Sven Co-op Map Reviews

    We return to the dark pigmented facility, the first map we were a bystander and now we get to be soldiers. Visually it looks like Black Mesa but there is not a lot that the two maps have in common. SCMapDB page Author: Agamemnon Date of release:2003 Maps in package:1 Map review of Black Facility 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 11, 2023 | 3296 characters      Black Facility 2 is the sequel to Black Facility. It is an action walkthrough map for Sven Co-op.      In whatever regard this is related to Black Facility 1, frankly can be easily dismissed. This is a new boilerplate Black Mesa style facility that starts in an outdoor area and proceeds into a base which players sabotage. The story, as far as I can tell, and the progression of the map, have little to do with Black Facility 1.      The beginning of the map has players unarmed through some vent crawling and going through a metal detector. This doesn't exactly happen, however, as the gam

      We return to the dark pigmented facility, the first map we were a bystander and now we get to be soldiers. Visually it looks like Black Mesa but there is not a lot that the two maps have in common. SCMapDB page Author: Agamemnon Date of release:2003 Maps in package:1 Map review of Black Facility 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 11, 2023 | 4083 characters      This is the second installment of the Black Facility series that takes place somewhere that looks just like Black Mesa in which we fight aliens. In the first map we escaped the facility, but now we are back, starting from outside and working our way in.      Right in the first area we had some issues. We start off in a outdoor cliff hallway, my teammate jumps on a crate and onto a cactus then onto the cliff wall giving him a view out of the map. We spawn with no weapons so we start looking around. We find a friendly human grunt that explains out mission parameters and tells us we get weapons a

      Welcome to a scientific facility that looks and feels like Black Mesa but isn't, probably. Fight and scavenge your way up the elevator shaft to an eventual escape. SCmapDB page Author: Agamemnon Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Facility (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 5, 2023 | 3104 characters      Black Facility is a Black Mesa style walkthrough map for Sven Co-op. It is mostly action-oriented, with basic goals delivered through dialogue with scientists, as you make your way to escaping the Black Facility.      The map begins with players at the base of an elevator shaft with some busted up elevators. Through dealing with the scientists, pushing buttons, shooting aliens, and fighting the military. Once you start ascending the elevator shaft, most of the map is hallways, occasional simple arena rooms, making up experiment chambers and living areas. Locker rooms, a cafeteria, console rooms, the works. You fight ab

      Welcome to a scientific facility that looks and feels like Black Mesa but isn't, probably. Fight and scavenge your way up the elevator shaft to an eventual escape. SCmapDB page Author: Agamemnon Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Facility (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 5, 2023 | 4123 characters      Welcome to a secret facility somewhere in America that looks like black Mesa but maybe isn't. Regardless, xen aliens and soldiers show up and are mere speedbumps in the path of the players.      We start off at the bottom of an elevator shaft, a zombie immediately approaches me so I climb a rope dangling from the elevator above and wait. My teammate joins the server and the zombie hits him before he has a chance to react. We spawn with 75 HEV so the hit barely scratches him, but I don't think enemies have any business being in spawn right off the bat like this.      We can climb up the rope or walk forward. Going f

      Welcome back to Black Mesa where the scientists are now extra big! This is a very short mod that's been dropped into Sven Co-op to fend for itself. SCMapDB page Original map author: Wil5on Conversion author: Newbai1045 Date of original mod release: 2003 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package:10 Map review of Big Scientists (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | February 19, 2023 | 5015 characters      Big Scientists is a meta mod conversion, because it's an experimental mod about an experiment gone wrong gone wrong. There are 9 maps, yet combined they are barely as much gameplay as many single maps offer. However, for what is there, Big Scientists is an action walkthrough map with a couple cute ideas spread among an otherwise uninspired, unloved project.      The conceit is that you're at one of those fucky science bases where fucky scientists do fucky science, and this time their particular brand of fuckery is making the scientists

      Welcome back to Black Mesa where the scientists are now extra big! This is a very short mod that's been dropped into Sven Co-op to fend for itself. SCMapDB page Original map author: Wil5on Conversion author: Newbai1045 Date of original mod release: 2003 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package:10 Map review of Big Scientists (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | February 19, 2023 | 5248 characters      By now I've played a lot of maps. I've played plenty of conversions as well. Most conversions have a minimum of care put in place to ensure a smoother experience for more players, this one does not. It has all the problems of a Half-Life mod being dropped into Sven Co-op as-is on top of the problem of not being a very good mod in the first place.      We start off in a helicopter with a bunch of scientists. These are normal sized scientists, very disappointing. We can look out the door of the helicopter and see a big rectangle textured lik

      If you are looking for a lengthy cooperative experience with a friend then you could do a lot worse than this map. It may be a bit generic, it is called 'Big Coop Map' after all but the title is accurate and its not bad. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Big Coop Map (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 11, 2023 | 4109 characters      Big Coop Map (BCM for short) is an action walkthrough map for Sven Co-op with a military complex theme. Battle a little bit of each faction in a surrealist, nightmarish take on Half-Life gameplay.      While the map begins with some fairly standard outdoor urban combat with turrets and snipers, the moment you enter the complex is the moment you fall down the rabbit hole. This map looks on the surface like a beginner's Black Mesa imitation map, but it is wacky. Consoles (yes, plural) will display an inaccessible dance hall full of aliens when used. Walls

      If you are looking for a lengthy cooperative experience with a friend then you could do a lot worse than this map. It may be a bit generic, it is called 'Big Coop Map' after all but the title is accurate and its not bad. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Big Coop Map (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 11, 2023 | 4947 characters      Here's a map that does exactly as described, this is a big cooperative map. We have our standard Half-Life 1 themed facility walkthrough map but with a bit of a twist.      The first area is a fairly straightforward affair, an outside approach to a door with a ton of turrets around. We start with just mp5s but unlock weapons later. There is a shipping container that will start to spawn underbarrel grenades and a rocket launcher later. The first hint that the map is a bit off is when we get to the big segmented door at the end, and instead of the top sliding u

      Welcome to a place of secrets. This map is a heaping pile of secrets and sometimes they actually work. The map works best when you are simply wandering around looking at the sights. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Secret Place (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | November 13, 2022 | 3224 characters      Secret-Place is a Sven Co-op map by robootto, designed for God only knows what hideous machinations.      The map consists largely of white blocky areas of impractical scale and clownish colored lighting, illusory walls into unlit pitch-dark mazes which themselves contain more illusory walls and some breakable walls. Being that this is a robootto map, the sight of destructible walls makes my blood pressure spike. There's no telling how long you'll be stuck whacking away at a destructible until it gives. Thankfully, most destructibles are fairly brittle. However, thanks to the dev's track record

      Welcome to a place of secrets. This map is a heaping pile of secrets and sometimes they actually work. The map works best when you are simply wandering around looking at the sights. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Secret Place (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 13, 2022 | 2780 characters      I'm always uneasy with secret maps for the sole reason that it is hard for me to tell if I've found everything, I'm pretty bad at finding secrets so I'm usually missing like half the map. To add to my difficulty the author for this map is Robootto, who is known for off the wall and barely functional (and sometimes completely nonfunctional) maps. So a secret map where the secrets might not even work, great.      So the map starts and I start breaking through an obvious breakable wall. We go through a few of these, picking up the odd weapon and some ammo, my teammate finds some intangible walls we

       There are many Resident Evil maps in the Sven map database, but this is the first and has the highest score (of the time of writing this paragraph). Players are Bravo squad, the lost and dead STARS member seen at the beginning of the first Resident Evil, can we overturn canon and survive? SCMapDB page Author: mrfranswa Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: The Awakening (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 9, 2022 | 5271 characters      Resident Evil: The Awakening is a map that very appropriately answers the question: What if Resident Evil were Sven Co-op? The result is the marriage of two distinct flavors of jank, some systems that fall apart in tandem, and some middling horror-action in some middling mansion environments.      The map begins with the players in a spawn area where they must choose a class from three (the one with the gun and the medkit is the only acceptable answer- this class system is silly and unbal

      There are many Resident Evil maps in the Sven map database, but this is the first and has the highest score (of the time of writing this paragraph). Players are Bravo squad, the lost and dead STARS member seen at the beginning of the first Resident Evil, can we overturn canon and survive? SCMapDB page Author: mrfranswa Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: The Awakening (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 9, 2022 | 7304 characters      This map has me so confused. So I dipped my toes into the Sven Co-op Resident Evil maps by doing the ones with the lowest STARS ratings first, now we are jumping to the map with the highest rating. It's certainly better, but it is essentially a big maze with an item hunt while players have to deal with ammo and guns that don't respawn and some limiting character classes.      Players start off in a big metal box with some buttons, the problems start early as the difficulty buttons s

      Auspice (ôspəs), noun, a divine or prophetic token. This is an officially released map for Sven Co-op 3.0 taking place somewhere in Black Mesa with good variety of combat, puzzles, and exploration. Author: Seraph Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Auspices (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 18, 2022 | 5266 characters      Auspices is a map that I always dread playing but everybody else seems excited to play. I never protest, because I can never remember why I dread playing Auspices. I usually don't remember much of this map at all.      I was excited, this time, to explore why that may be, as I played to review this map. I think I've figured some things out along the way. Let's cover basics.      First of all, Auspices is not necessarily a map anybody should dread- it's full of fun ideas, a great arsenal, some really action-packed combat, very well brushed and textured, and has some great checkpoints. Before I delve

    Auspice (ôspəs), noun, a divine or prophetic token.  This is an officially released map for Sven Co-op 3.0 taking place somewhere in Black Mesa with good variety of combat, puzzles, and exploration. Author: Seraph Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Auspices (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 18, 2022 | 5249 characters      This is yet another Black Mesa map. At this point I'm kind of over Black Mesa themed maps, but the difference with this one is that it is done extremely well and offers pretty good variety.      The map starts players off outside at night, in a military themed area with bunkers, tanks, snipers, and soldiers. The map goes through some Black Mesa themed areas pretty quick, starting with the military exterior, moving to a lab complex of tight hallways, gonomes, alien grunts, and shock troopers, ending in a big fight in a wide open room with soldiers storming in from above. It moves on to some pipes and vents (this m

      When a rave and a disco combine the result is this map. There is no party, just some twisting paths, weird rooms, and caged boids. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Rave Disco (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 14, 2022 | 2099 characters      Rave-Disco is a robootto map. There's really no point, and there is no end, so if you want to put this on your server then prepare for it to jam a cork in your rotation.      I think the best way to put this is that Rave-Disco is a funhouse map. There's winding corridors, funky rooms full of wacky interactables, trick walls which players can walk right through, buttons which do nothing, crazy colorful lights, and nonsense progression. To Rave-Disco's credit, many stops are pulled with heavy use of boids, some crazy combat segments, and heavy armaments given to actually provide some fun to the map.      Less to Rave-Disco's credit is the atmosphere.

      When a rave and a disco combine the result is this map. There is no party, just some twisting paths, weird rooms, and caged boids. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Rave Disco (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 14, 2022 | 2925 characters      This map is a confusing jumble of hallways and rooms. The map features nonsensical layouts, textures never meant to be walls used as walls, and secrets.      There are two spawn areas, one is situated in what I would call the beginning, and the other I would not. We spawned in the first area mostly, but then my teammate spawned in the second area and was very confused, so be aware of that. Spawn is what I assume to be a disco, with players trapped in glass cages on the dance floor. Blast out of the cage and head up past the weird red pole room and we enter a long hallway. About halfway down the hallway I noticed some light was coming through the wall, so I crowbarr

       I don't really know what secrets I was supposed to find, but this map can sure be a place. Hallways, doors that aren't doors but breakable walls instead, and some other random stuff can all be found here. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Punk Secret Place (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 28, 2022 | 4393 characters     What can I say? Robootto does it again. Act I.      Punk Secret Place is a map about the secret place and the punks who find it. You'd need to be a punk, you see, for only punks take the time it takes to break through the breakable doors which permeate the first act of this 5-act play. Breakable doors, at least 100 of them I'm sure, all lead up to a boss door or sorts. There is a glass security door which takes, gosh, just so much to destroy. It's in a pretty cramped area, and bless robootto he gives an area up near spawn and the ammo respawners where people can fire

      I don't really know what secrets I was supposed to find, but this map can sure be a place. Hallways, doors that aren't doors but breakable walls instead, and some other random stuff can all be found here. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Punk Secret Place (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 28, 2022 | 4554 characters      This map will crash your game. I'm somewhat spoiling the punchline, but I think this is very important to know up front. Falling into the green goo at the end of the map will crash the game with a "Sv_HullPointContent: bad node number". Knowing what I do about the author, Robootto, I think this is entirely intentional. Edit 8/8/2022: Shortly after this review the crash was fixed, the crash was not intentional.      The map starts off strong with a very nice equipment room, but the rest of the map is a hallway. There are a few branches to this hallway but before The