Black Hawk - Dunkelschwamm
Despite the name this map is a Shadow Warrior themed map, no Black Hawks around, bird or helicopter. It's got both key hunt elements just like games in the old days and its got plenty of combat as well.
Author: Lt.JC
Date of release: 2006
Maps in package: 1
Map review of Black Hawk
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
Black Hawk is a map for Sven Co-op which aims to take inspiration from Shadow Warrior, making a series with a more classic build-engine style.
This build engine inspiration is especially apparent in the flow of the map. There's a lot of key hunting, monsters spawning in a monster-closet-adjacent fashion, and secret hunting for weapons. The two main maps in particular are extremely similar to the first two maps of Shadow Warrior at first glance, with the first map being almost beat-for-beat in terms of progression. I think this key hunt style works great, and my teammate had mentioned that progression felt markedly simpler to follow compared to some Sven Co-op maps we've played recently. That said, it took us for-goddamned-ever to find the first key. After that, I'd say it becomes smooth sailing. If anything, how hard the first key is to find is something that spurred us to find secrets before embarking on the rest of the map, signposting to us that there would be lost of secrets to find.
Another way in which this map relates to build engine games is in map interactivity. Holy moly, try using random stuff in this map. Disk trays on computer towers eject, ovens open, and at least one slot machine is semi-functional. I'm not sure how many of these are prefabs, but their inclusion really livens the map up.
Most of the combat through both maps is with some very beefy zombies, some very cheap seeker-caterpillar shooting Hellmouth alien controllers, some very fun to battle HECU grunts called "stalkers", very occasional houndeyes and headcrabs, and some gonomes and vortigaunts. Overall, I think the combat ranged from clunky to very easy, but it was often satisfying to blast away soldiers with the custom shotgun model.
The first map was a bit of a snooze combat-wise, but was fun to explore. Conversely, the second map was a bit of a snooze to explore, but had some thrilling combat bits in comparison. However, in the first map players can find secret letters which teleport them to the bonus map.
The bonus map is hell. It's an extremely annoying series of extremely annoying platforming segments amounting to the 3d fps equivalent of the platforming from I Wanna Be The Guy. There are surprise traps, a co-op only gate with insta-kill walls, and timed obstacle shenanigans. If you're into that sort of thing, it's alright enough, a bit short, each thing is a special kind of annoying, but some levelheaded checkpointing the map really helps it be completable. I considered giving up at one of the last obstacles, but am glad I finished to the end. Funnily enough, you have to get here from the first map, but ending this map does not take the player to the second map.
Overall, I think Black Hawk is a misnamed, clunky, poorly paced adventure that has a lot of fun things to look at, some solid inspirations, and some surprisingly engaging combat at points. I think this is well worth checking out with a friend or putting on your server, especially if you're a fan of Shadow Warrior.
Pros:
- Solid key hunt maps with lots of good secrets
- Lots of interactive environment brings things to life
- The custom models went a long way in helping bring fun to this
- Some of the combat was a lot of fun
- Good references to a fun game
- Decent arsenal with good model replacements
Cons:
- Updated Sven enemies are jank as fuuuuuuuuuuuuck on this map
- Some combat is too easy, some combat is too jank
- Some parts of the map are a bit bland with unclear progression
- The bonus map does not fit with the rest of the map at all and is kind of an annoying speedbump after playing a Shadow Warrior inspired map
- Second map fritters out at the end
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