Black Operations: Special Forces - Dunkelschwamm
Black Operations (not to be confused with Blackops, a different map) is a Half-Life mod converted over to Sven Co-op. It uses many new textures along with impressive detail to tell the unnecessary story of how the United States acquired the nuke used to destroy Black Mesa.
Original map author: Little_Otis
Conversion author: Shinkichi
Date of original mod release: 2005
Date of final Sven Map release: 2010
Maps in package: 13
Map review of Black Operations: Special Forces
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
Black Operations: Special Forces is a walkthrough mapset which follows the exploits of a Black Operations soldier who gets in way over his head. Throughout there is setpiece after setpiece, lots of very inspired material, some puzzles, great action, and some exquisite aesthetics to tie it together.
Throughout this map players take on the role of a Black Ops grunt. The main way that this affects gameplay is that there are no recharge stations of any sort available to players, the flashlight is replaced with a somewhat garish (but regardless impressively implemented) red night vision headset. I'd knock the latter's implementation, as it really doesn't add anything over a normal flashlight aside from eye-strain, but the map seemed decently built around using the night vision so it never became a real issue- overall a lateral move, really.
The sequence of events take players through some impressively mapped urban areas which evoke at once Deus Ex, Max Payne, and the urban maps of Unreal Tournament 99. Then, players tackle a prison which gave me some remarkable Nova Prospekt vibes. Finally, things round out at Black Mesa for a rousing finale. It has to be stated that every one of these maps is dripping in detail, texture work, beautiful lighting, and beautiful brushwork. Some of the maps are quite expansive, and it's hard to tell where the optimization is happening with so much on display. It's not even just impressively executed- many unassuming environments are elevated to stunning sets with use of color, lighting, and interesting geometry. Truly, this is a visual feast that throws every trick in the book at creating atmosphere and makes it feel effortless. From animated textures simulating the shadows of a fan in a vent, to beautiful volume lights bleeding through blinds, this mapset really does everything and it does it with style.
Speaking of style, this mapset harps on some stylistic inspirations along the way. I think the most obvious inspiration was Max Payne, as evidenced by some really neat comic cutscenes throughout that tell the story. I think these were really cool to break things up and inform the scene, even if the story made little sense and did little to engage me. Without spoiling too much, this mapset tells the story of a plot element from the Gearbox expansions of Half-Life. How did [organization] get their hands on [macguffin]? Frankly, I didn't think that [organization] would have any trouble securing [macguffin] so I never would have wondered where they got it. Regardless, it's a harmless fun little story. On my screen, unfortunately the top text of the comic clipped off at the top.
The map maintains constant action that feels very fun even with a boilerplate arsenal. Much of the map keeps you to a handgun (with silencer which is very nice), shotgun, MP5, and M16. If you're lucky, you'll find yourself armed with a crossbow, grenades, revolver, and rocket launcher as well. You're also given a lead pipe (I'm presuming because of Max Payne influence- not because it makes any sense for a Black Ops guy to use as a weapon), and at one point we got a barnacle but we never really used it much. About halfway through the map you get these weapons taken away and it's awkward and does little to shake things up, only disrupt momentum. Thankfully, that doesn't last long before players get rearmed.
These weapons are put to the test against all manner of enemy, but zombies and HECU grunts make up the majority of fights. There's plenty of vortigaunts, and early on there's some houndeyes as well. When dealing with the HECU, there's a lot of really novel use of turrets and tripmines, which I appreciated and felt made the military threat feel a bit more intelligent and alive. There were some real moments in the action against the HECU where I was getting that real Run, Think, Shoot, Live feeling.
There are some puzzles throughout this map. None of them are super great, and some of them amount to reading a note that's right next to a door so you know the combination to that same door. There's some platforming bits I liked, and a fire trap room that had the production value of a late-era PS2 game, but overall I think the actual puzzles worked best when they did little to waste our time. There were a couple that really didn't read, and one I only figured out because I've solved the same puzzle in Max Payne (despite a very obvious hint to the problem's solution being written on a sign in the area). There was a really neat rail-tower thing that needed to be controlled from four consoles to move in the correct directions and stop at the right spots. It's one of those really impressive setpieces that comes across as effortless in execution, even if it's not around for long and doesn't do very much.
Overall, I think this is a really fantastic action mapset that's full of details. Even the low points would constitute as high points in most maps, and it's wicked pretty to boot. The story is a little contrived and pointless, but I figure if you're looking to play a storyline as a Black Ops agent this might be the type of thing you're looking for anyway. Highly recommend
Pros:
- The map pulls out every trick in the bag to make it stunning and gorgeous all the way through
- Gunfights are well orchestrated, fast-paced, and never too far from a checkpoint or shortcut
- Levels are fit with traps which range from standard HECU tripmine traps to a really impressive looking fire trap
- Environment changeups and setpieces frequent enough to keep things feeling fresh
- Really cohesive whole of a project, even with its size
Cons:
- Mid-mapset slowdown where weapons are needlessly taken away
- Things slow down early on with the subway and nightclub area, but past that rut the map really kicks into high gear
- Ending is a bit anticlimactic in terms of this mapset, since it has so little to do with the action preceding it
- Some puzzles are a bit opaque and map progression difficult to track, especially in the first handful of maps
Score: 9.2 / 10
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