[SA]Echo

[Ostits]

Fer gods sakes, finally I get into the forums so that I can post my

Ostis Bigass Review on TMS - Echo
Edited by Kert & ExPlosion
Stunts by Brainkiller, ExPlosion, Fugitive, Juan, Kert, Sadness, Tackleberry, Turtle Dick.
Game: GTA San Andreas

Edited with Vegas

HQ Codec/Size: .wmv/122mb

Before Starting:
TMS is getting to a point where hearing about them making videos mean: "Holy Shit, heads are gonna roll". That maybe sounds bad, but what I mean with it is that these days when hearing about a TMS video, your just naturally assuming that it's going to be mindblowing, original and just plain awesome. Because thats what TMS is: Their innovative, their high flyers, their technical wonders, their patience itself. The time that the stunts they do must take is just overwhelming, but then again, it's shown in the videos looks. TMS got the award for best crew of 2006, and I was also one of those who voted for them. The fact that they not only deliver in one game, but deliver in both games, is just the thing thats unique for this crew. Although I will allways see San Andreas as their true game, whatever they say themselves. From the first frames of "Aftershock", to the last frames of "Echo", this crew has been giving out everything they've got. Sure, they have had their share of crap too, but this is what they do, what they burn for. Tho the stunting is not what I see as the best thing of TMS, it's the goofyness and friendlyness that they still have with everyone that I enjoy the most. Tho sometimes, people can think they are too far up the crews own honker, I don't think that they are. Their just doing what they enjoy, and hell, it's awesome to see them do it. And yes, heads did roll with this video. It just made me realise again how easy it is to float up in a bubble of self-glory, until someone bursts it into shreds. This video made me want to do even better in the future, something that I haven't seen in a SA video since... Well... "Illusions". Heads definetly rolled, thank you TMS.

Well, not to become too praising of TMS here, lets get on to the review.

The Intro:
Kert does a little comeback here into the whole editing scene, very nice to see. The idea of a drunk guy walking was a bit bizarre to me at first, I mean at first it's just a guy walking down a street. The thing I enjoyed tho was the names, and the stunters showing in the screen. It's a very nice intro, not the best ever tho, but indeed it worked. The music together with the looks of the intro flowed together good enough to get the job done that every intro NEEDS to do. An intro is supposed to get the watcher into a "Holy shit" stage, making the watcher anxious to see the main part. But back to the drunk walker. He just walks there, until Kert runs over him. And this was actually a bit funny to me, that road does NOT lead to the first stunt, even tho that's the idea. The idea is clear tho, but as I said, it didn't work just like you wanted it. But the idea is nice, and the intro got the job done.

The Main Part:
The main part is a mix of mind blowing stunts to good editing. I could go on and on about the main part and how long my jaw was after watching it, but that would just be repeating what I have said so far. Im going to try and point out obvious things about the main part, as I will go in detail later. The first thing that strikes you about TMS stunting is that they don't seem to be on the same brainwave as the rest of us. For one they seem to think of the most amazing stunts, that most of wouldn't even think of, and just basically do them. Tho in this particular video, that was propably taken down a notch by the simple reason, that the most of them don't stunt SA anymore. I am sure that if they would have actually all stunted SA actively still, we'd have seen a video purely topping everything yet. But the amazing thing is, that already THIS video seems to top everything yet. Then there is another thing too. Another thing that strikes you is that when in a sea of over-editing, we can still find a video with not even half of the effects I usually use looking as good as ever. Just proves that clean editing can be the best editing. All in all, a very enjoyable video. Now, moving on, shall we?

Comments On Stunters:

Brainkiller: It's weird seeing you in SA, it allways is. You having 2 stunts was awaited, and I know how much of a bitch that first p2b is. I tried it for a 24 hour video, "Last Day Off", but didn't get it, tho I was trying it from the other side. I liked this stunt better than the other considering this, and that the rest of the video is also packed with infernus stunts. Now go back to VC and land some heavy shit!

ExPlosion: Every video has it's topper, and by god it was you this time. You did some incredible stuff for this video, totally amazing. I won't even pick a stunt by you, I'll just say that you were the lifeline of the video in my opinion, amazing.

Fugitive: I tought WoW ate your stunting braincells? Well it's at least nice to see you in the video, a shame that we loose another one to WoW.

Juan: It's a shame that you left stunting, but at least its nice to see you again. Another weird thing is to see you in a TMS vid instead of an XSA vid, even if I should be getting used to it by now. Nice seeing you in action again, even if the action accured a long time ago.

Kert: One of the biggest names in SA stunting, and still technically going on. Your first stunt was over the top, and the rest wasn't far behind. Very enjoyable to see you in SA again, and I would like to see you back again, which I hope Ive made clear from time to time.

Sadness: Another stunter thats been gone for a long time, but still managed to get a stunt in. And you did it with style, nice going.

Tackleberry: Now here's a guy who's changed a lot since I last saw him in SA. I try to go back to the time when you were still flying high, but then suddenly quit. But you didn't, and joined The Collective. As time has gone by, you have totally changed. You are now more of a creative and original stunter, with a total change of style. I like your style too these days, going on doing your thing, just like people like kr3mlin, Xtramus and Dannye. And of course, you've quit SA now. A shame that too, but at least I got to see you in this video.

Turtle Dick: Even if I said ExPlosion was the best in the video, you were not far behind. But then again, you've been showing off your incredible stuff for a very long time, and your the only one who can brag on being in every TMS video so far. Those infernus stunts were just mind-blowing, you are sick man. Great job.

Well then, lets move on to some even closer details, shall we?

The Stunts & Editing:

The opening doesn't really appeal to me, I think you did a wrong choice of editing when putting the logo to transition like that. Not a big deal, but it was maybe a small misstake.
01:12 - Kert - Holy shit, great way of opening the video, I forgive you for the logo, this was awesome!
01:20 - Brainkiller - It may not look high, but it's a hard stunt, at least to me it is. Nice.
01:25 - ExPlosion - Never would have occured to me, Ive lost fate in those stunts a long time ago. But they look so damn awesome.
01:34 - Turtle Dick - It has been said that this roof should not be able to be naturally bumped to, but no-one ever said anything about cars. Sickness.
01:41 - Kert - I can't really see if its a psb or a just riding up a packer, but I am assuming it's a psb, and that you can't see anything above the fence, so landing that grind is totally up to patience. Awesome.
01:53 - Sadness - Just popping in and landing something like that shows that you know something about what you do. I like it! Perfect syncing here too by Explo.
02:07 - Tackleberry - I've seen that been naturally bumped, but still it's something that hasn't been shown before, or bumped before. Landing that ramped thing is allways funny to see.
02:16 - ExPlosion - Holy crap, I would have never in a million years tought I'd see that! + Never tought I'd see that roof be naturally bumped.
02:23 - Juan - Well done, I guess those sewers are full of surprises! I am not sure about the effect you used Explo, but it did solve the syncing, and looked good.
02:35 - Turtle Dick - You just can't leave that grind alone? This is what I mean with TMS not thinking like us. They think natural where we think packer. Just great. Great syncing too
02:46 - Kert - I could have sworn Ive seen that before, just don't know where. Awesome stunt, Ive allways wanted to land that ledge.
02:52 - ExPlosion - I think that stunt has occured in every stunters mind, and now you've landed it both with a car and a bike. Makes me wonder why I didn't think of that.
03:06 - Turtle Dick - This is just sick again, I mean bumping like that with cars is just crazy, but still you manage to do it, you crazy turtle you.
03:20 - Fugitive - I think Ive tried that a long time ago, never landed it tho, I hate those bumps. Nicely done!
03:26 - Brainkiller - A nice infernus bump, but using a tank almost took away from it when comparing to the rest. The tree slowing you down was great tho, made it more interesting.
03:33 - Tackleberry - A first of its kind in SA, how long did it take to get this right?
03:40 - Turtle Dick - Again, another one that I just can't think of. Seemed very hard to get too, and not slide off.
03:46 - Kert - Not as impressive as your other stuff, but still nice. Explo keeps up the nice syncing.
03:54 - ExPlosion - You just can't seem to stop, can you? Astonishing bsm, these things are interesting in SA!
04:01 - Turtle Dick - You seem to just pick the crazyest you can find, and then just spend weeks doing them until you do it? Because that's what it looks like. Again, an amazing stunt.
04:09 - Juan - Ive allways wondered a way of landing that stadium, but never did that occure to me. Great stunt.
04:16 - Kert - Ive been looking for a way to get ontop of that too, but why can't I think like this? Nicely going!
04:31 - ExPlosion - I can actually relate to everyone saying that this might be modded, but I know that it isn't. It's just that no-one has ever seen something like this, at this point I think I actually broke my jaw, simply amazing and propably one of the best stunts done in SA yet.

Well, there stops the main part, and we are left in a black frame seemingly mocking our crazy looking eyes and open mouths.

The Outro:
I tought the outro had a very pleasant idea, with the synching and the TMS logo coming out with the texts. It's clean, and its good. Also, Fugitive gained some of his honor back by putting his unmodded p2b up to that building. Kerts wallride was just kickass, and Turtle Dick showed off some nice precision bumping. Overall a nice relaxing outro.

Editing:
ExPlosion had the honors of editing his first crew video, which I know can be a tough job. It's a self-inflicting of "Is this good enough?" feelings that you just have to push away to try and make the video work. I know this, because I myself didn't do a good job on my first big crew video with XSA. I actually rendered 3 different main part editings, which Im still ashamed of. But ExPlosion took over from Fugitive, who originally was going to edit, him being a more experienced editor at that point than ExPlosion. Tho I think Explo went thru the same toughts as I did, he got thru it and produced a good looking video. And thats not an easy job with the SA engine, which propably is partly why people don't like SA videos these days. He also showed me why clean editing can be good. It's the overall syncing of the bumps, the syncs of roofings, the syncs of a tiny little transition that make the video flow maybe even cleaner than any over-edited video out there. With few mistakes, Explo got thru it with style.

Music Choices
The intro song was yelling Kert all the time, it was just his style of song. The main part song was great in my opinion, it was pumping all the way thru the video, just like a main part song in a video like this should. The outro song was maybe disliked by some, but I still find it as a simple and relaxing change to the pumping that was going on thru the whole of the video before. Nice choices of music, nothing hurt my ears.

Summing it up
Well, rounding it up again. To me this video is a great comeback from a slumber that TMS has seemed to be in for some time now, and they definetly did it again. Although I can't help feeling a little sad when watching the video, because to me it is also a bit of a let down. I know that this video has been done with the help of everyones stunts from times way back, and I have allways been looking forward to this video as the last big bang from TMS in SA. Now that it's over, I just sit here wondering if you guys will ever blow the dust of the disc and produce anything like this again. But that is a thing that time will tell, and whatever you do, you will allways be a SA crew to me, even if you continue to only stunt in VC. And as I have been bringing into my reviews a little quotasion line, here you have it: "After a long wait, TMS finally gives in and produces yet another video made in San Andreas showing off the usual TMS level of stunting and thinking, together with the clean editing of Explosion. Echo sure is a suitable name for this video, as it propably does Echo when your standing on the top of the mountain yelling.".

[VaNilla]

Great review Ostis .

[Kingjad]

God damn, titties, that's a hell of a read.

I don't think TMS are done with SA yet though, so don't be so melodramatic about it

[Brulla]

There was some awesome stunting in this video

[Docta Luv]

I personally don't give a flying fuck if a stunt is 100% luck...if it looks cool, it's good enough for me

With that being said, awesome video guys.  There was a cool variety of stuff in there.  Props on the last stunt Explosion!

[Wozzie]

Dling

EDIT: Very Good vid!!!! 10/10  

Kingjad had to come in here and put Wozzie's second post (which was a double post) into the same post. Learn to use the edit function, ya bahookie-banger!

[sony]

WOW, this was awesome it's the best SA vid what I've seen (Ive seen the Amped 2 too, so sorry Expl. ).
The last stunt was very aweome, was kingjad in this?  I cant remember.

[Turtle Dick]

^There are more chances of seeing Aries drinking pepsi than seeing Kingjad in an SA vid.

I love your review Ostits

[Tackleberry]

For every new review you write Ostits, you break the world record in "writing the best review". You can't understand how much I appreciate that you took the time to write that and all your support, thanks mate.

[Brainkiller]

Thanks Ostities  

I hardly ever open SA so  just being a part of the video is great

[Juan]

Thanks Ostities  

I hardly ever open SA so  just being a part of the video is great

LOL same here.  
Damn that stadium pb is so fucking old. I did it when people werent even actively using rads method, I think I was still in XSA atm too.

[Laketown]

That PB is also fucking easy

[Juan]

That PB is also fucking easy

Yes but its the only way to do it, the runup sucks and when i tried it back in the day, not even an fcr or pcj would clear the gap in order to get to the packer, only if you placed a beagle in between but there wasnt a way to break the 2 car rule in SA a year or so ago.

[kr3mlin]

I read Ostis' review and feel cheap for not writing much. But it was an enjoyable video folks, nice stunts from all involved and some cool ideas. Tackleberry i really liked your boat landing and Explo, you had a good vid now didnt you.

Thanks TMS, keep it up and maintain your love for SA (please!!!)

[Ostits]

Just doing my job guys, and kert told me that the intro idea wasn't mean to be taken literally, so I wanted to clear that mistake. Keep up the vids, and I'll keep up the writing