UT2004 - SkinPack - Ultimate Collection Complete (Final) by klasnic

[Maxx]

Name: Ultimate Collection Complete (Final)
System Requirements: Unreal Tournament 2004 (retail version+)
Author: klasnic
Download: SkinCity - 57.18 MB
WIP-Thread: Beyond Unreal Forums - SkinCity

Screenshots:

[SCREENSHOT]http://skincity.beyondunreal.com/src/img_themes/pic3_138.jpg[/SCREENSHOT]



Models: Human Merc Male, Hellions Male, Skaarj, GMK Male, Robot, Juggernaut Male
Animations: Original
Voices: original
Skills: Skilled

SinglePlayer (None/PlayerOnly/TeamMate/Full): Full
Team Colors (None/2/4): 4
# of skins: 16 (48 in total with Bonus skins)
Custom Bio: Yes
Type of Installation: Manual
Known Issues: none
Additional Info: n/a

Ultimate Collection Complete (Final) by klasnic - klasnic`s farewell as pro skinner​

Now finally it is here, we had to wait several months for one of the most awaited UT2k3/4-SkinPacks ever and now it is here making the prior version of the Ulimate collection (and the patch) obsolete!

The readme comes with real bad news....This pack is definitaly klasnic`s last work for UT2k3/4.
This is really a loss to the skinning community, but due his staying here at BuF and maybe other new projects (modelling, mapping,...) he won`t disappear and this are also some great news.

I hope you have slept well, are fit and are ready for a big review for a great collection. Maybe you should go to the loo or organize something to drink or eat now because this will surely take some time!

The Facts:
The collection itself comes with 16 basic skins and 2 alternate versions (green TC and gold TC) of it.
As usual klasnic made some real nice and fitting shading or special effects. Some of them are really stunning and very atmospheric! I always enjoyed his effects and here he is at his very best!
Some of you will remember my former review in which I complained about his too small portaits...well, this time the klasnic empire strikes back and gives me no more chances to write any bad things about his portaits. It`s the real opposite thing, the background effecs is amazing and looks great in menu selection (if only chars of this collection are on screen it just seems as one sinlge background splitted to the portraits. Great work, it are the small details which make things perfect!) and the pose is also very good!

Have you ever bought a CD and liked every one single track on it? No? You think such things are impossible? Well than you should forget such thoughts and take a closer look at this precious "tracklist":

Kaang (original skin)/Kwoth (green version)/Tchue (gold version):
Since "Make It Necris" is a synonym to "Pimp my Whatever" Klasnic made the thought what an undead and raging Skaarj would look like.
The outcome of his phantasy is a great looking and bonefaced Hulk with (as always) amazing special effects and a latin (!) bio. I love that idea.
Only the teamcolors frontside should be more visible for Kaang.

Dmitri/Manas/Reman:
Look who is back in black! It is Dmitri, one of the most popular of Klasnic`s "babies".
He comes in a real bad mood, a suit with nice shading Effects reminding me of the Matrix and a real great tribaled tatoo on the back of his bawled head.
This one had to be included here, he truly makes this pack "ultimate".

Spike/Thorn/Lancet:
This is also an improved work of one of his former skins and it really looks great.
He is a well contrasted and dark warrior with some small yet decent shading effects.
The way he made the hairstlye is nice, I always prefer skins which are providing me "new" things, and this one doubtlessly does!
I call the combo out of the green version (Thorn) with the shades (Lancet) my favorite of that 3 and the green armor design my favorite of this whole collection.

Sidonius/Decimus/Aurelius:
Allthough I can`t be called the greatest GMK fan I really like that skin (and it`s not just because it is an un-dead GMK).
Klasnic managed to bring the typical dark and tribaled Necris in the right scene in order to make one of the most frightening yet beautiful GMK-skins I currently know.
The teamcolors are very bright and can easily be recognized, but maybe slighty too bright for Necris.

Maul/Revolt/Mugusa:
I`ll better not bring the typical Darth Maul (Star Wars - Episode 1) comments because this brutal master of humilation does not like such silly jokes.
Obviously this creature lives in very dark areas because it is one of the darkest Skaarj-skins available.
All in all this is a nice skin and should make the Skaarj-fans here around really happy.

Ashur/Enlil/Martu:
For the classic klasnic fan this one should also be recognized at first sight.
Your eyes don`t fool you! Ashur returns in a new (darker) suit and wants to leave some honorfull impressions for his Necris pals. Well that`s not his only reason....*pointsatbio*
The suit itself looks similar to Spike`s and comes with some bonus Necris stuff. I always loved that skin and the darker version fits much better than his second release.
I just wished klasnic would have included the orignal (non-Necris) face of his "first" version as a bonus head for one of the other 2 fighters, that would have been awesome! (I just liked the human version more here - he just looks to cool to be dead)

Jok/Kalunga/Sufis:
You always thought that Skaarj are silly killers? Well this one is probably the most intelligent and (maybe for the same reason) one of the most brutal Skaarj with some real bad taste for food....
Again there are some real great effects and I really like the gold-black-contrast here.
The teamcolors have a good contrast and are looking good, but there might be mistakes due believing him beeing in the Gold team (this can be caused due the gold staying special effects)

Heroic/Augustus/Valiant:
Here comes another one of Spike`s heroic pals. Mainly this suit is a slighty modified version of Spike (AFAIK to be exactly Spike is the modified version) with more golden colors and a brighter colorsheme.
The face itself shows you how Torch would look like without wearing his supersized shades.
The name of the 3rd character reminds me of a cartoon series I used to watch when beeing yome years younger (sidenote by the author: MäxX is talking about Michel Valiant!)
With Spike and Heroic on your side you`ve almost won!

Saleh/Mokuru/olorun:
On first sight he looks like another undead Necris GMK but the only one person beeing dead will be you if you don`t watch your back!
The body itself is quite pale and backside quite dark. Truly a monochrome f(r)iend which let`s me thinking about albino GMKs, but well I suppose the eyes are just too dark for such thoughts....
This is another great GMK skin which will truly make our GMK lovers here happy!

Erebus/Charon/Khaos:
klasnic made some robots of that style and this one truly deserves it`s crown among them.
Great special effects, great effects, great portrait, ... It`s real hard (no, nearly impossible!) to find any bad things about this killing machine.
Hopefully UT2k7 will support better in-game portaits, I really wish to have that great effects at his "face"-area!

Vrykolakas/Tutivillus/Tavlaridis:
Vrykolakas is also one of the most known and popular of klasnic`s skins so no wonder he also comes with this pack to hunt some new fresh meat on the battle field.
As always this old man looks like beeing in a real bad mood and this impression is strengthend by his bloody body armor.
The suit itself comes with a dark and nicely looking armor. Obviously this is made out of the skin of a reptile, which would make the slightly camoed areas been shown in another point of view.
Truly a force to be reckoned with.

Aquila/Avitus/Agrippa:
What would happen if a GMK goes much to often in the solarium and obtains a serious sunburn?
This is the question with could be anwered by this real nice addition to your collection.
I`ve never seen such a bright GMK skin by other authors before so this is something totally new for your flavour!
With this skin klasnic showns you that he also can make real bright and still good looking skins.
The prize that bright orange skin has to pay is that the TCs are not as recognizeable as they could be but the skin is truly worth that compromise!
A must have for every better GMK-collection!

Gregorio/Seneca/Brutus:
Now it has happened, the bloodthirsty career- and lifedestroying total insane Juggernaut named Gorge has met his master and had to pay the meating with his own life!
Of course he was too precious to be lost, so he also got reanimated using the (in)famous Necris-process.
The skin itself comes with great contrast, again real good Necris tribals and an undead version of Gorge`s head.
This skin is really great and makes me nearly speechless (which is really hard to do)

Atallah/Cirroc/Safri:
This skaarj gives the phrase "Eye of the tiger" truly a whole new meaning!
Personally I don`t prefer Skaarjskins, but this is IMO the best Skaarj you can have on your HD.
The tiger reminding stripes and orange body colors are truly amazing! This is really something totally new and prior unseen idea, so it truly raises the worth of your collection!
The teamcolors again are looking great but might be mistaken by some users.

Stanic/Varuna/Qadir:
Take David Hasselhoff from Baywatch, substract aprox 15 years of age and a minimum of 30 pounds, give him a much paler skintone and get rid of that DiscoStu hairstyle. What do you think you would get? You`re right, due "Stanic" means "Mitch" and "Varuna Qadir" means "hairy fury breast" in an old teutonic language it`s clear what we have here.
Serious, all Vrykolakas minions will have there joy with that skin because it looks like pretty similar in desing. He just wears not as many clothes and is a little bit younger.
A real nice one for our Hellion maniacs!

Haidar/Leonius/Tau:
And last but not least this collection is completed by another very bright GMK.
This one is my personal favorite out of his GMKs due it`s great looking skin, tremendous armor design and still great team recognizeability!
The face looks truly frightening yet it has some kind of alien beaty. Frightening...breathtaking....fantastic!
Even non-GMK-fans must admit that this is truly a great piece of work!


The Pros:
+ Up to 4 team battles supported
+ Various different models skinned
+ Large amount of great skins
+ Great portraits with nice background effect
+ Funny bios
+ Most of the skins have nice special effects
+ LoDs setted correctly
+ Bonus chars wearing Green and Gold armor

The Cons:
- It`s definitaly klasnic`s last work in skinning for UT2k3/4
- Bonus chars mostly use same faces as original and lack any bio
- All larger collections have the prob that some ppl might be forced to d/l skins they don`t want/need (but I doubt that this can be considered beeing true here)
- No Svetlana or Yelena updates *bummer*

The Bottom Line:
With that collection klasnic has built himself a monument which gives him a well deserved place in the UT2k3/4-Skinning-Gods-Hall-of-Fame.
It`s really a pity he retires in skinning, but hopefully we`ll see some high quality skins for UT2k7 again!
This was truly a worthy last pack and prooves once more that he as an awesome skinner!

Total Score: 9.5/10

btw, I hereby apologize for any fatal syntax or grammatical errors. It was not my intention, an intention without an intention, an unintenionaly intention so to say.

Feel free to add your ratings and impressions! (but ratings with a fewer score than 9 will instantly be sent into Nirvana *hrhr*)

 

[Kantham]

I must say that some of them are not bad, But the multicolor ones are really way too bright, they almost look unlit.

That's alot of skin though, maybe a little too much imo

 

[klasnic]

A little bit of info/feedback for you peeps;

Kaang - It's a pity I didn't get around to adding the tribals I wanted to - it was on the to do list and would have made the TCs better. Still it's the first skin I'd done in ages that I couldn't take my eyes off of. A similar one called Kalunga (I think) never made it into the pack and is still sitting on my HD.

Dmitri - I remember many people telling me how it reminded them of the Matrix for whatever reason. I never actually saw that, as it was really inspired by Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis (the slick, oily look). Howerver, the comments on the Matrix prompted me to make a different version called Ghost recently which again is still sitting here gathering dust.

Spike - The version wearing the shades I decided to include thanks to Starry wanting them all available as opposed to just the bots using them.

Sidonius - I redone the team colours specifically for the reason that people tend to like bright team colours. I liked them as they were and I like them as they are. I fixed the rendering problem some nVidia cards had with the alpha texture too. Prior to me updating him I didn't even like him but now I use him quite a bit.

Maul I was gonna' drop but I like him, so I left him in here.

Ashur went through a great many changes from getting the skin tone right - not an easy task. It took three versions to get him perfect. Necris aren't just greyscale recolours if they're done right. It's also probably the most detailed skin for 2k4. Similar to Spike/Heroic but very different too. Trust me.

Jok - I love him. Personally I can't see anything wrong with the TCs but given the very vivid colours I've given some characters in the pack, making the TCs perfect is no easy task.

Heroic's body is a recoloured version of Spike's but it was an attempt at making a really bright skin and still making the team colours very recognizable. Did I include the alternates? I can't remember (one with glasses and with a military cap) not to mention Emir. The face was my very first skin for 2k3 made from a modified Wraith face and no relation to Torch hehe. The hair was all made from scratch and it never needed changing as it was perfect to begin with imho.

Saleh - I always debated giving him more colour. On closer inspection he's not just blue/grey but does have hints of colour. As with all these characters they can't be appreciated to the full without texture settings set to highest, character settings set to highest and world settings at high. Probably the most recognisable TCs outside of UTComp (which I really hate).

Erebus - No comment hehe.

Vrykolakas - This is the fourth version and still not necessarily the best. The detail in the face is very much increased. I just changed the body again (because I could) and added more detail. Not as eye catching as previous versions but very much the bad boy and one of my alltime favourites that I've made.

Aquila hehe I love the bio. I love the skin. Before making him, I thought Saleh could use some company. Didn't put any thought into how he'd come out he just developed himself. Being so fiery he really hurt my eyes looking at him in game. Making TCs for such a bright character was never going to be easy. I did it though and I really like the outcome. One of my alltime favs again.

Gergorio - Did anyone else make a necris Gorge? I dunno'. The body suit was inspired by his name and I tried to come up with a somewhat Roman looking suit. Very detailed. I'm still unsure whether I actually like him as much as I should but he certainly gives me a good game in the Tourneys.

Attalah - I made some very original Skaarj in Evilution so long ago although I was never really a fan of them. The Skaarj pack was among my worst work imo when it should have been my best. It's down to a tired skinner doing something that no longer holds his interest (two years of constant skinning and doing more than any other skinner can do that). I wanted to address the issue. Originally I found the Dominator model the least of the Skaarj to lend itself to skinning. I liked the challenge. I used the way I did Aquila as a base and built him from there. Now, I love him just as much. TCs perfect again for such a bright character.

Stanic hehe. The original just looked like a camoed version of Vrykolakas (which he was) and he needed to be different - to have his own place in the game. Some of the deep red in Atallah inspired his suit(?) and while originally I had a camoed suit on him again I decided to dress him down as many guys will find the character somewhat intimidating in the Arena haha.

Haidar - Each name is derivative of a lion in some language or other. To be honest I always preferred the way I had him originally in dark red but after the feedback I changed his body suit numerous times and eventually settled for a recoloured Sidonius' suit. I figured the actual skin/face, etc., was too good to waste so I included him.

----------

Of all the characters that didn't make the final cut - Cicero (GMK), Darth Maul (Hellion), Victorious (MetalGuard), Ego/Id (Xan), Yelena (Update), Kamala (Update), Falcon (Update), the two MechaSkaarj, etc., well, they're still sitting on my HD half done. I pushed the pack for release because of PC problems and the fact that if it wasn't released soon imho it wouldn't have been worth my while making it (taking downloads into account).

All in all I'm very happy with the result and the feedback. Enough in fact to remind me how great this community has been to me and to ensure I keep developing as much as possible for it. Expect new maps, models, vehicles and much much more for 2k7

----------

Kantham, while I wouldn't normally want all the alternate versions myself, I did uninstall everything I'd ever done while making it and I really only have it and a few custom models and skins installed now. Many people wanted the extras so I left them in. The good news is if you want the default, remove the green and yellow .upls. If you want the yellow, remove the other .upls, etc. That way I catered for everyone

Thanks for the great review and feedback though as it's always appreciated. Phew

 

[Turret 49]

Models: Human Merc Male, Hellions Male, Skaarj, GMK

You forgot Robot

Voice: Human (original)

 

[UTGirl]

This truly a great review for a great skinpack

I`ll take your 9.5, raise it with 0.25 and give it a

Total score of 9.75/10

-lol-
btw,someone should put Stanic in that pose and photoshop that pic afterwards.....

 

[Maxx]

thx turret, fixed

 

[klasnic]

You forgot Jugg too MäxX now that I look at it. You're forgiven

Thanks UTGirl

I'll see if I can get a decent pic of Stanic flexing his muscles or something for you

Oh I sent a theme off to SaD today so you'll have a better pic in no time MäxX. The first chance I get I'll try to do more. I got so drunk last night I passed out and just went to bed hehe.

Right now I have to set up UT again with all the maps, etc., I had installed before FragBU tomorrow

 

[Random Elite]

You forgot Robot

And Juggernaut

I think he meant the defualt UT2004 voices.

 

[Venuswarrior1221]

lol. I do have a fetish for cute guy, and the Spike one makes me think of Spike from the Angel TV series.

 

[Maxx]

Fixed again

Yep Turret, I ment klasnic used no certain custom voices for his skins

 

[UTGirl]

....
I'll see if I can get a decent pic of Stanic flexing his muscles or something for you
....

:tup:

 

[SaD]

Oh I sent a theme off to SaD today so you'll have a better pic in no time MäxX.
...

 

[Maxx]

Feel free to EDIT my review and include that theme when you have it

Maybe we should provide more screenies? It`s a real big collection

 

[klasnic]

Venuswarrior it was actually meant to be him or similar to him at least. I was always a fan of Buffy and Spike was so cool. Originally I had his hair exactly as Spike's was but in game it looked too bright. Consider this one what he'd look like coming in from the rain

Okay MäxX I'll link a few thumbnails of pics I have on ImageShack later on :tup: and UTGirl I'll get that done over the weekend

 

[UTGirl]

....and UTGirl I'll get that done over the weekend

yeehaw, sexy

 

[klasnic]

Oops I never got the time, UTGirl with FragBU, etc., I'll get it done during the week. Ooh I must post other pics here too which I forgot about

 

[Maxx]

tempus fugit

good things just need their time

 

[klasnic]

ImageShack ugh. It's still wonky or I'll upload the pics to my web in the meantime argh

 

[Venuswarrior1221]

Maybe you should make the whole cast from the Angel TV series It would be so COOL!

 

[SkullCrusher]

once again very nice skins! It's a pitty u r retiring! I would have loved to see darth maul! i think sumone did a darth maul but only did the face and didnt put in the right files or sumthing i donno anyways, I hope to see ya work again in ut2k7! lookin forward to it!