R.Flagg wrote:The new vehicles don't look or feel very 'scary' to me. At the very least, I would like to see Chaos come up with a better HellBender. As somebody said, there's no more "Hell" in the Hellbender. I actually loved the UT2004 HellBender, and to have something inspired by it would be awesome.
Hmmm... I also have my problems with the new Hellbender, however not in the same way as you.
I'll try to explain:
Vehicles in UT3 all more or less seem to do what we tried with visual designs in CUT2 - mark some kind of evolution. They all look more powerfull, more streamlined, technically advanced and a bit more up to their purpose in comparison to their predecessors.
The old Hellbender (
screenshot) looked like a pimped up off-road vehicle that was equipped with weapons. Despite its slightly comical appearance (due to the muddy textures and its box-like shape) it looked like a vehicle that was believable, because it's functions were transparent.
The new Hellbender (
screenshot,
design sheet) tries to evolve that. We still have a very heavy 'car' for one driver and two gunners. It looks modern. But it fails at believability.
First of all this is not an offroader any more, this looks like the offspring of a car and a tank - in a bad way. The new Hellbender is not a vehicle that visually represents its functions (semi-fast car for three guys with flexible weapons that can be used differently in various situations), it's an urban tank. Just from the looks of it I can not imagine this thing going at higher speeds offroad let alone being able to dodge slower enemy fire. It might be used to smack down revolting urbans, it might go over (or through) barricades. But it does not look like it could find its niche in a fast paced UT game.
I am all for the bulky, heavy look - but the Hellbender looks 'wrong' to me, just because the appearance doesn't reflect its abilities.
For the vehicles in general I must say that I really like the overall look, the design idea that is behind all of them. The big problem I have with them is the lack of color and contrast though. All vehicles look like only the tank should look like - very heavy plated pure metal. None of them comes with any paint job. Why are they only distinguishable by shape, but not by color. Why doesn't the manta have cheesy flames or slipstreams of the teamcolor on it? Why do wheels and all metals look alike? Why has noone painted skulls or wings for achieved kills on the raptor? Why are there no overly large head-/rearlights on the vehicles to add to their shape? They all look the same and that's what makes them boring visually.
), the excessive HUD is driving me nuts. There's soo much hand-holding going on with the HUD, I can't see to play the game. 
