City Invasion - Dunkelschwamm

  

    Aliens have invaded a city and it is up to YOU to repel them! There is one part that needs two players to complete but a community tweak that removes that part, the map does seem balanced for two people.

SCMapDB page

Author: Foofinoo

Date of release: 2017

Maps in package: 1

Map review of City Invasion

(originally posted on SCMapDB)

by dunkelschwamm | August 6, 2023 | 3028 characters

    City Invasion is an action walkthrough map with some minor story elements. That is to say, it tells you what is happening throughout the action and why, sort of. Players are expected to clear a "city invasion" of invading aliens with the occasional help of some soldiers.

    The combat itself is broken up into really solid action setpieces which flow into one another seamlessly. You've got just about every xenian you can think of up to the gonarch, and even some voltigores (though they infight with the xenians, much to our delight). There's an area early on with some tripod turrets attacking zombies, and though the military is on the player's sides in this map, the turrets are not. This is the closest either of us came to dying in the map. The rest of the map is tense enough, but with two players we consistently crushed enemy opposition. I will say, there was one bit that annoyed me after we got the SAW where enemies spawned in for a battle. The arena was cramped, and I kept getting pushed around by bullsquids spawning right on top of me.

    Arsenal is interesting. Players start with the boilerplate weaponry (cbar, 9mm, MP5, shotgun), but you'll find weapons hidden all over the map. Some of them we never figured out how to reach, like snark nests or egon. We did however get a hivehand, revolver, deagle, and uzi. Twice in the map there are weapons you can pick up and need to drop before picking up again: a SAW and an RPG. The saw, unlike the RPG, can only be wielded by one player and does not respawn. The way this worked was kinda inconsistent and wonky, but it was an interesting idea and was probably for the best for balance.

    The map looks real nice. There aren't a whole lot of super memorable areas per se, but they're all rendered with lovely moody lighting and nice brushwork. Environments feel simultaneously lived in and abandoned, with crates and trash strewn about.

    Overall, I think City Invasion offers a very tasty serving of Sven Co-op combat. There's minor storytelling that is nonintrusive, occasional puzzle fun, but it's mostly just decent combat scenarios that escalate to a satisfying conclusion.

Pros:

• Lots of fun weapons found (or passed) in fun ways
• Really nice looking varied environments
• Great pacing overall
• The hovering text lets players take the story at their own pace
• Fun combat arenas

Cons:

• Occasional questionable enemy allegiances
• The arena battle where enemies kept spawning in after the SAW was clunky and a bit of a drag
• Friendly NPCs are hyped but overall contribute little
• Maybe a tad easy. Battles feel tense but I almost always came out with >60 hp even if I went in with 0 HEV
• Not being able to switch from the RPG, while a neat exploration of an underlooked Sven feature, is unnecessary and only adds minor convolution to the battle

Score: 8.2 / 10