itt we do new reviews of old packs

(Bursurk_Lurk) Blurks OP 2 - farts
(Bursurk_Lurk) Pyramid - boring
(cetaka) Never Say - cetaka would probably renounce this file now but it's Flawless and the song is nifty
(dondon151) Break the Sword of Justice v2 - functional as a scoring file but no fun at all, overfreezed and not very creative or anything redeeming c:
(dondon151) Fighting - i forget
(dondon151) id - i wanna restep this cuz the song's dope and the file doesn't seem very expressive (see: for seasons)
(dondon151) Tank! - one of my fave dondon files, actually pretty solid and i like the song
(GLoVE) Endless Sacrifice - glove was at a peak for this pack. took all the concepts he'd been developing as his signatures from smg2 and odi1 and polished them into a few near-perfect files. they might not have the original ~ingenuity~ or annoying whorability (caused by sloppy difficulty spikes) of under a glass moon and universal mind, but in my mind this is one of his best works. and i don't even like dream theater
(GLoVE) Metropolis Pt. 1 - see above
(GLoVE) In the Presence of Enemies Pt. 2 - see above
(John11) Party in the Shop - fluff file
(JX) Colored - really neat simfile with, you guessed it, color; swingy and fun and has a trill yo
(Kil) Lakeside - top tier quad bait. an argument for 1m copypasta files
(Kn33groW) Cold Heart - god some patterns are so annoying. in general though the 16th jacks + 24th bursts are pretty fun. song's poopy
(Kn33groW) Healing Vision [Angelic Mix] - one of the better uses of mines out there, wasted on a pretty boring file/song
(Kommisar) The Dirty of Loudness - i forget :v
(linus) F - closest linus came (before I'm So Drunk) to a clean, accessible file
(malice) Reflection into the EDEN - really terrible imo. song never elevates its bombast levels past 'hella chill' and the steps do the exact opposite. probably didn't need to be stepped by anyone, LEAST of all Malice rofl. dude knows how to put One Random Arrow To Every Sound but it just don't work here
(malice) Soliton Beam - boring
(Necros) Azul - top 20 all time simfile (both oni and beginner)
(Necros) Love Generation - this one's more typical of necros. proficient to be sure but seriously lackluster. fine as the pack's eurobeat quadbait file i suppose
(PatashuvsGLoVE) The Dark Eternal Night - both charts are very, very good but GLoVE's is inevitably stronger imo, and including Patashu's really emphasizes it's strengths: the solo and miscellaneous 32nd js are a dozen times cleaner, and the left jacks in the beginning create Perfect Tension. it is cool, however, to see where the two chose to step the song almost identically (such as in the 24th run with left hand trills).
(Stargroup) Planet Karma - ahhhh this divisive beast. essentially a running joke now, at the time it really was a feat of detail-obsessed stepping. it's dubious whether stargroup deserves all (or even most) of the credit, with I believe JX and yesssss doing most of the syncing legwork in the solos. but it's still a truly epic file~
(Stargroup) Castaway - meanwhile, in other stargroup contributions......................
(t0ra) Foreplay - t0ra's style is pretty inimitable and this file is really good
(t0ra) Gentle Stress - mines? i don't remember
(t0ra) Primitivism - i've only played edit and it's a swell annoying chunk of scoring file. some cool parts but mostly it screams of 'player who's not that good trying to make a really hard file' and it suffers in awkwardness for it. perhaps oni is better off.
(tsuka) Dream to Nightmare - waste of a song, thanks for the restep cetaka rofl
(Velious) Caring Dance - a bit fluffy and basic but no severe complaints
(Velious) Nightmare - while not the most elegantly patterned file, the structuring makes it a success. it creates a perfect balanced difficulty for intermediate players to full combo then AAA, and expert players to AAA then SDP then quad. also nicely conducive to rates. the progression of difficulty in little, clear-defined movements (8th jumps -> short bursts -> long freezes -> long js -> short bursts) is terrific. probably entirely accidental but this file's sticking around for a long ass time regardless lol
(Yesssss) Exospacial Psionic Aura - i would have stepped this rather differently but that's moot because the file's really good anyway. a perfect stepmania song with complex, varying and yet not-unintuitive rhythms
(Yesssss) Parasomnia - ?.?
(Yesssss) Perdition Crisis - great little file, it's a perfect update on Casket of Star. smoother, more intuitive patterns with minijacks and very clever hyper-speedups which express the song Wonderfully
(YesssssvsGLoVE) Biosphere - nicely put together and the song's pretty good, but it suffers from simply being overlong and stepped in too straightforward of a fashion (layering 101)
(Z3ratul) Crystal Ann v2 - lol my friend and i used to have rate wars on this back in the day. randomly patterned sort of file but the basic rhythms make it engaging enough to score on
(GLoVE) A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation - brilliantly stuffs all those jacks right into the beginning so you roughly know how you're going to score within 45 seconds (think almost there edit. very effective technique) and then you just gotta worry about HOLY SHIT I BETTER NOT FUC THE REST OF THIS UP. hats off
(cetaka) Aztec Templing - probably the weakest cetaka file of all time. awkward and unfun, if perfectly orchestrated to not let you AA no matter what
(Patashu) Bargain - patashu's occasional files like this (see also: bumpy genital) are my favorites. you can tell how fucen clean his patterns are when you up the music rate a couple of points and they still flow smooth as silk. perfect simfile.
(cetaka) Carpet Muncher - self-proclaimed first good use of mines lmao. file's inventive and fun. nicely constructed as a lower-level FC/AAA chart and has some of cetaka's best burst patterns. sole complaint is slight awkwardness in the longfreeze + 16th patterns
(Z3ratul) Cooking by the Book -
(Hayden) Crow's Ghost -
(Bursurk_Lurk) Darkwing Duck -
(Rebirth) Electro Rush X8 -
(HST) Fuurin -
(malice) Heavenly Garden -
(IAmMe) I Hate Jimmy Page -
(Patashu) Incident 01 -
(GLoVE) Insomnia -
(Patashu) Lawn Wake IV -
(Zaghurim) Luna Clock -
(aperson) Pscicicite -
(cetaka) RAN -
(Patashu) Session -
(dondon151) Shylph -
(dondon151) Snow Cone Heaven v2 -
(Reach) Terminal Strike -
(t0ra) Tsugaru -
(Zaghurim) Usatei -
(cetaka) Vatstep dsp -
(Yesssss) Vibratile -
(stargroup) We Met Dat Night -
(DJ_Ossa) Wrapped Around the Pole -

(Breekan) And Then We Kiss - not bad, mostly generic. about as good as a file for this song would have been and it's decent quadbait I suppose
(JS) Atmos Break - sweet sweet fun even though it doesn't always make perfect sense and some parts are a real pain to MA
(DJ_Ossa) Belladonna - despite the slight difficulty bursts with the jacks this file is a classic and one of my favorite Ossa files
(Torrent) BF2014 - okay, I actually really love this file. what can you say? it's a total octane rush even now. and to be fair there are actually quite a few patterns I like in this.
(Rebirth) Border Of Maximum - actually a lot better than I was expecting though some jacks were overly hard given the song and other sections were a bit underlayered
(Kn33grow) Brain Storm - the minimalist attitude here is accurate but it just..grates for some reason. maybe it's because the song feels so rich. anyhow not a bad file but not over the moon about it
(Torrent) Comfort Betrays - see the other Torrent file. this file's a bit more accurate though
(malice) Demon's Carnival - a tad too simple for me. buildup's quite good however. I always like malice's busier files more (see: Going My Subway)
(t0ra) Dick Jazz - haunts scoreboards even to this day
(Tsuka) Enigma - short but flawlessly stepped. speedup is incredible to hit
(dondon151) envelope - one of my favorite dondon files. chill yet engaging
(Dew) Faith Is For The Transient People - parts of this I actually enjoyed a lot, other parts are just....ucky (the 32nd bursts, the right-hand bias on some of the patterns).
(Exige) Flowtation - love this file even though it was taken straight from 2006
(Rebirth) Gekkou - there are things about this that immediately stick out as a bit egregrious and that I would have done differently, but the dynamics sell me on it completely. no shame here
(Malice) Go Beyond - very well-done for what it is and some really neat stuff in here, but suffers a bit from having to be directly compared with Patashu's all-out approach. as is it's still a very good scoring file and I personally thing it's one of Malice's best files
(dondon151) Hunter's Etude - quite good
(Rebirth) Hyper Exige - mostly the song's fault if anything; the entire middle section just plods without anything to latch onto. end gets semi-interesting with the few quick solos, but otherwise kinda a sedentary file
(Velious) Inscrutable Battle - weird file. should be snoozy because of how easy it is, but the groove of the rhythms makes it a lot more interesting. end is super cool too, only complaint is the random overlayered parts/jacks (you barely have any jumps in the file so why are there five of them coming up all of a sudden)
(stargroup) Jungle - really cool vibe but broken by some egregriously awkward parts (almost every single 32nd burst, the random grace note thing near the end that is basically a quad but impossible to quad hahahahaaaa)
(Kommisar) Kamaitachi - still pretty fun though slightly choppy. who 'da thunk this guy would go on to revolutionize the game for the next five years?
(Tsuka) Kaze No Shi - not my cup of tea. kinda unengaging (though the beginning was p. interesting) and patterns could be a lot better. I feel like this file would have played better then than now
(Exige) kicks! - this file has aged quite well, like most Exige files (!!)
(dondon151) Maid's Pocket Watch Of Blood - good scoring file, replayed this quite a bit. nothing to say really it's good and it still holds up
(MacG) Mellann - I feel like of mac's x-mod files, this one holds up the best. the gimmicks fit the song very well, and the steps are fun for both index and spread. some really innovative stuff in here and it has a lot of replay value
(kn33grow) Memories - I like this a bit more than the other Kn33 file in this pack. a bit overintense but rhythms are very well expressed and file flows well
(Rebirth) Nanairopanda - paint vomit! struggles a bit with the expression-y phrases in the song because of the way Rebirth layers normally, but still a boatload of fun and one of his best files imo. he really hit a peak with this pack
(GLoVE) Not Again - if you wanna know where NTM and Baq got all those neat ideas for guitar files...little piece of stepmania history right here. a bit more mellow than GLoVe's other files but not to be messed with--it's definitely an important file, but I have others that I personally enjoy more :P
(jimerax) Piano Forte - certainly well-known and very popular, but that certainly doesn't mean it's great..has scoring value but I really don't feel like this captures the song very well.
(Necros) Poodle - one of the quintessential Necros style files: simple with some unexpected twists. the way he spun gold out of songs like this had quite an influence on steppers like myself, Gundam, Kommi, and pretty much every other dude who started making files from 2008-2011.
(Dew) Red Lucifer Rising - I've played this a grand total of twice. both times for scoring. it's servicable, some very hard parts, nice song, but ultimately the length kinda kills it.
(dondon151) Rescue! - one of my favorite dondon151 files, probably one of the best in this pack, and one of my favorites. captures the song incredibly well--none of the bursts/jacks ever feel gratuitous and the tension level is always perfect. how to make epic files 101.
(Yesssss) Rock 'N Rocks - neat file but feels a bit too overwhelming at times. mines are probably why
(dondon151) Scarlet In The Dream - polyrhythms
(Necros) Second Heaven - the way this file is layered should make it feel outdated, and yet it doesn't feel that way at all. has aged quite well.
(Rebirth) Setsujou! - damn it stop putting random dumpjacks in your files when I'm enjoying them Rebirth. otherwise, one of his best files
(Necros+leadafro) Tribe Attacker - really...choppy file. does not fit together very well.
(Malice) UNON - never really enjoyed this file sorry

0-
100 Sec Kitchen Battle- this is the best austin powers file ever
3y3s-
seriously though this file's fun as hell
8 Bit Beach Dreams- 8 Bit Bitch-Ass Dreams
ANGRYGERMANPHANTOM- nice oldschool file ilu chris
Ars Morendi- easily one of my all time favorite files EXCEPT FOR THOSE GODDAMN 64TH BITS IN BEGINNER YOU ASSHOLE
Balloon Park-
Being- dammit this file is really good but you had to screw it up with those jacks
Beyond Abilities- too many notes
Cherry Blossoms of Sumizome- yuyucow
Blue Concerto- really well done but good god i fell asleep
@- http://www.welcomethelight.com/2010/...-canada-video/
Croqel- A+
Cybertron-
Dark Chancellors Secret Robot Dad Dick- really fun file, really great song. I mean fuc, Megaman 3 is my favorite game ever.
Day- flashbulb sounding song, shit file.
yup, it's noon
Evans- cool file despite the fact u look like shit
Famicom Selecta- THIS FILE IS SUCH COMPLETE BS but i love it to death <3 u mocher
Fermion- interesting MA file, neat song too.
Futsuu No Uta- legit the only Mosaic.wav file i've ever enjoyed
Get Down- couldn't tell if this was a file or ur name spelled out in poop on a window dude
Heretics and Killers- lmao i remember moches not playing this for religious reasons
HYPERDR!VE-
Infinity Of Our Love- hi lurker
actually not bad. interesting enough.
Loud Electronic Ferocious- this is the weirdest armin van burren song ever
Love Ward- i have this weird mental image of you dancing around and getting ready for school to this song dude
Luna Clock-
Men's Milk Booster Rifle- bs as **** but i love it and you
moonshine- nice enough
More More More- how about less, noon
Mugen-
mystic 11- cool to see someone stepping The Doors, man
Now And Forever- layering's weird but that's the song's fault, not yours
One Phrase Blues- HEY Cool a good file. nice. a+
Person Who Conceives Frenzy- POLYRHYTHM PISS OFF PACK
Picking Flowers At Night- 4 Minutes Oni
Programmed World- nice xmod file. fun and replayable
Return Of Salieri- yeah i don't think ur salary is going to return after a file like this bud
Roppongi Rumble- The Air That I Breathe v2
SOLORD STATE SQUAD- ****ING GOLD A++++
Song Of Ashley- i legit miss midare and the old smscores thread
Sound Of Giallarhorn- NICE JACKS
Storm Eagle's Stage-
The Dark Blowhole- ur a blowhole
The Exit Track- i'm so glad BX died so i never have to see you ever again
The Sound Of Truth- you layered drums in a guitar solo 0/10
Title- Ending- probably one of the more pointless files i've ever seen but ey whatever floats your boat
White Tornado-
YMCK Bullshit-

(Mr Bob) Marmalade Reverie - Lot of missing notes, some faulty PR in places, and an inconsistent use of mini-freezes. Otherwise not terrible. 3.5/10

(scylaxx) Mei - The inconsistent layering is cool in some parts for obvious climax theory, but others it's just a blatant mistake. That being said, it's definitely one of the stronger files of this pack. BG changes are a nice touch. 7/10

(ddrace) Mendes - Oh yeah. NOW I remember why I restepped this. This file was littered with errors in every place imaginable. Sorry bro. Your cool beard won't save you this time. 2.5/10

(roar) Midnight - Starwolf vs Roar. I remember this battle. The underlayered errorfest vs the overlayered errorfest. IMO both files are pretty bad. This one at least has the redeeming quality that over 50% of the notes are justified for being there. The climax theory in the beginning is nice though.
3/10

(rshadow vs buizel) Mithos Yggdrassil, Final Destination - Gah. I missed so many notes in this file. I've gotta do a V2 at some point and nail those climaxes down. 4.5/10

(trumaestro) My Happy Overheat - God, Noon's backgrounds are already making my head hurt today. NONE OF THEM HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE SONG.
File goes back and forth between being kinda cool and being a note shitfest with absolutely no warning. I disapprove. 4.5/10

(synexi) of course you need and need cheese - Definitely your best file in this pack. Well done, patterns are clean to hit, climax theory used well. 7.5/10

(trumaestro) over the rave F.O.R. Remix - The jacks in the middle of this file make me ragequit evertime. They have no business being there, since the sound they go to is damn near inaudible. 4/10, but only because the rest of the file is pretty good.

(kommisar) Owni - I like the beginning with the jacks, but the file just gets too damn repetitive after that. Tis mostly the song's fault though. *shrugs* 5.5/10

(kommisar) Perfect Blue - Ah this is the kommisar we know and love. File is technically correct I guess, but is extremely generic and repetitive. 4.5/10

(torrent) Play this in audiosurf - I actually remember playing this file way back when. The color note walls did not need to be there then, and they don't need to be there now. Totally ruin what is other than that a pretty alright file. 3.5/10

(yotipo) Popo Runaway - Ah yeah I remember now. Noon released this pack before we could get the bugs out. Such as this file.
File itself isn't bad. Couple PR issues and some bad note placement in some, but can't generally complain. Really wish we got that 3430300300bpm thing out of there though. 4.5/10

(torrent) Promised Land - Couple of missed notes here and there, but really not bad. A bit bland, but not bad. 5/10

(cyrenics) Pure Ruby - I remember liking this file way back when. Oh how things have changed.
Biggest problem with this is the blatent underlayering. It's so easy to turn this into a normal layered file; one that isn't stepping every concievable sound but is also getting the entirity of the melody as well as a good portion of the background. Also some PR issues. 3.5/10

(Mr bob) Real - Straightfoward and clean. A bit repetitive, but once again, tis the nature of the song. 5.5/10

(trance core) Shangai Alice of Meiji 17 - If it wasn't for the underlayering in parts as well as those mini trills, I would really like this file. It's a shame we didn't work more on this back then. 5/10

(trumaestro) Ska de Chocobo - Beginning is repetitive to the point of eye-gouging, but after that it gets alright. This file makes me appreciate Revolver's Rap de Chocobo in the VGMPP a hell of a lot more. 4/10

(trance core) Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom - Nuclear Fusion - Except for a couple PR issues, this was actually a pretty good file. Kudos. 6/10

(Noon) Sora iro days 8-bit - Been waiting for this one. The only file in the pack we all flat out rejected. *cracks fingers*
First off, the jump usage is totally inconsistent. Then we have hold lengths being too long, a blatent disregard for PR in parts, and a couple unneeded notes in the bursts.
Also this is quitting out halfway through.
1.5/10

(buizel) The Air that I Breathe - God I spent forever on that color guitar solo.
Everyone needs their overlayered technical dump. This was mine. Technically correct. Cool to play? Probably not. 4/10

(XOX) The Illusionist - Biggest 2 problems with this are a disregard for PR, and inconsistent layering. Had some decent potential, but said potential wasn't met. 4/10

(NTM) Sound of Truth - I should step this next. Seems that everyone else has a file for this.
This was actually one of his better-done files in this pack. I do like his cuts of most of these songs as well. 6/10

(Synexi) Strong Jaegar - Those 24th jumps are a bit of a pain in the ass to hit, but nice file. Shows me what I did wrong with my pad file haha. 6.5/10