Black & White - Dunkelschwamm

 

    Sitting somewhere between a whole new experience and just being Black Mesa but monochrome, this map brings a much needed unique visual style to Sven Co-op. From monsters to lights, everything is either black or white.

SCMapDB page

Author: BuGi

Date of release: 2004

Maps in package: 1

Map review of Black & White

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | January 28, 2023 | 4261 characters

    For clarity's sake, I am reviewing the July 21, 2019 update (by SC-Dynamite) of BuGi's Black White map. My understanding is that it's the most up-to-date fix with the least overwrought changes.

    Black White is a stylish walkthrough map. It falls into the kind of surrealistic kaizo-action you might think of when you think of the Half-Quake series. Things are largely black and white, you mostly fight vortigaunts using boilerplate weaponry, and the map trolls the players with hidden traps and minor inconveniences. It feels a bit unfair to draw comparisons to Half-Quake, but it's hard not to given their similarities.

    I will say, this map is far less annoying than Half-Quake; and I say that as somebody who adores the Half-Quake series. There are some annoying trollish bits, but the map updates the spawn often enough that after the first spawn update it stops being a major issue. Before that point, however, players have to repeat a fairly annoying platforming segment every time they die in this kaizo surprise-trap map. Other annoying bits include death pits hidden in black tiles on checkerboard floors, the same trick being used to hide the way out of the spawn area, and a booth which requires players answer incorrectly to a question and also look in an arbitrary direction to see a path momentarily open for them. I think, though, after the first death by most of these traps it's hard to feel blindsided by them a second time. That's usually the most I hope for with kaizo traps, but a couple even made me chuckle, like one in particular that sucked me through a hallway out into space without warning.

    The combat is pretty boilerplate and simple: vortigaunts and alien controllers attack and are easily dispatched. It really only exists to butter the bread, so to speak; it adds texture. I think the combat works pretty good for what it is, even if the final boss is placed in a poorly designed arena that forces the players to cheese him. It's nothing to write home about, but it's not what you're here for.

    What you're here for is the visual flair. I think this map does a lot of fun things with the visual aesthetic it chose. There are some pretty striking visuals, like a hatch in the side of nowhere with spinning lights on either side. The use of stark black and stark white platforms gives a real sense of void (which is often disrupted by players gibbing all over them) and scale. There's fun composition, especially with getting the players to look down as they descend toward a spinning pinwheel, or placing players in a spiral of glowing brushes. This map exists to deliver ideas that can only work if the map is slammed into harsh contrasting colors, and it successfully plays with the ideas in plenty of interesting, satisfying ways.

    Overall, I think this map is just the right length and just the right amount of trollish spice for me to not mind the heat. It kept me pretty entertained after we got past the first spawn update, and I think it does enough with the style to really give it its own identity despite its similarities to Half-Quake.

Pros:

• Very stylish and creative. Scenes exist for artistic flair, and they deliver on that.
• The combat is clearly only there to add texture to gameplay, and it does exactly that
• Updating spawns were a lifesaver
• The repeated spawn room tile-search is easily subverted with sprays (subverting this troll was a way I had fun with the map, so I consider it a pro)
• Really good length for what it is
• Merciful to cap fall damage, which came in handy with some of the more annoying bits

Cons:

• Despite that the combat accomplishes what it sets out to, I'd still consider it a con that it never gets more ambitious than a smattering of vortigaunts or alien controllers thrown into the middle of a the existing troll map
• Until you get to the first spawn update, respawning is a huge chore
• If you don't like the repetition of dying and respawning that comes with kaizo trap maps like this, you might find this pretty tiresome
• The boss is a pretty limp climax

Score:     7.1 / 10