Attack & Defend - GrandmasterJ

 

    The map works exactly as described, first players must attack and then players must defend. The secret to attacking is finding the small black boxes with red lights on them and destroying them. The secret to defending is to hold on to your butts!

SCMapDB page

Author: NIPPER

Date of final release: 2004

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Attack & Defend

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | May 8, 2022 | 4941 characters

    I love Attack Defend. I used to play it a lot back in the day and when I got a say in what the next map would be I would say this one. The map is frenetic action through and through. It completely embodies what I remember as the best part of old school Sven Co-op, crazy chaotic action with a bunch of people.

    The map starts off with players attacking a fortified hill. There is a trench at the top with two bunkers in the hill below, charging the trench at the top requires running past these bunkers which fill up endlessly with soldiers. There is a big fence blocking the foot of the hill with instant kill barbed wire and wooden posts with are these tiny black boxes with red lights on them that players need to destroy. If you skip the map description or MotD you may not realize destroying them is the path of progression. This is not easy, as infinitely respawning soldiers in the trenches above will mercilessly rain down fire on your position. There are several turrets hidden behind foliage that can be permanently destroyed. Most of the black boxes are easy to spot, there are five in total, two at the far edges are easy to get from a safe spot, two more require more finesse, and one is deep in foliage and very exposed. It may take a few lives to down the fence, and when it does the whole thing explodes killing any player next to it.

    There is another fence at the top, the bunkers still have guys respawning in them and it becomes a gauntlet that players have to run through to get to the top. This map is absolutely brutal, there is no HEV, little time or safe space to heal each other, and the enemies come fast and hard. At the very least the enemies have low health and can be shotgunned blindly through the dense underbrush. There are snipers at the top of a tower on the other side of the hill, below are turrets and more soldiers. Destroy the fence in the exact same way, destroy all the boxes. Once the fence is down players can run down and access the bunkers by opening a door with two of the black boxes. The bunker has a lot of enemies so be careful. Another door, two more boxes, a couple more soldiers, and the base is ours. Now we defend.

    The spawn point will update to a door behind the sniper tower, the old spawn point is now where the enemies attack in waves until we kill enough to win the map. You may think that sitting in the bunkers is the way to go, this is not quite the case. The map has a lot of foliage as I've mentioned, the first player spawn has the most and when the enemies start coming in it can be extremely hard to see them before they start shooting. Plus, they throw grenades very accurately and the bunker is a confined space. When things are quiet I will pop in there and spray some shot into the bushes to soften them up, but I leave right away before a grenade gibs me. The top of the trench is ok, you can pop up and hit soldiers as they approach, if you have lots of teammates you have good view of where the shots are coming from. It's also easier to dodge grenades. I think the best place is on top of the sniper tower, the map doesn't supply sniper ammo so players are limited to 5 shots per life, probably because that would make the map less unforgiving.

    At one point male assassins will swarm in and more guys will drop via Osprey, I recommend hiding in the hall between bunkers, let the assassins come in one at a time to a shotgun blast and avoid getting hit in the back from attacking soldiers. After these surprise troops are dealt with you only have to worry about the frontal assault. It seems neverending but it will end eventually, it does drag quite a bit. After the male assassins and rappelling soldiers the map has no more tricks to throw at the players. It's frontal assault guys from here on out, kill enough and then the map congratulates your hard fought victory and the map ends.

    I love this map. It definitely is geared towards having more players. It's hard, unforgiving, fast, frantic, chaotic, and crazy fun. It can be frustrating at times, especially if you don't already know about the boxes. Players should expect to die a lot, but that is part of the experience, plus there is no long walk to the action, the map is too small for there to be much travel time. The map sets up a concept and delivers perfectly.

Pros:

• crazy fast-paced action
• simple yet elegant map design, well made for the map's gimmick
• it wasn't just attacking and defending, things had clear stages and map conditions changed with it
• enemy health was lowered to reflect enemy density

Cons:

• the black boxes are not explained in game
• the difficulty and enemy density may prove to be too much for casual or new players
• The end sort of drags

Score: 9.5 / 10