Black Mesa Sideline - GrandmasterJ
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)
Here is a short, one map, mod converted to Sven Co-op. It's not a lazy mod, there are no level transitions to the previous maps! The mod is a fairly standard Black Mesa themed map where we are collectively Gordon Freeman and we are skipping our destiny of saving the world and simply escaping.
This map may be standard Black Mesa, but it looks great. There are a ton of details, like bulging walls, crumpled doors, and natural looking rock walls. The level layout is fairly straightforward, whenever the game takes a non-linear detour it never lasts long. There was a couple of vents that we couldn't break despite plenty of other vents being breakable, we eventually circumvented (get it?) them but the map should be consistent.
I bet the map would have been challenging in single player but with two players we breezed through, it took a bit less than 20 minutes. This is not to say we didn't die, we did die a lot. But we had turned survival mode off and the map very helpfully adds at least one checkpoint so we don't have to keep walking for so long. But alas, the checkpoint does skip the satchel charges, which are really helpful against grouped up soldiers. The map does suffer from not having all that much in the way of supplies. It's all balanced for one person and we were flying through the map so fast that the person in the lead would suck up all the ammo and HEV and the other would be out of luck.
At a certain point our screens went black and we got a message informing us Gordon Freeman has escaped. That's us, we are collectively him in this map.
It's a more standard Black Mesa fare, but it looks very good. There are a ton of neat details that all come together to make Black Mesa really pop. There was work done to ensure the mod worked in Sven Co-op, including an updating spawn checkpoint even though the map has survival mode on by default. There were some vents that were not breakable but looked exactly like breakable vents, it reads poorly. Its a fine map, a short and fun ride while it lasts.
Pros:
- Looks really good
- effort was put into this conversion to ensure it plays smoothly
- updating spawn point
- decent and challenging combat
- if you want a short map that flies by, this is it
Cons:
- supplies are balanced for one person
- the impervious vent should not look pervious
- the checkpoint put us past satchel charges
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