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Title: Modern Serena Skin Pack
Author: VampireWriter
Download: Here
The Modern Serena skin pack doesn't exactly have a subtle name, it does exactly what it says on the tin. What you get when you download this pack is three modern versions of Serena, Christof Cappadocian companion who, in the single player game, is killed off by the time you reach the modern era.
Modern Serena 1 -
Looking at the first modern Serena I couldn't shake the fact that she look an awful lot like Kazi. And that she is.
On closer inspection of the textures in Photoshop it became clear that the Serena skin's face had been cut and pasted onto the Kazi skin, obviously with the skin tone being changed. This fortunately does not stand out and the author has blended the two together very well.
This skin is basically a recolour of the NSI Kazi skin with some extra texturing on the top and some added detail in the way of a design on the top, a tattoo on her stomach and braclet around her wrist.
As you would expect from a reskin of Nihilistic's work this skin doesn't have any problem with seams in the model and wraps very well.
Unfortuantely this is the poorest of the trio.
Modern Serena 2 -
It has to be said that this is my favourite out of the three. The skin is for a custom model which I admit I'm not familiar with but to me this skin is the best of the three.
The main thing that stood out for me was the top that this Serena is wearing, which is a very eye catching hue of purple. Closer inspection of the texture in Photoshop only proves to me that the top is the best thing about the skin. It's very well shaded and textured and the colour, like I said, is very eye catching. This is good stuff.
However on some other details this skin falls down. Although would like to stress that I don't believe that the problems I have with this skin were the author's fault. Right here goes.
It seems to be mostly NSI texturing again on the skin, just recoloured, I could be wrong as like I said I'm unfamiliar with the model, but the style of it all reminds me very strongly of NSI's original work. Please people if your going to use some of NSI's work in your skin say so. Give credit where credit is due.
All in all however this is my favourite of the three, especially as the leather jacket upgrade makes Serena look like an eighties woman, big shoulder pads and all!
Modern Serena 3 -
Modern Serena 3 is more of a modeling job in my opinion. The original Serena model has been remodeled to have a short skirt.
The reskinning work comes in the shape of changing the colours on the top and adding what appears as a sort of "cob-webbing" effect in-game, but it's revealed in Photoshop that this has been achieved using the noise filter. A good example of a simple but effective technique to make your skins look good.
The top reminds me of something I saw recently in a clothes shop and as such I think it looks very much like something a true "goth girl" would wear.
The skirt however isn't well shaded, but then again there isn't alot you can do with black. My main gripe with the skirt would be that the line between where the skirt finished and the leg begins is too blurry, a very distinct change would have worked better here.
Apart from this though I have no real problems with this skin, it's alright just not exceptional.
Overall -
I quite like this skin pack, mainly for Modern Serena 2, other good points worthy of note include the fact that Serena's hud model is used. A bonus I'm sure you'll agree.
All in all though I'd download this only if you were needing some pale skinned goth girl skins or if your a fan of Serena.
Scoring -
Originality: 2
A lot of the work for this skin pack was re-colours of Nihilistic's original work and the whole concept for the skin pack borrows from the game.
However I'm not going to mark it down for importing Serena into the modern ages. The mark is due to the fact that a lot of NSI's work was used in the creation of these skins.
Artistry: 2
As I've said above this skin pack does borrow heavily from NSI's original work. But the author does show promise. I'd keep an eye out for future releases by the author.
Authenticity: 4
Technically the Cappadocian clan was destroyed before the modern ages but that doesn't exaclty matter to the skins.
Technical: 3
The textures wrap well around the models but this is mainly due to the use of NSI textures for a lot of the skin. I do seem to be harping on about this a lot but it's always been something of an annoyance for me.
Overall Score: 11
