Borg
Rating: 6
baseq2/players/borg
Intro
At first hearing a model called Borg most will be tricked into thinking.. 'Star Trek baddies meet Quake2 head-on in a cloud of sparks!' But they'll be disappointed, this isn't a Star Trek Borg, this friends is a Cyborg! Cybernetic Fragfests Ahoy! As Jude says 'This is just a case of extreme cybernetics, 'Borg' has taken it too far.' It's not an new genre of models though, many a robotic/cybernetic model has passed by. At least half of the PPMs out on the internet are either robots or cyborgs.
The Model
The model has quite a low polygon count which isn't surprising given that the model is the best part robotic and therefore is expected to be cubic in it's representation.It's good the way that the author has tried to keep away from just using cube like blocks in it's construction, for example the construction of the upper body and waist is primarily octagonal. The feet go more towards a system of four sided polygons but in the end the array of blocks that make up the feet work together well and then go on to help the author in the model's animation.
The addition of the generic arm mounted weapon is good, the construction of the gun makes it imaginable that any sort of projectile could come from it's barrel. If a weapon such as a chaingun was put in the generic gun's place the sight of seeing it fire a rocket from it's barrel's just wouldn't look right. There isn't much detail in the gun but if more detail was added the gun would then probably start to look like a certain kind of weapon, ruining the sense of a 'fire-all' weapon.
In general the model is constructed well, even though the join between the borg and it's arm has not been handled too well (The arm looks as though it isn't part of the model at all). Having the arm exposed is a good idea but as I've said could have been handled better. The model has nothing new or special in it, it doesn't really set apart from other models of the same genre.
Score: Six
The Animations
Admittedly there isn't much you can do with a Cyborg that is a majority robotic in the way of animations. All of the models three pain actions are more or less the same, there's no real truly inspiring animations. It's hard to tell when one starts and another one ends, this may be good for syncing but it makes a rather boring model to see in the game.The job of making the actions of a robot fluid or not is debatable, some models may want a jerky set of movements to go with the feel of the model. This cyborg model has fluid actions which, I fell, go more with the cybernetic fell of the model - making the model seem to have a set of human qualities.
This doesn't hide the fact the animations are standard and nothing too special. However I fell a good job has been made of the death animations, the robot falling apart and the human arm twitching slightly as it lies there is a nice touch. The collection of corpses may even make you proud to be fragged.
Score: Six
The Skin
Comes with four skins in primary colours (Blue, Green, Red and Yellow). The skins have a good degree of detail, the metal looks battered and rusty giving the appearance of a battle hardened Borg. Touches like the authors initials and a mark showing that it's the author's third model are both present on the back of the Borg's head. Then skin however is a big 400x300 pixels in size but the skin space is used to an okay standard because only 40% of the skin area has been left unused. The skins are well detailed and with the theme of the model so I think it deserves 4 stars.
Score: Eight
Sounds
Some nice touches, most are just like the standard male sounds mixed with the contents of the lion cage from London Zoo. Good sounds for jumping and landing. The male grunts have now been turned into a kind of mechanical screech. The fact that an effort has been made to make sounds for the model is a nice touch may model authors would have just passed the issue of model sounds by. Not all of the sounds get replaced but the ones that have been give the model a sense of individuality.
Score: Five
Visible Weapons Support
There's no VWep support for this model because the weapon for it is built in, also adding a VWep may look strange as the gun mounted on the side of the model would just change, even though the standard models do this it would look quite strange on a mechanoid model. Maybe a new gun could be made like a chaingun with all of the different gun fronts on it that rotated to match the required? But an effort to replace the absence of VWep support has been made by the placing of a more generic gun on the model.
Pack Inclusion
Well using averages the models final score came to 3.33 so it means it has got 3 stars. It's good model but has nothing to set it apart from any other robotic model that has passed before it. The sounds could have been better. Also the model seems sterile, maybe a happy, and pleasantly angered face could be seen through the little tinted glass window. But one of the biggest reasons it isn't getting into the pack is the skin size. Here we have a whopper of a skin 400x300 pixels! Also the model goes slightly over the 35% wasted skin area rule. The model is fine and deserves it's 3 stars but fails quite a few of the specs for the pack.
review by Citrus Frog
author name Jude Bond
tris.md2
Vertices 420
Mapping Vertices 420
Polygons 664
Skin size 400x300
weapon.md2
Vertices 3
Mapping Vertices 3
Polygons 1
Skin size 4x2
relevant links
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