Base Under Fire - Dunkelschwamm

  

    This is a symmetrical map where players have to take out four identical towers in the same way to win the map. The spawn gives players plenty of supplies and there are only a few enemy locations, although they do respawn.

SCMapDB page

Author: tdw

Date of final release: 2002

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Base Under Fire

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | October 2, 2022 | 3544 characters

    Base Under Fire is the type of game for people who like prepackaged cracker sandwiches. Players face off with an apache, then systematically take down 4 identical towers with identical defenses using the same set of weapons each time. Once every tower is destroyed, an apache appears, but don't worry- the map ends immediately.

    The visuals of the map are that of an appealing, if spartan, Mos-Eisely-esque desert and stone fortress, with the players in the very center. The only interior area of the map is in the central hub, where players respawn and resupply in a brilliant resupply area with all the health and HEV a player could ever ask for. There is also ammo throughout the map for every weapon you get, which respawns as per course for Sven, ensuring players don't need to do the dance of death to resupply. This is a very thoughtful map in its construction, and I applaud it for that. There was one moment where we didn't know how to activate the bombs, but my teammate said "ah, there were buttons back on top of the base" and we headed back and confirmed his hunch. That was the most I felt the map ever failed to immediately show me the objective. It's very clear what needs to be done in this map, and it makes sure you have it practiced.

    So, after the initial apache battle which is easily fought with a rocket launcher on the top of the base, four towers spawn in snipers and assassins and wreak havoc on anybody standing on the roof of the central hub. One after another, doors open which allow the player to destroy the tower. Each time, it goes like this: there's a respawning robogrunt and a not-respawning tripod turret at the base of the tower, as well as a stack of crates and twin co-op buttons. Run in, kill the robot and the turret, before they respawn press the co-op buttons to explode the crates, boost one player off another to climb into the sniper nest on the tower, and a bomb is automatically set (a message alerts the players to this). Run back to the central hub to heal up, then head to the roof and press the button to explode the tower and open the gate to the next tower. Once ever tower is exploded, an apache spawns and the text "Game Over" appears before the map abruptly ends.

    I think this gameplay segment on repeat is a fun bit, but it doesn't hold up on its fourth replay. I feel like there's a lot of positive energy that went into the base components of this map, but then it's the most egregious copy-paste job I've ever seen. On top of that, I have to imagine something broke with the apache appearing at the same time the map ended. I just don't know what to think of this. It wasn't NOT fun. Maybe with a lot of players it makes less difference that you replay the same thing four times. I don't know.

    I think I could recommend this map for an action map rotation if you're scraping the barrel a bit. It's repetitive, sure, but sometimes that's how Sven Co-op is.

Pros:

• Pretty decent fortress map
• Decent game flow with taking down the towers
• Great spawn point and resupply
• Pretty short

Cons:

• Repetitive- the same tower attack 4 times in a row????
• Would be nice to have additional weapons if the scenario is going to be the same each time. Or any difference, really.
• I think the ending might be broken (though the map DOES end, so no emergency there)

Score: 5.5 / 10