USS Darkstar - GrandmasterJ

 

    USS Darkstar is not a Star Trek themed map, let me get that out of the way now. It is an original setting with a massive space ship filled with a bunch of biological specimens that closely resembles a zoo.

SCMapDB page

Original mod authors: Neil Manke

Conversion authors: Lymphoid first and later Lossy

Date of original mod release: 1999

Date of final Sven Map release: 2017

Maps in package: 18

Map review of USS Darkstar

(originally posted on SCMapDB) 

by GrandmasterJ | December 29, 2021 | 3259 characters

    This map is one of the oldest maps on scmapdb that are not official releases. It's actually a conversion of a single player mod from way back when that I never played. It's got a lot of maps in the campaign but the first section is a lot of nice scenery, practically showing off the areas you will be fighting in later. I don't think you even see enemies or weapons until map 5 (out of around 16). The last map itself is just a cutscene and credits.

    I loved the environments for the most part. There was an absolutely baffling Honey I Shrunk the Kids moment where the players become small and fight in a rats-themed environment. There were a bit too many dark metal hallways in comparison to the really nice and detailed outer space sections. I frequently forgot I was supposed to be in a space ship after the first few maps of combat but then we were in cafeterias and offices with views of space. Every time we got to see outside it was great.

    The level design itself was mostly straightforward, especially in the peaceful start of the map set. But once we were in proper combat the puzzle solving pretty much became a scavenger hunt. The later levels get particularly maze like. That might be my biggest complaint of the map, I really don't like hunting all over for the next way to progress. There was one area where an elevator door opened halfway and we could see the level transition on the other side. I didn't know how to open the door so I hit it, used it, blew it up. Then we looked all over for a button to press, much later we came back and used it again and it opened. Did we just have to wait? Did one of us press a butto? The path to progression was murky at times.

    This map set isn't very hard. It was meant for one player and one player can probably finish it, as long as they survive the snark traps. There are quite a few cramped areas where the player has snarks dumped on them and I don't know how that is survivable in single player. Two players had an easy time with it.

    USS Darkstar looks great. You can get a bit lost at times but with two or more players it works perfectly well. The combat is all around solid and that might be due to the player starting off with a generous compliment of weapons (almost every map adds a weapon to the player's arsenal, no hunting for weapons each level).

Pros:

• Looks great. The introductory levels are very fun to explore and there are some cool set pieces
• Overall fun and straightforward combat. No respawning enemies section
• Player spawns with progressively more weapons
• ammo, HEV, and health stations are plenty
• Production value, cutscenes and credits. PCGamer had a hand in making this.
• This was made in 1999, one of the oldest Sven maps sets available and it is still holds up well

Cons:

• There were some areas that looked great and also a lot of dark boring hallways
• the hallways could get a little maze like, not helped by not having a clear sense of where to go
• Not all areas elicited a feeling of space ship, the shrinking section was fun but jarring.

Score: 7.5 / 10