Assault - GrandmasterJ

 

    Assault the other end of the map! This map has a very simple layout, spawn on one end of the map, fight to the objective on the other side of the map. 

SCMapDB page

Author: Medlam

Date of final release: 2000

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Assault

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by GrandmasterJ | July 26, 2022 | 4664 characters

    This is not a map without a point where players just kill enemy after enemy forever. There is a scientist with 1000 health locked in a cage directly across from spawn between two red doors that dump human grunts out.

    So when I first spawned in I inspected an elaborate wall texture and noticed that some parts of the wall were offset from others, huh. Then I went through a door with a slightly misaligned texture that was like two feet thick with 'Freeman' written over it. It didn't Z-fight, but it did sink into the wall and disappear completely. I looked up and saw that the sign was it's own block taking up half the doorframe and the texture is orange while the door frame is blue, also misaligned. But hey, through the door was a great supply area, I already spawned with most Sven weapons and some ammo so it was nice to also get some HEV and explosives. There is another door that has the same supply room copy and pasted.

    Out the front door reveals a long street with a bridge over the middle and some towers to the immediate right and left. Far away a neverending fight between Barneys and soldiers rages. If you turn around and walk to the side of the spawn building there is a ladder to the roof, up here there are three turrets. The laser turret sucks, the machine gun sucks, but the rocket turret is beautiful. I didn't get stuck in any of the guns (but I was also very careful) like I usually do in Sven. There are some supplies and good vantage points on the tower, one even has a really wimpy peashooter turret.

    Up a ladder with a misaligned texture is the top of the bridge, complete with HEV batteries, floating health packs, and another machine gun turret. We also get a better look at our target, a building taking up the entire far end of the map with two stories. The second floor has some glass with really bad texture issues, it sometimes flashes opaque, is too transparent to see until I get really close, and from far away is very confusing to look at. There are turrets here, deactivated but floating right below the ceiling. With the misaligned turrets and the bad glass, we were fooled into spending a lot of our time trying to shoot the turrets from here. The first floor has a chain link door in the middle, where the scientist we need to rescue is, and two big red doors to either side that open up constantly to emit more soldiers.

    Between the bridge and the end there is a small hut completely textured in sandbags, there is also a door to the right of the road that opens up to a much needed supply room. The Barneys spawn in around here. There is a small door between one of the red doors and the scientist's door that allows players to run upstairs and finally trigger and kill the turrets. There are two buttons here across from each other that need to be pressed at once to release the scientist. One person can also do it, so I guess this map is playable solo.

    Yes, this is an escort map, but also the scientist has 1000 health and we ignored him when he came out. Later my teammate found him cowering in a corner with 78 health and got the scientist to follow him back to our spawn, when the scientist set foot in there the game ended. We did some testing and found out that if the scientist dies, he respawns, so the game is not losable.

    It was a nice surprise that the map was not yet another infinite enemy slog with no point or end. I was really critical of the map when I first started, but despite how badly the map is designed there are some really good choices being made. Escorting the scientist was painless, we accidentally won the game when we first played and mostly ignored him. The turrets were all well made and there was plenty of ammo and HEV around the map. The structures between the spawn and the goal provided amazing cover. Although, I don't understand why the author would make players spawn with all those weapons and some ammo, but we have to manually refill our HEV.

Pros:

• The turrets were good, I nominate that rocket turret for 'Best Turret'
• players spawn with tons of stuff
• lots of supplies
• lots of really good cover
• The escort mission was painless, another nomination for 'Best Escort Mission in Sven Co-op'
• the game had a goal and it was not losable!

Cons:

• The map looks bad, sloppy brush work, fat doors, misaligned textures
• the top floor of the last building had so many problems
• as good as the turrets are, some were underpowered and useless

Score: 7 / 10