nice than previously tested from this company, I still could never warrant $19.95 for a single screensaver that does not use all the modern features, and even then may be hard to warrant $19.95 for something you’re rarely going to see. Granted, it’d be great to demo at a computer shop, I would expect a screensaver that’s going to show off all the features of the current graphics hardware, and I wouldn’t want to pay $19.95 per system I am demoing. Great download for free if you like nature scenes though. Likely not to stay on my system though; I prefer to use powersave mode for my monitor, rather than screensavers.

Posted by BladedThoth on Sunday, March 18, 2007