Intro
"The Confederate Marine Corps - Strength. Pride. Discipline.
These ideals have enabled the Confederate Marine Corps and Colonial Fleet to defend Confederate interests along the Galactic Rim for more than two centuries. Marines come from all walks of life, but they are united in their devotion to the preservation of the Confederate way of life.
The Corps offers countless opportunities for young men and women to see the sector and gain valuable real world experience. We will train you. We will teach you. We will shape you into an efficient warrior, garnering respect and admiration from your peers. We can even help you work past criminal and/or anti-social tendencies through counseling, drug therapy, and neural resocialization.
Available positions within the Corps are listed by Occupational Field (OF) and include the Preferred Experience Base (PEB) and Occupational Summary (OS) for each Field."
The Marine is the staple of the Terran race, slaughtering thousands (and getting slaughtered by the thousands) in Blizzard's game StarCraft. Now he's been brought the world of Quake2, thanks to Wrath!
Overall, I give this model a 4 1/2 star rating - not because of anything wrong, per say (but because it's a great model), but it's just not at that level yet.
The Model
Well there's not too many bad things I can say about this model. I think it's very well constructed, and it's segmentation doesn't take anything away from it. In fact it was probably the best choice in this case, as the Marine's armour has quite a mech-ish feel to it. I see a few problems though. One, his feet. I think they really would have worked better if they didn't go all the way through the lower leg. Could've saved a few polies that way, too. I do like the moving visor though! As far as the actual construction goes there's only one thing: the inner thighs has a pair of polies that need edge turning, or re-tripling for us Lightwave users ;). The the thing that brings this model down (and it's not anything major, don't misunderstand) is it's relative thin-ness compared to it's intent. If you notice in the Blizzard art above the marine armour is quite bulky, and Wrath's model doesn't quite approach this. I think if he we're to shorten the legs some, and thicken all the appendages, it would've worked a bit better. He must have used different references for his model however, because there are minor discrepancies all over the model. (I think he used the action figure instead of pictures) But again, this is no big deal to me at all - I just take it as artistic liberties. I do like the extra touch of the tanks on his back, and search lights on his shoulder. This looks to me like a completely made-from-scratch model, and you have to give the guy a lot of credit for that! This, and the fact that he kept the poly-count within acceptable limits brings this model up in my eyes. I'm only going to take half a star off, because it's not *quite* the Marine I see. I'd take off less, but hey, I gotta work with the rating system as is :)
As for the weapon model, I like it a lot. Efficient enough in construction, I think, though a few polies might have been saved by having a straight top barrel? the tapering in the middle adds flavor, but who's going to notice in-game? Also, it's largeness makes it stick out of the bounding box a lot. Btu this is unimportant, 'cause who aims for the weapon in Quake2? Center of mass Privates...Center ' mass... The Animations
The animations in general are decent. Wrath states in his readme the abundance of clipping problems, but I don't have a problem with this for two reasons: one, it's a segmented model - clipping is to be expected. Second, it's only Quake2! In-game, you'll hardly notice it. On the animations themselves - the stand animation I have a problem with...I think he's bouncing up and down way too much...kind of out of character for a rock-hard Colonial Marine. The run is very well done, nice total-body action. The attack animation is original, and definitely shows off his rapid-fire weapon. The specialty anims are pretty standard and well done - though careful where you're pointing, because three quarters of him might well just be in a wall. The taunt I feel again might be a little out of character, but it does fit with the over-eager stand animation...so maybe it is in character. All the crouch anims are done very well, very convincing. The death animations are for the most part way out of the bounding box, except for the final one (which is very original and quite nice). Now in his readme file, Wrath states he used Character Studio for his animations. My impression is that it does most of the work for you (and the fact that he states he completed the animations in 6 to 8 hours points me in that direction as well), but since I've never used it, I'm not going to take off anything, I'm just going to assume Wrath is very good at what he does : ) As far as rating goes....I only should take off about a half-star for the bounding box issues...but I think the animations over-all could use a little more...I don't know I still think they're somewhat out of character from what I feel the StarCraft Marine is - a sadistic, "re-socialized" killing machine. But heck, this is a subjective review and it's my call.
The skins I have to give a high rating. I'm no skinner, so I don't know if too qualified to judge, but I see here the work of someone who is very very good for being an amateur! Wrath complains about his mapping in the readme, saying he'd do it differently if he could. I only see a few problems. One, he could've had more space if he reduced the mapping on the bottom of the feet. Also, the fore-arms seem to be the most heavily detailed area. Why? I think the space would be better used for the shoulder pads - these being the only areas where stretching is any big problem in my eyes. The actual skins - though not in the professional realm yet, are far better than anything I could have done (that's not saying much, but hey). They have a nice gritty feel to them, like battle-worn armour should be. Also, he added highlights to the areas in front of the searchlights, adding that much more realism. The "colour" skins are just re-colours of an original, (something I do myself), with the ctf skins being slightly modified from that base. The ctf_blue skin I think is the one that needs a bit more work, as some of the detail is covered up by the solid sky-blue. this is most noticeable when comparing the shoulder pads of the red skins with the blue skins. On all of the skins, I personally would have liked a gray-toned base with colour highlights, not the brown these skins sport. Also, the skins could use a bit more of the "graffiti" Wrath mentions in his readme - like the warpig skin. The Wrath skin I like a lot, hah, nice character! (does it go with the animations? hmmm). Now "Shine"s skins are all re-colours of the riot-armour skin. For the base, I understand what he's doing, and it's an admirable attempt - in fact damn right good! It's too cluttered though. A little less contrast in the ridges of the armour I think would improve this greatly. About the re-colours: Okay...but they're just re-colours, heh. The Desert, Jungle and Ice warriors need work though, they're too monochromatic, they need more contrast in the colour areas (but still less contrast in the shadows). If you're into colour theory, I think triads would work. Not necessarily complementary colours (yellow would like awful on the ice warrior) but maybe some reds to go with blues, or greens. You get the idea. Warm with warm, cool with cool. Have I confused everyone completely? gooood! All in all, I'd give the skins a full 5 stars...but they could be improved, even if just a tad.
There are no news sounds included with this model.
However, there is a seperate download of sounds available thanks to Doug Parmer.
Visible Weapons Support
There is no current VWep support built directly into the model.
However, there is a seperate download of viewable weapons available thanks to "Vwep King" - Kurt "Apocalypse" Cadogan.
Pack Inclusion I don't see why not! The only possible excuse not to put this one in is the fact that with the weapon it's over the 800 poly limit. But who cares, anyway?
review by sTuPiD fOoL
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