Intro
"Ratamahatta is a fun loving guy, who like to pull the wings off flies, and similarly amusing things. After a long day of gratuitous destruction and rolling around in his own filth, Rat always enjoys a spot of tea.." -- Evil Bastard
Well once again Brian "Evil Bastard" Collins has churned out another top notch model for our fragging pleasure. This was one model that I was personally waiting for. His latest creature is actually the "Prize" of the BodyShop sponsored, Q2 Tournament which was won by Jason Kline a.k.a Tank Abbot. (With cool gifts like that, I wish I was related to EvilB around the holidays..) If you are trying to remember where you heard "Ratamahatta" from, I think it was a song by "Sepultura, off their "Roots" album.. anyhow.. if the sight of this bad boy closing in on you with that gun doesn't freak you out, I don't know what will.
The Model
I am sure many are you are familiar with EvilB's past models, if not, you must have been living under a rock over the past year. As rogue13 mentioned in Alita review, the author sometimes re-uses model parts or works with an earlier models' mesh to bring life to the latest creations. This is an excellent way to make the construction job easier rather than starting from scratch and building one polygon at a time. Many of Evil Bastard's male models have evolved from the mesh of his PowerBall guy. Over time, they have been refined and reworked to make the variety of characters to date. All these are either similar or based on one another, but at the same time are so original you would never know it. If you look at Ratamahatta closely you can see a few similarities (like the torso) to Bauul and many more (like the limbs) to Forgotten One
Well at 666 polygons (is that some sort of sign ?) Ratamahatta is well under the average number of faces we see in most models, and thus does not weigh heavy on slower machines. Even when using a minimum number of polygons, the author still manages to illustrate excellent muscle structure, distinctive facial features, natural looking hands and even the roundness of a head. Of course these features are also enhanced by the skins (see below). Rat, for the most part, is constructed of one mesh with the addition of some separate pieces like the spikes on the right shoulder. This is the one slight problem I found with Ratamahatta. During quite a few of the animation sequences, these spikes tend to float off of the shoulder. (see Animations) Although you don't notice it unless you are observing the model frame by frame, it is very uncharacteristic of an EvilB model, so a small deduction there (see below) Otherwise.. the model as a whole is another excellent edition to a line of models created by an author who I am sure will soon be a gaming community household name (if he is not already). Some game developer better snatch him up soon, since he would be an asset to any team.
[r13 note: the author does work for a game company, Zono] The Animations
Animations have always been one of EvilB's strong points. His past exercises with a characters movement have really helped him master the art, and Rat is proof positive of that. The stand motion, as many agree, is where most of the models personality born. Don't get me wrong, all the animations as a whole make a character complete, but the 40 frame stand, is the "drawing board" when it comes to breathing life into a subject. Some models have way too much movement, it seems like they're dancing around, and others scream boredom by looking like a statue. Rat, on the other hand, is just right, a slightly exaggerated stance, looking left and right. The way he leans back and sways actually helps illustrate the weight of the big pea-shooter he is carrying and adds a certain confidence that this dude will kick butt. One of the newer and most outstanding features, which EvilB was careful not to use too much, is that cool mouth. When the author first gave us a little preview, even he was excited about the animation possibilities with that snapping jaw. The taunt animations are where we see what he finally came up with. The "flip" shows Rat leaning forward and roaring with that toothy grin, and the taunt sequence shows his aggravation by chomping down on his jammed gun.
As usual all the models' movements are almost flawless. The reason I say almost, is due to the spikes on Rats' right shoulder. In quite a few animation sequences, they tend to "float" right off the arm and into midair. This was something only observable by looking at each frame of animation individually. I am sure EvilB knows about this, but thought it too unnoticeable to bother to fix. On the other hand since many of his models rival many of the Quake2 characters, I wouldn't expect something like this to slip by without correcting it. Another small problem during some of the taunts, was Rats hand and mouth passing through the weapon model when he slaps and bites it. Since models are not truly solid, it's very hard to animate model parts to interact as solid entities, so many PMPs share this same tiny problem, so I guess it only matters a tiny bit when it comes to a deduction. On a whole, you can see that the authors' animation experiments have really paid off.
I would hate to be repetitive about raving about quality, but I guess ill have to in this category. Similar to Alita, EvilB did a fantastic job with the skins and mapping. Skin waste is a meager 13% and as usual, for OpenGl the 256x256 size was used. Its always a pleasure to download a PMP that has not only excellent, detailed skins, but a bit of a variety too. Rat comes with 6 skins (which includes CTF skins) Some credit goes to Mr. Rogers and Claudius Brunnecker for the Gearwhore and Jaws skins. The author always had a fine knack in creating very realistic metal parts for his models by using fine detail and shading to create texture and shine. Another area which was impressive was Ratamahatta's' teeth. Considering there were only 5 or so pixels to work with for each tooth, the author still creates nice detailing for a gleaming set of choppers any dentist would be proud of. One reason the authors models are not polygon heavy, is he uses his skins effectively to show detail where other modelers use more faces to show shape and texture. The veins on his chest prove this perfectly.
If you happen to be looking at the skins provided and wonder why they show half a face or one hand, leg arm etc. it is because of a clever trick many modelers use when their model is symmetrical. Basically since both hands are identical the same skin is mirrored and used for both. The same process is used for arms legs and the face. (for further explanation see the review for EvilBs last model) All the skinners out there will find it easy to make their own creations (I already started mine) so be prepared for some more skin varieties for Rat. Use of color gradation is excellent and also adds to detail. (The glowing eyes on the 'dead' skin are a nice example) I know I have gotten some tips and ideas looking at the authors past models and skins, so you should too. Anyway, I don't think you could get much better quality skins out of a retail game box.. Perfect score here. Sounds
No sounds were provided with the model, but I hope to see some very soon. There are a lot of talents out there, so get to work.
[r13 note: there is an official pack of sounds now, available from the link below.]
Visible Weapons Support There is no current VWep support built directly into the model, but it would not be hard to add some original weapons in the future. Maybe a project for another talented modeler to take over? Pack Inclusion Of course .. how could we not. Personally, I would not wait for the pack, GET IT NOW !!!!
review by
Hunter
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