C.A.G.E.D. - GrandmasterJ
Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D., or just Caged as I will refer to the map from here on, is a standalone Half-Life mod converted to Sven Co-op. It's a prison break themed mod with quite a few maps.
Original mod authors: Cayle George
Conversion authors: ak47toh
Date of original mod release: 2017
Date of final Sven Map release: 2021
Maps in package: lots
Map review of C.A.G.E.D.
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
by GrandmasterJ | January 15, 2022 | 3459 characters
Sometimes when a singleplayer Half-Life mod gets ported to Sven Co-op it doesn't really hold up, like Half-Quake. The second map, where actual gameplay starts, has it pretty rough, but overall I think this is one of the better ports and one of the better Sven Co-op maps out there. It definitely can be completed solo, a lot of the time whoever entered a room first would kill everybody inside before the other could do much to help. With any more than two players the combat becomes pretty trivial.
The map starts off in an intro with a nice cutscene, then it flows right into being trapped inside a jail cell. Close a steam valve to blow up a pipe and drop down into the sewers. One problem here is that autoturrets will pop up after you go past them, there are two in the sewers. If you die in the map you respawn in the jail cell and then have to fight two autoturrets with a crowbar. My teammate died seven times due to this while I contemplated moving forward to hopefully unlock a shortcut or a new spawn point. But this is a conversion of a singleplayer experience, there aren't any quality of life improvements for respawning in Sven. This level has it the worst, later levels aren't as linear and players spawn near where they need to be.
The whole map set looks great. During the intro cutscene I mentioned to my teammate that it looks a bit like Team Fortress 2 and he said he was thinking the same thing. The level detail is phenomenal. There were some real fun signs like 'please do not break boxes' next to some boxes that I immediately broke. There were also a lot of signs that lit up to indicate progress and doors unlocking. Buttons and doors were usually very well signposted as to what they did. It was easy to find my way around the levels. The only times I got stuck was when the way forward was through a vent. But even then the vents usually had red lights behind them so while looking for the way forward the red lit vents would always manage to catch my eye.
The action is solid. There are no aliens, only straightforward gunfights against human grunts and apaches. It was a bit on the easy side because it was originally a singleplayer mod, two players stomped the enemies easily.
The map set has a soundtrack and it is fantastic. It really evokes a feeling of the 80's, it actually reminded me a lot of the soundtrack for Farycry 3: Blood Dragon. At the end there is a cutscene where a nuclear bomb goes off in the background of a very 80's stylized skyline behind a speedboat powering through the waves. It was all fantastic.
I had a lot of fun with this map. I feel like the lack of co-op support in the beginning was a big turn off for me, respawning and then having to fight autoturrets with a crowbar was just not a good section for Sven Co-op. But as I played and even as I type this I am realizing I liked this map more than I thought. It's really good and I think you should play it.
Pros:
- Great level aesthetic
- Great level design, goals were very clear
- Good soundtrack and cutscenes, ending credits were particularly fun to watch.
- solid combat
Cons:
- Severe lack of co-op support, first spawn point has players running through autoturrets with crowbar
- a little easy for Sven Co-op
Score: 9 / 10
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