Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       Suit up squad, it's time to go fight human grunts that this map calls zombies. This map is a horde map taking place in a burned out urban block, supposedly there are points to capture but I didn't see any. SCMapDB page Author: cyberdaemon Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Squad (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 17, 2023 | 2601 characters      Zombie Squad is a well detailed horde map wherein grunts and hwgrunts (and, like, an assassin) swarm the players from every angle. Thankfully, within the details of the ruins are plenty of weapons, and a reasonable smattering of HEV and health pickups.      The description makes it sound like maybe my experience with the map is broken. There were, like, 3 soldiers which looked like zombies in the map. I think far more were meant to be zombies? Also, the MOTD makes it sound like there's some funny control point business, like there's an objective to the map. Far as I can tell a

      Suit up squad, it's time to go fight human grunts that this map calls zombies. This map is a horde map taking place in a burned out urban block, supposedly there are points to capture but I didn't see any. SCMapDB page Author: cyberdaemon Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Squad (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 17, 2023 | 3342 characters      Fight a never-ending horde or human grunts in a really well made destroyed dense urban section. Did I say human grunts? I meant zombies, but all the zombies have guns and I think the included models have to overwrite the default human grunt models and I didn't do that so most of the enemies I fought were default HECU soldiers. So this map did not feel like a zombie map in the slightest.      My teammate and I spawn in different areas, I start in a closet and walk out to find batteries. I exchange gunfire through a window and pick up a crossbow and satchel charges crawling into a hol

       Defend a castle! This is one of those times where the map name absolute describes exactly what is happening here. Defend a nuke for a set amount of time, which is apparently broken so just go until enemies stop appearing. SCMapDB page Author: generic Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castle Defence (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 10, 2023 | 3488 characters      Castle Defense is a hoard map with a veritable multitool of a player defense area. The "castle" is a rather large fortress fit with gates, retractable turrets, mounted guns, SAMs, multiple armories, a barracks, and a goddamned nuke. That last thing is what you'll be spending the map defending against waves and waves and waves of HECU.      The enemies assaulting the player come in your standard HECU flavors, but come in large numbers wielding RPGs. There's also a heavy helping of heavy weapons grunts, and some supporting apaches. Of particular note is an osprey

      Defend a castle! This is one of those times where the map name absolute describes exactly what is happening here. Defend a nuke for a set amount of time, which is apparently broken so just go until enemies stop appearing. SCMapDB page Author: generic Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castle Defence (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 10, 2023 | 4115 characters      This defense map could have been really good, but it appears that it currently doesn't have a game end and just continues forever, there may also be map events that do not trigger. It's unfortunate because I think this map does defense really well and I would like to see it working.      So we start in a big tower and we are informed the power is out, now I didn't really know this at the time, but the main power is our basic stuff like doors and turrets and the auxiliary power is our advanced stuff like reinforcements. I found the main power and turned what I thought w

       This is a variety map, walk through a teleporter to be dropped off in a fun room. There is an arena, control room, maze, armory, crusher, and a very saucy place. SCMapDB page Author: halo4life Date of release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Choose (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 9, 2023 | 2752 characters      Choose is a real swiss army knife of a map. It reminds me of the reeeaaally old Garry's Mod construct map, where you just press buttons to spawn everything. This map really harkens back to that.      So, you've got a bunch of doors. There's an armory for restocking your ammo, an arena for pressing buttons which spawn horrible monsters to fight, an invisible maze for banging your head against your keyboard until blood pours of your ears, a "crusher room", a "pron" room, and a control room.      The armory gives you a bunch of the good shit. Tau, RPG, Gluon- the works. It's good, because it's nice to have f

      This is a variety map, walk through a teleporter to be dropped off in a fun room. There is an arena, control room, maze, armory, crusher, and a very saucy place. SCMapDB page Author: halo4life Date of release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Choose (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 9, 2023 | 1452 characters      The simply named Choose is a sort of variety map where players start in a room with teleporters to various attractions. We have a room labelled Crusher, OMG Free Pr0n, Control Room, Arena, Maze, and Armory. There was also a dancing gonome.      The Crusher room has some buttons that trigger traps to kill scientists. They kind of just run around and it can be tough to actually get them into the traps. There is also a conveyor that dumps scientists into a spike. The promise of free pornography is worth it and players should definitely check it out. The control room is a bit of gameplay to access a menu of sorts for the level, the arena is a fight p

      Welcome to not Black Mesa where we do science that is really similar to what goes on over there but we're totally different, I promise. According to the description we are a secret organization sending scientists over to another dimension via resonance cascades, that sounds safe. SCMapDB page Author: HeAdCrAb KILLA Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Catalyst (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 9, 2023 | 3156 characters      Catalyst is a short puzzle map revolving around an Icon of Sin style enemy-spawning computer-crystal thingie.      The gist is as such: players walk through a short Black Mesa-y introduction and teleport to a room full of the map's main arsenal (shotgun, MP5, glock, crowbar, handgrenades), an elevator up to the main supply bunker with rooms full of additional goodies (importantly, a sniper rifle, revolver, HEV, health, and underbarrel grenades). A console on the top floor deploys 3 friendly turrets in front of the

      Welcome to not Black Mesa where we do science that is really similar to what goes on over there but we're totally different, I promise. According to the description we are a secret organization sending scientists over to another dimension via resonance cascades, that sounds safe. SCMapDB page Author: HeAdCrAb KILLA Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Catalyst (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 9, 2023 | 2142 characters      This map starts out with a very Black Mesa flavor with a big fancy science lab and a room with portals that triggers a bunch of aliens. The goal is to destroy a power source which is on the other side of the teleport past a bunch of soldiers in another science place. At the end we have to fight past respawning aliens so that one player can open a vent and another can toss grenades in, this map requires two people!      We start off in a place that I guess is not Black Mesa and hang out with the staff and look around un

       Case Closed is one of the many singleplayer Half-Life mods ported over to Sven Co-op. We go around and see all the familiar sights around Black Mesa, especially the sewers, and eventually we are able to get out. SCMapDB page Original map author: EraSerx Conversion author: Hezus Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2005 Maps in package: 10 Map review of Case Closed (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | July 9, 2023 | 3163 characters      Case Closed is a conversion of a singleplayer mod called Case Closed. Play a singleplayer walkthrough which journeys players through funky testing labs, maintenance rooms, sewers, funky testing labs, maintenance rooms, and sewers!      Most of what is on display is standard Half-Life action stuff, but it plays decently well in Sven Co-op. I'd say I think some maps could stand to be stitched together for the sake of this, as they often end right after grabbing some HEV or equipment. This leads to some

      Case Closed is one of the many singleplayer Half-Life mods ported over to Sven Co-op. We go around and see all the familiar sights around Black Mesa, especially the sewers, and eventually we are able to get out. SCMapDB page Original map author: EraSerx Conversion author: Hezus Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2005 Maps in package: 10 Map review of Case Closed (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | July 9, 2023 | 4977 characters      We return back to Black Mesa once again in a port of a single player mod that puts us in the shoes of a janitor. We wander through familiar sights, mostly sewers, fight familiar enemies and eventually we hit a cutscene of our extraction and the map just kind of lingers there forcing me to end the map manually.      As soon as we start the map I notice something, I am lagging. My teammate doesn't have the same problem and I am hosting, it gets better in some rooms and worse in others so it is very obvio

       Hang out and wait in a lobby and amuse yourself with a giant sound system with lots of different music. This map is meant to be a waiting room so there isn't much else to do here. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v1337 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 6, 2023 | 2054 characters      Chillplace v1337 is a reconfiguration of the ideas in Chillplace v2 for a more streamlined presentation. Gone is the island with the tiny buttons on a boombox, and here now is the day of a bizarre structure which controls music, and beautiful mountain scenery. Some nicely utilized models for mountains give the impression of displacement.      For those unaware, Chillplace is a hangout map where players can vibe to music. Kinda like a virtual club. To that end, I think Chillplace offers a decently sized venue with enough of a fun vibe to hang out with friends. I also think the invisible walls make moving around a litt

      Hang out and wait in a lobby and amuse yourself with a giant sound system with lots of different music. This map is meant to be a waiting room so there isn't much else to do here. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v1337 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 6, 2023 | 1509 characters      This is sort of a sequel to Chillplace v2 or maybe a remake. The goal is the same, as a sort of lobby or waiting room map. Besides pressing buttons on a massive sound system to play a staggering number of music tracks there is no gameplay. I noclipped around and saw nothing hidden either.      The scenery is pretty good looking though. We have some majestic mountains with incredibly stretched out textures. It looked pretty bad close up but it also gave the map a warped sense of scale that worked well with the scenery and dim blue lighting. There's also a chilling horrible monster man with a big clarification that t

      The only interactive feature of this map seems to be a big boombox that plays many sounds. The rest of the map is a tiny room that looks very interesting, the map is a lobby so there isn't all that much to do. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 2, 2023 | 1924 characters      Chillplace V2! If there's a Chillplace V1, I don't know about it!      This map is a chill lobby area with an island of blue grass and a big mystical tree with light shining from within. There's a lot of fun effects on display, like liberal use of sprites to create fun glowing particles and flowers, or additive gradient brushes to create the light burst from within the tree. There's a custom model of a horrible, unchill mothman with a gaping lower jaw laying beneath the tree, likely dreaming of mercifully departing its hideous existence. A stereo plays lots of funky tunes!   

      The only interactive feature of this map seems to be a big boombox that plays many sounds. The rest of the map is a tiny room that looks very interesting, the map is a lobby so there isn't all that much to do. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 2197 characters      This map is supposed to be a waiting room between maps, and I think it accomplishes that. The map is entertaining enough for about five minutes but then it gets old.      The map itself is a really fantastic looking grassy green hill with a big well detailed tree in the middle. The hill slopes down rather sharply and ends in a black abyss, rock cliff walls surround us on the other side of the abyss. We can't drop down because there is an invisible wall keeping us on top of the hill. There are a lot of invisible walls, they become problematic around the tree's roots and it can be hard

       Lobby maps are for players to pick their next map. The Single Player Campaign Portal map is a really well done example and its mere existence pretty much makes this map obsolete. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Choose Campaign (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 7, 2023 | 1824 characters      Choose Campaign! Two lobby maps wherein players vote for a map to play.      choose_campaign_2 is a simple functional hub wherein players can stand in lots to vote for which specific map from the three main campaigns the players want. Voting lasts for roughly 2 minutes, after which point whichever map has the most votes wins. The server will then switch to that map.      choose_campaign_4a is a far more interesting map, though it gives players far less finesse in which map they wish to vote for. There are instead lots for voting for Half-Life, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Uplink, Half-Life

      Lobby maps are for players to pick their next map. The Single Player Campaign Portal map is a really well done example and its mere existence pretty much makes this map obsolete. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Choose Campaign (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 2347 characters      I feel weird reviewing maps that have been made obsolete by newer maps. It doesn't really matter how good this map is, players probably won't play it because the successor is an upgrade. I'm a bit relieved that this map is obviously inferior, it's split up into two maps, the first one (helpfully named '2') lets us choose between chapters in the big three, Half-Life, Blue Shift, and Opposing Force. The second map is a much smaller single room affair that starts the same campaigns plus They Hunger, Half-Life Instinct, and I think two others that I didn't recognize and did not care about.      Play

       Ride on a helicopter, sans Wagner, and shoot down at the enemies below. Occasionally enemy helicopters will appear but there is a rocket launcher on the map so they go down easy. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chopper Ride (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 2, 2023 | 1898 characters      The Chopper Ride is a nonstop action map starring a brush helicopter and a donut of desert around a mountain full of respawning HECU. If that sounds awesome to you, you're in for a treat.      I think the Chopper Ride is truly made for people who like Michael Bay movies and want to play that feeling. Grab a bunch of weapons, ride around on an invincible helicopter raining hell down on, uh, enemy combatants forever. One part of the desert donut has a respawning apache so your helicopter can fight another helicopter like a mirror fight. There's not very much to it, outside of the handful of weapons (underbarrel grenad

      Ride on a helicopter, sans Wagner, and shoot down at the enemies below. Occasionally enemy helicopters will appear but there is a rocket launcher on the map so they go down easy. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chopper Ride (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 1522 characters      This is a very simple but fun horde map where players get to fly a helicopter on a fixed route around a big arena filled with human grunts and sometimes apaches. Players spawn up top on a cliff and there is a path around the center of the map in a big donut where all the enemies are, opposite player spawn is another cliff we can access the chopper.      The map has some ok weapons, in spawn we get a crossbow, rocket launcher, underbarrel grenades (which come with an M16), and an uzi. The chopper starts here but it can be controlled like any other func_vehicle so any player can drive it at any time. This also means if a player

       What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk… Have at you! Explore Dracula's castle, which in this case means a smattering of respawning enemies and long walks through them. SCMapDB page Author: Gadabout Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castlevania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 2, 2023 | 4169 characters      Castlevania is a non-linear walkthrough action map for Sven Co-op which aims to recreate the feeling of a Castlevania game. The map is divided up into 6 sections: The introduction area, the hub, the underground, the chapel, the clock tower, and Dracula's arena. Aside from the hub and final arena, each section comprises of a collection of challenges and a boss.      These challenges take two primary flavors: platforming puzzles, and combat. Platforming puzzles in this map range from fair to tedious. Much of it revolves around barnacle grappling, which also means if one player reaches the end of a par

       What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk… Have at you! Explore Dracula's castle, which in this case means a smattering of respawning enemies and long walks through them. SCMapDB page Author: Gadabout Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castlevania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 3838 characters      I was really excited to play this map, I am a big fan of other game franchises shoved into the old school mess that is goldsrc. I haven't played much Castlevania, but the moment we started my teammate ran over to a torch, destroyed it, and then whooped for joy when it dropped ammo so I'm assuming this map nails it.      The map has two primary components, platforming and combat. Combat is against some low health enemies that respawn forever and quickly, mostly stuka bats and Barnabus, both very annoying. There is no armor anywhere so we die very quickly. Because the enemies spawn so frequently it

       What else is there to say? We can now play chess in a Sven Co-op map. Of course the rules are not enforced so it's mostly anarchy. But still, pretty cool stuff! SCMapDB page Author: Streamfox Date of release: 2015 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chess (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 1, 2023 | 2656 characters      This is a map which facilitates the honorable playing of chess in Sven Co-op. I say honorable, because this really allows for wild-west antics if your players don't adhere to the rules of chess.      There's a giant chess board, controls for each player, and controls for the game in general. There's also some screens which players can cycle through to review the rules of chess, in case they don't know how to play. Which it's a very novel concept, I don't recommend learning chess by playing it in this map.      Players press a button to join the game, which did something I'm sure. Walking onto the red carpet area un

      What else is there to say? We can now play chess in a Sven Co-op map. Of course the rules are not enforced so it's mostly anarchy. But still, pretty cool stuff! SCMapDB page Author: Streamfox Date of release: 2015 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chess (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 1, 2023 | 1492 characters      Chess is chess! The whole map is a big room with a big chessboard in the center with helpful tips on the walls. I was very very impressed by the map until we found out that the rules are all on the honor system. We could move every piece whereever we want, even outside of the game. Then I dropped down to very impressed by this map, it is still functional chess after all.      One big issue I find is that it is actually pretty hard to put pieces down where we want them. My first piece went askew and sometimes the map just refuses to place a piece. Joining the game doesn't assign us pieces, we can access each others pieces freely. It's no

       Ride off into the perpetual sunset with some chill tunes. There is no time limit, no objectives, no secrets, or any goals other than chilling out.  SCMapDB page Author: Gruntzz Date of release: 2022 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chill Ride (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 1, 2023 | 2198 characters      Chill Ride is what it says on the tin: a chill track, some rides, and a track to ride them upon with great chill.      There's not much to say about this map so I'll make it brief: there's a track with very little detail on it, and cars that are very simple in shape. But those aren't what matters. No, the beauty of the map is in the chill beat, the funky skybox (which is very funky, btw), the fun way the cars just bumpercars around if they crash, and the chill shape of the track which lends to relaxed cruising.      Upon deciding we had seen most of what the map has to offer, we experimented. Jousting in the cars is a ton of fun. I'm no

      Ride off into the perpetual sunset with some chill tunes. There is no time limit, no objectives, no secrets, or any goals other than chilling out.  SCMapDB page Author: Gruntzz Date of release: 2022 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chill Ride (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 1, 2023 | 2062 characters      This is indeed a very chill map. It's a big circular track with a ton of cars that players can drive around in a big loop. The skybox is a delightful outrun style sun and there is some chill synthwave in the background. The track and car color is all brown which is a confusing contrast to the bright sky.      My teammate decided to splatter me so we drove head on and I disintegrated at the molecular level on contact. We did this a few more times with the same result before we eventually both died from the impact. I don't know how the impact on func_vehicle works so be careful of the lucky few with splatter powers.      Also at one point my teammate j

       Here is another horde map, this one taking place in the eponymous cemetery with the stated goal of grinding experience for XP mod. The map certainly does feel like a grind. SCMapDB page Author: GForce Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Cemetery (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 1, 2023 | 1507 characters      Cemetary is a charming little map of a spooky cemetery wherein infinite zombies spawn, which players may shotgun to their hearts' content. There's a house you can enter (which you spawn in), a church you can enter, and a house you cannot enter which tells you the credits (shoutouts to GForce). There's a really fun upper area of the cemetery with a bridge that connects them, which breaks up the field.      It's a fairly short map, but it's got enough fun details to really complete the atmosphere of a spooky cemetery. Just enough. I like the touches like a shovel in a mound of dirt, and the statues, or the revolver y

      Here is another horde map, this one taking place in the eponymous cemetery with the stated goal of grinding experience for XP mod. The map certainly does feel like a grind. SCMapDB page Author: GForce Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Cemetery (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 1, 2023 | 2011 characters      This map is meant to farm experience for XP mod if the map description is accurate. I guess for that it works well. The map is a big cemetery full of infinitely spawning zombies. We get shotguns and lots of ammo and we start with full armor so in the rare instance we do get hit we take almost no damage.      The map looks pretty good, but it does have some chunky and blocky parts. It also uses a lot of models that looks pretty good, but totally give away that they are models in both lighting and look. At one point my teammate pointed out a shovel in a blocky chunk of dirt, it was a well done shovel but I could tell it was brushwork beca