Afrika Corps - Dunkelschwamm

  

    Journey to Northern Africa during World War II and challenge the German occupiers under Rommel. It's somewhat hard to tell this is a WWII themed map, probably due to the lack of swastikas everywhere.

SCMapDB page

Author: MysticMDT

Date of final release: 2003

Maps in package: 3

Map review of Afrika Korps

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | February 20, 2022 | 4405 characters

    Afrika Korps is a classic Sven Co-op scenario set in a WWII setting. Shoot nazis, blow up their tanks, blow up their guns, steal their documents, blow up their radios, blow up their radars, and then shoot nazis some more. That's the name of the game. Expect to use the handgun, revolver, crowbar, grenades, MP5 (sans sight), sniper rifle, and rocket launcher (sans laser).

    This mapset consists of three maps. You could think of them as a training map, the actual level, and a boss battle. The first map slowly introduces the player to the types of combat and missions they'll be encountering. There's only three real arenas, and between them there's small interior battles within buildings. At the end of the map the players must take out mounted MG42s and a tank using explosives provided. The explosives are grenades and the rocket launcher, except my teammate grabbed the rocket launcher and died and it never reappeared. We beat it with grenades anyway.

    The second map is more of a complete mission, but also has a bit of lull. I think some of this has to do with the enemies seeming to absorb gunfire harmlessly at times. This is something my comrade and I both were experiencing, and it seemed particularly bad in this second map in particular. The map also hit us on a bad note right away when enemies in the first arena found their way easily into our spawn, which is particularly bad in this scenario because you start every map with only a medkit until you find weapons nearby. Regardless, this map expands heavily on the first map's concepts, including another tank battle, MG42s, stolen documents, and battles both indoors and outdoors. There are lots of nazis to shoot, generally enough ammo to deal with them, and the combination of weapons (listed in the first paragraph of this review) keeps battles interesting, even if the aforementioned inability for some gunshot wounds to register made things frustrating as well. This map is a bit longer than the first one and rounds out the concept of the first map far more completely.

    The third and final map is a boss battle of sorts against a giant stationery anti-tank gun with bunkers and snipers on elevated positions at either side of it. The players spawn in a bunker and can outfit themselves for anti-sniping and fighting infantry, but the goal is to run up ahead to where a rocket launcher is laying and use that to inflict damage on the anti-tank gun. It may not seem at first like you're doing much, but it just has a lot of health because the entire map is fighting this thing. That said, once the tank gun explodes Afrika Korps ends and the series is done, unless you've also downloaded Afrika Korps Bonus as well. But that's a story for another review.

    The maps throughout are well brushed and textured, and the WW2 props, weapons, and character models work great. I don't know why it seemed like enemies were just absorbing damage in the second map, but that bears repeating and I think it could possibly be a model error so I'm repeating it here. The atmosphere is sunny so you can see everything. It's all very evocative of the time and setting the maps take place in.

    If you're looking for a good WW2 map to play with some friends, Afrika Korps won't disappoint. If you're running a server and want a good action mapset, Afrika Korps easily checks that mark. The objectives are fun and neat, the graphics are great, and the action is solid. What more could you ask for?

Pros:

• The combat is mostly all pretty solid
• The models and atmosphere are great
• The objective-based gameplay is a lot of fun, especially with all of the destruction
• Shooting nazis
• Each map fulfills the same central concept in different enough ways to differentiate them, like different levels of a commercial game
• Checkpoints and plenty of equipment keep the action pumping

Cons:

• In the second map it feels like enemies sometimes don't register damage. My comrade experienced this issue as well.
• The objectives (especially blowing up the MG42s) aren't really conveyed well in-map, so we were stuck for a minute until I read the MOTD
• The second map has less than stellar conceived battles, such as a battle near spawn

Score: 8.8 / 10