DTs Dark Forces 2 Kyle

Description
WAAGH O_O; Holy carp, this is intense.

So, there's been a lot of attempts to reskin ol' Katarn back into his Dark Forces II threads. This, however, will probably crown all the other attempts, methinks.

Why? Well, how many of them can say they use a whole new model? Not many. This Kyle model literally blows the old kyle out of the water tenfold. So, starting from head to toe, let's see what's gone on here.

...So, anyway, the head. There's so many things about this that puts the Raven Kyle model to shame. The overall head itself is much more crisp and smooth, and doesn't feel as jagged as the old model did. The nose is perfectly rounded off, instead of terminating in that pointy tip that some of you may noticed the old one does. The moustache is no longer grafted into the model, so people who inevitably reskin this will not have to contend with that ugly moustache blurring into their fresh faced characters.

Now, the neck and torso, which also made me go "WHOA!" are a lot more vivid and lifelike. I've never really cared much for the old Kyle's shirt, as it felt grainy and generally unpleasing to look at. It didn't even feel like a real shirt so much as it did a bad texture. DT has changed that immensely, and the shirt now feels like it's an actual article of clothing instead of a texture applied to a generic body. You can see in the collar region where the flesh ends and the shirt clearly begins, and the difference is three dimensional, which is truly an excellent effect. The shoulder pad is no longer that hard and rigid piece of suck'age, but is now a nice and soft pauldron that conforms nicely over Kyle's shoulder. Guess what, skinners? I did some toying around and found out: [b]This Pauldron CAN be safely surfed off![/b] Intense, I know! O_o

Kyle's belt now has a new addition that shoulda been here ages ago: THE OL' BRYAR PISTOL, resting in its holster. This too, and the belt, can be surfed off with no negative rammifications. I swear, I'm going to explode in awe. @_@;

The pants didn't see much action model-wise, but the texture definitely speaks for itself. Very nice black pants. The boots are no longer those jagged clunky anchors but now they're slick leather boots in the purest sense. There was no expense spared here.

All this, and I still haven't mentioned how amazing the textures are. DT, I can't believe you were able to effectively make Kyle's old grainy shirt look good. It's shocking. The skin textures were simply sublime, the pants, however dark they may be, are fluid and quite well done, and...I honestly should just stop talking before my feet spontaneously spawn high heels. XD

Now, I feel like I gotta cover the extras. Rather than slap Kyle into a set of red or blue pajamas this time around, DT recolored the shirts accordingly, and they look good. They're appealing, subtle, and they get the job done. Now, there was no bot or NPC support added for the skin, and for good reason. This packet contains an extra PK3 that allows you to [b]replace your old kyle,[/b] and basically add the bot and NPC support for you. Sounds? Old JK2/3 voice, and not JK1. This isn't what I'd call a disappointment, since the old actor wasn't exactly the best in that department.

Before I close out, I guess it's worth tapping on the subject of likeness. One of DT's objectives was to try and make this guy look like Jason Court, the full-motion video actor who played Katarn in JK1. The question is: is there a likeness? Ehh, I'm not seeing much of a resemblance here, but honestly, it doesn't matter. Even though it isn't a dead-on look of the actor, it *IS* a dead-on solid look of Kyle Katarn, both in Dark Forces II and, honestly, I'd say it could carry through JK2 and 3, and that definitely counts for something. I can see this staying in my base for as long as I keep this game installed, as it's simply the most beautiful recreation of Kyle Katarn I've ever seen, and will change the way I see Kyle(literally,) forever.

Enough of this babbling. TO THE BANDWIDTH PITS WITH YOU ALL!



Bot Support:Nay
NPC Support:Nay
New Sounds:Nay
Team Support:Aye


- Averus Retruthan

[i]P.S. - The Yun skin in screenshot #2, along with a beautiful array of other DF2 skins, can be downloaded [file="108275"]here[/file] to fully complete your JK1 experience![/i]