Access Point - GrandmasterJ

 

    Access Point is a standalone mod converted to work in Sven Co-op. The whole goal of the map is to escape from Black Mesa.

SCMapDB page

Original mod authors: Dr. Orange

Conversion authors: Mikk

Date of original mod release: 2018

Date of final Sven Map release: 2021

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Access Point

(originally posted on SCMapDB) 

by GrandmasterJ | January 16, 2022 | 3376 characters

    This map I another port of a stand alone Half-Life mod. Unlike most other ports of mods this one is very short. At the beginning of the map it gives players a vote on a hard or medium difficulty. It's so short that my teammate and I played the map twice, on both difficulties.

    The first problem with the map is that since it's a port of a singleplayer mod there is a shortage of ammo. There are only two underbarrel grenades for the M16 in the whole level and not much M16 ammo either. Shotgun and magnum rounds were plentiful, but seemed stretched thin across two people and didn't respawn. This is mostly negated by the short length of the map, by the time you are out of ammo the level is over. My teammate had exactly one magnum round left at the end of hard difficulty. That said, there are two HEV and health stations in the map and all of them respawn, although one set of stations is at the elevator to the map end so those stations are useless.

    The map is very easy with two people, even on hard difficulty. Survival mode was on by default and I didn't bother turning it off because neither of us died on either of the two play throughs. Since the HEV station does respawn we were always topped up on HEV and barely needed to heal each other.

    The level design was pretty good, the map was non-linear but didn't get mazey. There were a lot of enemies, especially on hard mode which was the biggest difference between the two difficulties. With two people we swept through each room like action movie heroes dismantling any opposition. The level design allows for plenty of cover so we didn't get hit much. The soldiers threw plenty of grenades but there was always a corner we could duck around to avoid it. It was easy but made me feel like I was really good at the game.

    There were also these pickups with the Sven Co-op silver lambda logo that would appear at certain points, they would fade into a teleporter sprite but the teleporters didn't do anything. My teammate speculated that this might be a way to bring in dead players like checkpoints. I don't know if this is true because neither of us died, but it sounds plausible and is a nice touch that shows the author (or whoever ported this) put in the effort to support co-op. Unfortunately neither of us needed it and with more players I feel the map would be even easier.

    When I finally stepped foot into the elevator and received a message that I've beaten the map and this was the end I was surprised. The whole thing was over so fast. I did play it again on hard and took some time to try to find my way to the rocket launcher behind a locked door. I eventually noclipped into the room only to find it is just a taunt. There is no way into that room and the door doesn't work. It was short but I had a lot of fun.

Pros:

• Lots of good straightforward action
• level design was good, never felt like a maze and allowed for a lot of cover in combat
• I don't dislike maps being easy, it felt good to massacre those soldiers

Cons:

• Not really meant for co-op and it shows in the non-respawning ammo
• that rocket launcher is not a secret item, it's just there to taunt you

Score: 7.5 / 10