Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       The map description really says it all: "Nobody knows what this map is about, or why it is called g-man". It's a strange, early map made by an unknown author that found its way onto the map database and now it's getting reviewed. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of G-man (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 27, 2023 | 1869 characters      G-Man is a map that exists without much purpose other than entropy. One of those maps that doesn't really end- it just becomes empty except for the players which dance ineffectively on its corpse.      The visuals are that of a desert valley perfectly contoured to lead players through a linear combat path: first flanked on either sides on the opposite end of a tunnel by HECU grunts; then in a dark tunnel by fassns; then outside, by turrets and even MORE fassns. The natural landscape is only minorly marred by its clunky turn-of-the-millennium compiler. Its gr

      The map description really says it all: " Nobody knows what this map is about, or why it is called g-man". It's a strange, early map made by an unknown author that found its way onto the map database and now it's getting reviewed. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of G-man (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 27, 2023 | 1248 characters      The map description sums up this map pretty well. We start off in some sort of canyon with a tunnel in front of us, there are weapons on the ground including an rpg. We go through a bend and fight some human grunts as we cross a bridge past a room with a ton of supplies. Then we fight female assassins and turrets. The map has no end.      I started noclipping around just to see if there was anything else I should see, there is a lot of Z-fighting when seen from above and I also saw a wall stretched to infinity, something happened to this map on compilation.     

    This map was built to play a way that Sven never really supported. So it was abandoned. It's a box (or two) full of headcrabs for a project that was cancelled due to the main concept not working out. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crablegs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 11, 2023 | 1278 characters      Crablegs is a map for Sven Co-op. It features two darkened arenas with floating water surfaces in the center. Each arena is a cube with inaccessible catwalks with infinitely spawning headcrabs. The player has no flashlight, so facing the headcrabs is a nightmare. To make matters worse, players spawn with a revolver drawn which is a terrible weapon for fighting headcrabs in the dark. Switching to the crowbar helps, but it doesn't help anything of particular note because there doesn't seem to be any end to the endlessly spawning headcrabs.      Maybe with a lot of players fighting the h

      This map was built to play a way that Sven never really supported. So it was abandoned. It's a box (or two) full of headcrabs for a project that was cancelled due to the main concept not working out. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crablegs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 11, 2023 | 1481 characters      This map consists of two rooms, each with the shallowest puddle in the middle in which headcrabs pour into endlessly via a hole high up in the wall. There is another platform up around where the headcrabs appear, it even connects the rooms which are otherwise cut off from each other. There is no way up there unless players want to create a tower.      Players start with crowbar, medkit, and revolver. Then they get buried in headcrabs. If I've learned anything from this map it is that headcrabs can be real dangerous if you need to fight 50 of them at once.      Also, we don't have flashl

      One room with a big zapper in the middle and three hallways on the sides spitting out scientists who run straight into the laser. It's all automatic, there is nothing players can do but watch the lemmings die. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Wrath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 11, 2023 | 1477 characters      Zapper is map for Sven Co-op which shows off the applications of a scientific zapping machine. To that end, a zapping machine sits in the middle of a room between 3 scientist spawning corridors. Each is drawn to the laser like a moth to a flame. With an "argh!" they fall prone, luring the next scientist in to resurrect. For a scientist zapper, it gets jammed with scientists a lot. Alas, I feel this was probably far more functional before the scientists were updated to resurrect one another.      The map also looks pretty nice, with the zapping machine itself being very we

      One room with a big zapper in the middle and three hallways on the sides spitting out scientists who run straight into the laser. It's all automatic, there is nothing players can do but watch the lemmings die. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Wrath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 11, 2023 | 1375 characters      This map is very simple. There is one room with a big laser device in the middle of it. There is a console attached to it but it does nothing, ignore the console, do not bother with the console. Scientists spawn in from three short hallways and they sprint directly into the laser beam in the center of the machine. That is the entire map.      The map looks pretty good, a lot of detail went into the laser. Arcs of electricity power it from the sides, big dual pronged machines along the walls. Scientists will try to revive friendly NPCs and players, so some scientists would revive a budd

    There are a lot of maps out there where players have to deal with infinitely spawning enemies. This map is yet another one of those but it has a pretty good layout. There is no end to this map. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Canal (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 27, 2022 | 2728 characters      Canal is an arena map for Sven Co-op. In it, you can expect to battle headcrabs, houndeyes, vortigaunts, bullsquids, and occasional grunts as they endlessly respawn. To this end, players are armed with a simple but satisfying boilerplate arsenal of an MP5, shotgun, and magnum. During gameplay we never found ourselves running out of ammo, despite being crafty enough to stay alive quite often.      There is a modest moat which surrounds a central arena platform- I presume this is the titular "canal". Falling into this water presents the player with the threat of many leeches, as well as the headcrabs

      There are a lot of maps out there where players have to deal with infinitely spawning enemies. This map is yet another one of those but it has a pretty good layout. There is no end to this map. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Canal (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 22, 2022 | 1741 characters      Canal is a simple arena horde map where players spawn in an arena and enemies never stop spawning in. We're well equipped with just a shotgun, mp5, and revolver to take down the headcrabs, houndeyes, and vortigaunts that spawn in the middle of the arena, and the bullsquid and HECU grunt that spawn on the side. There is a small amount of ammo in the corner but players spawn in with quite a bit of ammo to begin with.      The map is real small and consists of a canal with a small island in the middle that is connected to the sides with bridges. One one side of the map is a ladder that leads to a catwalk t

       This small slice of map is a recreation of the World War 2 beach landings at Normandy. It was converted from the 'War in Europe' and renamed to 'Barney Beach' for some reason, there are no Barneys here at all. SCMapDB page Original map author: Rob Lutz Conversion author: Unknown Date of original mod release: 2000 (estimated) Date of final Sven Map release: 2000 (estimated) Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Beach (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | September 25, 2022 | 2798 characters      Barney Beach is a map where players endlessly throw themselves at a beachhead where enemies spawn in over and over over again. I'm not sure what the goal is, or if there is one. It really seems like the goal is to endlessly throw yourself at respawning soldiers.      It's cute. It's a little beachhead map with boats players spawn in before hopping into the water and storming the beachhead.      Players are given MP5s and Crossbows, the latter of

      This small slice of map is a recreation of the World War 2 beach landings at Normandy. It was converted from the 'War in Europe' and renamed to 'Barney Beach' for some reason, there are no Barneys here at all. SCMapDB page Original map author: Rob Lutz Conversion author: Unknown Date of original mod release: 2000 (estimated) Date of final Sven Map release: 2000 (estimated) Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Beach (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | September 25, 2022 | 2150 characters      This is a conversion of a World War II map, specifically the Normandy beach landings, I don't know why it is called Barney Beach since there are no Barneys in the map. Are players supposed to be the Barneys? I have questions.      Players spawn in landing boats, the water here is really choppy, it has been put together in chunks and each block's waves don't match up with the waves of the adjacent blocks, it just looks incredibly bad. Players run ou

       These Barneys do not attack, even if they did they can not hurt players. This is an old map back when Sven Co-op worked differently and Barneys could hurt the player, so the main gimmick of this map can no longer be realized. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 28, 2022 | 1785 characters by dunkelschwamm | July 28, 2022 | 1542 characters      Barney Attack is a map with a bunch of Barneys in it, and as one can only expect, they sure do attack. The ground is a grate, around you are crates, ammo among the freight, Barneys throwing hate. Retaliate, or don't. Barneys can't damage players anymore because Sven Co-op updates often carelessly break balancing in existing maps apparently. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯      The players have a bunch of weapons. Snarks don't do shit, but grenades'll clear the Barneys out. There's a platform, a drop into a bottomless pit. It&

      These Barneys do not attack, even if they did they can not hurt players. This is an old map back when Sven Co-op worked differently and Barneys could hurt the player, so the main gimmick of this map can no longer be realized. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 28, 2022 | 1785 characters      This map is a room with some destructible barrels (some float in midair), some basic sandbag barricades and military crates, and Barneys. There are grenades, HEV batteries, snarks, and some ammo on the crates. After a little while the first wave of Barneys spawns in. They are not hostile and they actually can not hurt players. Snarks do not target them and are completely useless in this map. According to the comments it seems like friendly Barneys used to be able to damage players and that was changed in later versions of Sven Co-op.      It should be noted that the floor is

       Assault the other end of the map! This map has a very simple layout, spawn on one end of the map, fight to the objective on the other side of the map.  SCMapDB page Author: Medlam Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Assault (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 28, 2022 | 3203 characters      Assault is a pretty dumb fun not very pretty map. In harsher words, assault is a fun map that is dumb and kinda ugly. But, within, I think there's a lot of fun to be had.      The main conceit of assault is that the players assault a base that infinitely vomits grunts, and is heavily fortified with turrets, rescue a scientist with more HP and resurrections than Jesus, and take him back to base. To aid in accomplishing this, players are given a ton of weapons, lots of supplies along the way, some friendly Barneys, and a bunch of mounted turrets. The mounted turrets are great, gibbing grunts left and right with heavy bullets or explosives- and nei

      Assault the other end of the map! This map has a very simple layout, spawn on one end of the map, fight to the objective on the other side of the map.  SCMapDB page Author: Medlam Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Assault (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 26, 2022 | 4664 characters      This is not a map without a point where players just kill enemy after enemy forever. There is a scientist with 1000 health locked in a cage directly across from spawn between two red doors that dump human grunts out.      So when I first spawned in I inspected an elaborate wall texture and noticed that some parts of the wall were offset from others, huh. Then I went through a door with a slightly misaligned texture that was like two feet thick with 'Freeman' written over it. It didn't Z-fight, but it did sink into the wall and disappear completely. I looked up and saw that the sign was it's own block taking up half the doorframe and th

       The follow up to Svencoop 1, the sequel continues showing off things that can be done with Sven maps. Be warned, the map can be rendered unwinnable if you aren't paying attention. SCMapDB page Author: Sven Viking Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Svencoop 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 17, 2022 | 9968 characters      200 map special wooooo      Sven Coop 2 is the continuation of Sven Coop. It's a mostly linear walkthrough map with a couple puzzles, some combat, a crazy action setpiece at the end, and some wacky design decisions. Here I'll discuss them.      So, what is Sven Coop 2 trying to do with its design? I think it's trying to experiment- show interesting things that can be done in Sven Coop and spur creativity. Design is problem solving, and Sven Coop seeks very much to solve the problem of "How do we broaden what coop gameplay can be when applied to Half-Life's sensibilities?" Sven Coop 2

      The follow up to Svencoop 1, the sequel continues showing off things that can be done with Sven maps. Be warned, the map can be rendered unwinnable if you aren't paying attention. SCMapDB page Author: Sven Viking Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Svencoop 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 17, 2022 | 7913 characters      I couldn't really give an honest review of the first map in this series. It was really a demonstration and a bar setter for the rest of the maps for Sven Co-op. To be honest, I didn't much like it, but I'm spoiled with over 20 years of not only improved mapping resources but also fewer limits and more functionality of the engine. Svencoop2 comes right on the heels of the first map, just one year later. It keeps on demonstrating gameplay mechanics and has very fun cutscenes but it definitely wears on me a lot more than the first game.      The map starts off where the last one ended, a flooded room. T

       The map name doesn't seem to really describe what is going on in the map. There is a very small and simple maze, followed by a large area with shipping containers, female assassins are everywhere. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Army (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 16, 2022 | 1483 characters      Army is a a clearly very early map from a mapper who would go on to be quite prolific. Follow corridors to a cargo hold, fighting female assassins throughout using an assortment of weapons (just use the exploding crossbow bolts- it's the best). Once they're all dead there's nothing else to do other than climb a ladder to traverse a tiny strip of brush above the cargo hold.      For how unfinished the map is, it plays fine. Taking an arsenal to corridors full of ninjas doesn't get old fast, especially if you've got a good HEV charge on you. The environments, while boilerplate and boring,

      The map name doesn't seem to really describe what is going on in the map. There is a very small and simple maze, followed by a large area with shipping containers, female assassins are everywhere. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Army (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 16, 2022 | 1423 characters      The army that the title of this map refers to is an army of female assassins. The map itself has two parts, a small complex of hallways filled with female assassins with some supplies, and a large open warehouse area also filled with female assassins but without supplies. The spawn area has shotguns, grenades, and a crossbow. It should be noted the the crossbow does have the explosive bolts and that there is no flashlight. After killing all the female assassins (I must say, gibbing an assassin with a direct hit from the explosive bolt crossbow is wonderful) we climbed up to a windy rail above the cargo conta

       This map's claim to fame is the large crushing machine the map is named after. The crusher works really really well and that is all that matters in a map about crushing. SCMapDB page Author: Unkown Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crusher (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 30, 2022 | 3391 characters      Crusher is a map by author unknown. It's exactly what's printed on the tin: there's a great big ol' crusher, and you smoosh scientists in it. It's great. You mash a button and two big jagged jaws of rusty metal moosh their meaty bods together, gets stuck and jitters a bit as they make crushing meat sounds, then clamp as they join. They retract and a pile of gibs remain- until the next batch of scientists appear.      If that was the entire map, that would be the entire map. But no, Crusher has some baffling side areas featuring friendly NPCs. One is an area accessible only by climbing down a ladder, wherein B

      This map's claim to fame is the large crushing machine the map is named after. The crusher works really really well and that is all that matters in a map about crushing. SCMapDB page Author: Unkown Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crusher (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 30, 2022 | 2252 characters      Crusher is an old school map from the early days of Sven Co-op. The main attraction is a large crushing machine with five scientists that spawn endlessly right in the machine's jaws. The button to activate the crusher is a massive cube, it was not apparent that it was a button at first, but I think the giant button was fitting. If you stand on the button and press it you can jump into the machine just in time!      There is a hallway that goes around behind the machine with another button for the crusher and two spawners that makes about fives scientists and five Barneys each. We led all the Barneys into the machine and mulche