Richard Boderman - Dunkelschwamm
Here is a map that is famous in the Sven Co-op community. Players must fight hordes of enemies in a huge arena with lots of vertical elements. Fun custom models representing members of the community (a recent addition, apparently), a kick-ass helicopter, plus music and voiceover really brings this whole map together in an amazing way.
Author: Aurora, JPolito, Puchi, Hydeph
Date of release: 2008
Maps in package:1
Map review of Richard Boderman
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
by dunkelschwamm | March 25, 2023 | 4711 characters
*!*!*!*300th MAP REVIEW EXTRAVAGANZA*!*!*!*
Richard Boderman is an arena map for Sven Co-op and by now is a certified classic. With the Garompa edit, it's even better. The monsters of the map, both friends and foe, are flavored as members of the community and have models and gimmicks to match. It's both a tremendous celebration of the Sven Co-op community and a really fun way to make this a colorful, interesting map.
The premise is simple: the map is a donut canyon of sorts, with a central rock tower with tunnels to funny bases. The external layers of the canyon are inlaid with bunkers atop cliffs and set in the walls. Bridges, ramps, and large net-ladders connect the 3 cliff ledges of the external layers, the ground level, and the 3 cliff ledges of the central tower for free and mostly free movement. It's just free enough that you have to consider your routes when fleeing. While the majority of the map is outdoors, the cliffs and plenty of sandbags and trenches prevent the players from being sitting ducks.
Players start in the external layer or on the ground, and are aided in these areas with some friendly NPCs. These are mostly made up of soldiers, but are flavored as all sorts of different things from robogrunts to headcrabs. The enemy forces are made up of a different, but similar hodgepodge of highly differing hostile NPCs, with seemingly grunts (blackops???) and robogrunts making up the core bulk. The players are equipped with the full gamut of boilerplate assault weapons (grenades, MP5, shotgun, M16, glock) but also a handy-dandy sniper, and the hostile-occupied central tower can also be raided for satchel charges and an RPG. Raiding this central tower also gives players the opportunity to open chambers full of friendly NPCs, right inside of the hostile NPC spawn rooms, which makes taking them out a lot easier. It's a great reward for fully infiltrating the NPC spawn area.
From the ground, players can also start and ride a helicopter. There's miniguns handy so players can hang out the side of the helicopter as it flies itself in circles around the map and rain hell down on foes. If that doesn't sound great on its own, players can also press a massive "WAGNER" button which plays Flight of the Valkyries. It's great fun.
Once enough enemies are killed in the chaotic frenzy, two super-powered gargantuas are released. They're a bit of a flatline, frankly, and pose little threat compared to what comes before them. Wailing on them with explosives from up high as they stomp around the ground level is still fun, though.
Once the robot gargantuas are dead, Richard Boderman himself attacks, and he is the most threatening creature of them all- an insta-killing, supersped-up gonome. It's a great frenzied battle, and his insta-kill blood ball makes cheesing him by hanging out on ladders difficult. Unfortunately, the helecopter breaks during this sequence. The bastard zooms around so fast that it creates tense moments where players scan the canyon asking "Does anybody have a visual on Boderman?" Our pulses skyrocket as one of us shouts "HE'S AT THE WAGNER BUTTON!"
The brushes are nice, the textures are nice, the skybox is really nice. Things are naturalistic, and the map reads easily and every important detail stands out. For the simple layout, it's loaded with nooks and crannies and tunnels and bridges, and a trench. Good shit.
The map is pretty much perfectly paced, chaos at a perfect level, and caps off with a really funny bit boss battle. There's voice-acting performed for Richard Boderman's lines between the phases of the map, which is great. The map itself looks really good and loads tons of functional detail into the battlefield, while making every route around it fully readable and intuitive. It's pure, unbridled chaos, and it sits in a chaos which perfectly resonates with that chaos.
Little else needs to be said. Obviously you should try this map, it's a hoot and a holler. Great action, tons of chaos, fun times. Throw it on your server list, play it with friends! The more the merrier.
Pros:
- Varied enemies and allies to match
- Great fun features like the helicopter, POW rescue, and Wagner button
- Simple: Kill all of the enemies
- Good arsenal for players to consistently put down large swarms of interesting enemies
- The map looks good and has a distinct look
Cons:
- Map immediately begins, starting the action before all players can join
- The Gargs miniboss are pretty forgettable
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