Black Mesa Sideline - Dunkelschwamm
Here is a short mod converted to work in Sven Co-op. The banner itself even says the length is about 20 minutes, which I find is accurate. Story and gameplay-wise it is a very standard Black Mesa adventure.
Original mod author: ToTac
Conversion author: Outerbeast
Date of original map release: 2007
Date of final Sven Map release: 2013
Maps in package: 1
Map review of Black Mesa Sideline
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
Black Mesa Sideline is a port of a mod called Black Mesa Sideline, but for Sven Co-op! I haven't played the original mod so I have no idea what is different.
While the map is Black Mesa in theme, it looks pretty gorgeous throughout. Techjunk lines the industrial halls, ruined fan blades spin forlorn, subtle volume light brushes illuminate pathways, and it all looks really good. It's helped that there's also an abundance of setting in this small map, from deep complex corridors to outdoor desert areas to deep sewer areas, occasionally broken up with military encampments where the military is set up to intercept players.
That said, I will say I took umbrage with some vents which looked breakable as hell (would have been consistent with other breakable vent grates in the map) but are just sneak-peeks at future vents of the map. I don't get that. Are we foreshadowing vent crawls? Wow exciting. Crawling through the vents later, I was able to look back out through the grates and see the places I was when I was confused and disappointed.
The military combat is pretty stellar for mostly being corridor combat. The military encampments are really tricky, but with clever use of the weapons given you can blow them all up or route them around corners. Outside of those bits, it's mostly dripping in xen enemies which feel more balanced to one player. There's maybe more headcrabs than I would prefer, but it's not enough that I'd consider it a detriment to the map.
Weapons are decent in the map, mostly boilerplate like the shotgun, pistol, and MP5. However, we are given some grenades and satchel charges which elevate things greatly as we proceed. It's disappointing when we get the checkpoint and can't grab everything we had previously, but given how much movement there is through this map it makes sense that we move the spawn point up. I had been grabbing all of the ammo, so I didn't realize my teammate was mostly going without a bunch of the time. Again, mostly balanced for one player.
Overall, I'd recommend. it's fast paced, simple but well executed. I think this would work great playing with a friend if you're looking for action.
Pros:
- Really good looking map with varied locations
- Good, balanced, not annoying combat
- The explosives really elevate the combat in the map
- Neat trigger set pieces, like the wind tunnel and buried headcrabs
- Really good length for what it is
Cons:
- Checkpoint unfortunately is passed some pickups
- Weird foreshadowing a ventilation shaft using grates which read weird
- The combat is really just balanced for one person
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