Mr. Hockey
Rating: 8
baseq2/players/hockey
Intro
"Jesus saves.
...passes to Gretsky
Gretsky shoots..!
.SCOOORE!!! [SFX of Klaxon]"
I love hockey, it is the only sport that I have seen that meets my two criteria for good entertainment. 1.) that it is sufficiently interesting to overcome my nearly feline attention span, and 2.) that it plays better when not on TV. So Action Movies, Concerts, and Hockey fit the bill perfectly. So, with games like EA's NHL 99 on the PC looking as good as it does with good polygonal players, I was wondering when someone would do this.
So down from the Great White North, Mr. James Ferris was kind enough to provide us with one very good Custom player model of a hockey player. So without much further ado, Play on!
The Model
The Model is a low 487 triangle without the weapon. And the weapon is a measly 72 Polygons, so this model is quite efficient, but at the same time presents a very accurate silhouette of a hockey player at just about any rotation. If anything, it could have used a few more polies at the elbows, However, even the helmet shows a good level of detail. The knees, unlike the elbows were segmented to good effect, showing the proper shelving when upright, and a smooth curve when bent in the crouch or recovering from the jump. Overall the silhouette is clean and recognizable, and leaves most of the detail to the Skin.
4 stars.
Score: Eight
The Animations
The animations were all decent and workmanlike, Nothing spectacular or breathtaking, but solid, and competent animation. The idle was subtle, though full of life. It very much reminded me of the idles of the real players do during the time outs or commercial breaks. The run was a Gretsky style speed skate. I thought the skate sliding back around for a brace during the recoil was a nice touch. Mr. Ferris has evidently spent some time on the ice, and knows the brutal realities of living with Newton's laws of physics, especially when they are laid naked on the surface of nearly frictionless ice. The pain animations were a bit uninspired, as was the 'flip'. I would have thought that the taunt, rather than a point away, might should have been him dropping his gloves to the ice, and a "come get some' hand gesture, but I can see, that doing such would have been polygonaly expensive. In general I am getting really tired of the crotch grab. The death animations, on the otherhand were very entertaining, and Death1 particularly, was one of those horrible to watch face plants that happen when one's skates leave the ice, and do so with enough speed, your face, becomes the next object to contact the ice. Death2 is simply headless. And Death 3 looks like what happens when som pool fool got a high stick across the face.
4 stars.
Score: Eight
The Skin
9% wasted Space. Well, I'm impressed. Not only is it 9% wasted space, the areas of the skin to see are large and relatively undistorted. Most areas are mirrored saving a lot of real estate, but it leaves the front , the back, and the left and right upper arms un-mirrored so as to properly display the team insignia Speaking of which, those teams that he did include were very crisp and read well, The skin is a GL friendly 256 x 256, and shoes crisply even close up, You can even count the laces on his skates. I will have to take off a half star for the face and neck, the face is mirrored, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the quality of the rendering of the face is not equal to the rest of the skin, and his neck is not very realistic, looking like electrical conduit on the front of his neck rather than tendons, Adam's apple, and an esophagus. It bothered me enough to take off a half star, but the 9% wastage made me put it back.. This is another efficient, and very well laid out skin.
5 stars.
Score: Ten
Sounds
No sounds are included, but the standard male would suffice. Though I could see a custom soundpak from the movie "Slapshot" fitting well.
Visible Weapons Support
N/A
Pack Inclusion
That's for Damn sure, this boy is definitely out of the penalty box and in the Pack.
review by Scott Ruggels
author name James Ferris
tris.md2
Vertices 268
Mapping Vertices 237
Polygons 487
Skin size 256x256
Skin Wasted Space 9%
weapon.md2
Vertices 42
Mapping Vertices ?
Polygons 72
Skin size ?
Skin Wasted Space ?
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