Space Viking 1 - GrandmasterJ

 

    The Space Viking is a space ship sailing through the stars and piloted by Mr. Friendly. Players must protect the ship from invaders and eventually track down the culprits to extract what was stolen.

SCMapDB page

Author: Salamander

Date of final release: 2001

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Space Viking 1

(originally posted on SCMapDB) 

by GrandmasterJ | December 16, 2021 | 2368 characters

    Space Viking was a pleasure to play and is probably one of the best maps for Sven Co-op ever made.

    The game takes place on a spaceship, the Space Viking, and exposition is given to the players by a holographic Mr. Friendly model. There is a large view screen where the player can see a nicely done warp-speed effect. As soon as I stepped out of the spawn room I had my pants charmed off. I don't expect story in my Sven maps other than some paragraph in the MotD, so it stands out even more when it is done during play and it was done really, really well.

    The ship is then boarded by enemies and your mission is to fight them off. Doors near the spawn open up to allow access to the next part of the map, meaning you never get too far from the action. Later there are teleports near spawn as well.

    My biggest complaint is that there are breakable doors and grates that don't look breakable. All the doors have the same texture but some are breakable and some are not and there is no way to tell without just hitting them all. Thankfully the doors do have different sounds when you hit them. The rest of the problems I have with this map are all nitpicks really. There are a few areas I felt could have been designed better, like finding the navigator after he disappears, and the author could have telegraphed the cargo bay puzzle a little bit better. There was also a slightly confusing path in the latter half of the game that appears to place the player in an area they are not supposed to be.

    There's really not much else I didn't like and I don't feel the need to go on and on about how good the map is, just play it yourself. So far, out of all the maps I've played, this definitely is one of my favorites.

Pros:

• A well done story. It is simple but very effective
• Great pacing, good action
• New paths open closer to spawn, cuts down on travel time to the action
• Fun level design, great setpieces, feels like a spaceship
• The handful of problems I encountered were so minor as to be insignificant.

Cons:

• Breakable doors and unbreakable doors have the same texture
• The objective for the cargo bay should have been clearly stated in game

Score: 9.5 / 10