Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       This map is a series of rooms with two doors to choose. One path leads to death and the other leads to the next room. There are 5 rooms. SCMapDB Page Original mod authors: The Hunter Conversion authors: CubicVirtuoso Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 5 Ways to Die (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | December 4, 2021 | 1514 characters      I'm not sure I understood the intent of this level. I think it was like, you had a coin-flip chance each room to die depending on your choice. I just happened to choose right each time and survived to the end- left, left, right, left- then you throw a grenade at a barney surrounded by trip mines, jump behind a blast shield, and the level is over. That was the extent of my experience. I believe my friend who made different choices than the ones I made as I went forward was killed by level geometry or something.      Was very short, very fast. I don't hav

      This map is a series of rooms with two doors to choose. One path leads to death and the other leads to the next room. There are 5 rooms. SCMapDB Page Original mod authors: The Hunter Conversion authors: CubicVirtuoso Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 5 Ways to Die (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | December 4, 2021 | 1171 characters      The idea behind this map is not very good. You have a series of five binary choices (left or right) and choosing wrong kills you. The map description is accurate, it's pure luck, unless you go left, left, right, left, right, then you've cheated to the end. The puzzle at the end is throwing a grenade at Barney.      Overall, I didn't like it. Living or dying is arbitrary and the final puzzle is finding a way to detonate explosives, something Half-life and Sven players should know how to do at this point. The map ends after that and I ended up in the ca

      This may surprise you, but this map is a glass box. I don't know about 'modern' but there is absolutely a glass box in this map. Breaking out of the box starts an unstoppable cycle of death. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Modern Glass Box (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 26, 2022 | 1974 characters      Robootto strikes again with a map which is finely tuned to distasteful design. Modern Glass Box is a downward vertical map wherein the players' objective is to destroy the ground beneath them, several times, via any means available to them. At first this is chainguns, but as they break through the layers of glass floors they come across explosives as well. The entire chamber is glass, the breakable floors are glass. If you couldn't see the layers beneath the player and know Robootto's shenanigans you might not know that you need to shoot through the glass floor because it h

    This may surprise you, but this map is a glass box. I don't know about 'modern' but there is absolutely a glass box in this map. Breaking out of the box starts an unstoppable cycle of death. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Modern Glass Box (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 26, 2022 | 1501 characters      Just as the map description says, players start off in a big glass box and have to break through it to get out. There are multiple levels of glass to break through with increasing health. There are miniguns here which help a lot but after we broke through the first level the miniguns were no longer able to be picked up. Without miniguns we had to resort to using explosives in close quarters to do any real damage. When we blew ourselves up we would respawn where the first level was, way above our current floor, we fell and took fall damage every time.      Eventually we broke through and j

       Aerodock has an interesting visual aesthetic, relying heavily on Xen textures. The map is supposedly set in space, in some sort of aerodock, but the inclusion of mundane furniture and features muddies the concept. To the best of my knowledge there is no Aerodock 2. SCMapDB page Author: tsy_4 Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Aerodock 1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 19, 2022 | 3526 characters      Aerodock-1 is a walkthrough map with plenty of backtracking, fun combat segments, and garish visuals. Set in some kind of space cargo barge, Aerodock-1 sees players battling all kinds of aliens and humans alike as they unlock parts of the ship using keycards and destructible shield generators. Players spawn with the handgun, the 357, and the MP5. Over the course of the map, their arsenal grows proportional to their progress, even including the barnacle.      The map starts on the wrong foot out the gate, with robogrunts swarming sp

      Aerodock has an interesting visual aesthetic, relying heavily on Xen textures. The map is supposedly set in space, in some sort of aerodock, but the inclusion of mundane furniture and features muddies the concept. To the best of my knowledge there is no Aerodock 2. SCMapDB page Author: tsy_4 Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Aerodock 1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 19, 2022 | 4389 characters      The screenshots for this map looked very intriguing and I started this map with high hopes. The map was decent, it had good combat, decent supply, and some very confusing visuals that blended together.      Players spawn in what appears to be a hangar of some sort. I started this map knowing it was supposed to be some sort of aero dock which is the only reason I thought that room was supposed to be a hangar. The level geometry is simple and strange. Most rooms have one texture for walls, floor, and ceiling, making them look flat. The

      There is something about this map that is not seen in screenshots or mentioned in the map description on Sven Co-op map database. That is the fact that there is some sort of white filter over the map, except underwater. Everything is white unless you are underwater. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Megaoxean (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 6, 2022 | 3425 characters      If you were to tie a blindfold on me, splash milk in my face, and then hit me as hard as you can in my temple with a baseball bat, I would likely go about the next several moments feeling very similarly to how this map is likely to make you feel.      I'd love to comment on brushwork, textures, all that, except there's a problem with this map: the entire thing is submerged in thick, white fog which obscures everything more than an inch from your face unless you're underwater. The map utilizes falling in and out of wate

      There is something about this map that is not seen in screenshots or mentioned in the map description on Sven Co-op map database. That is the fact that there is some sort of white filter over the map, except underwater. Everything is white unless you are underwater. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Megaoxean (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 6, 2022 | 1661 characters      This map has some weird filter on it where all you see is white unless you are underwater. There is a tube in spawn that you can see somehow. Jump down the tube, fall into the megaoxean, fight robogrunts with pistol and crowbar and maybe the rocket launcher in the whited out spawn room. If you aren't underwater, what you see is white.      I played with a friend, he was white, I got to the room under the oxean, it was white. I noclipped through the level and jumped around a couple areas, they were all white. There were also a t

       Hellmouth is a map that takes place in Hell! Players must defend a statue at the mouth of Hell before venturing in and killing a bunch of monsters. SCMapDB page Author: Ike Brovlofski Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Hellmouth (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 22, 2022 | 4392 characters      Hellmouth is a 2-part map series. The players take on the role of angels sent to battle back the forces of Hell from a great big portal. The portal is a fun effect: multiple transparent brushes in front of one another, making an optical illusion.      The first map is a defense/horde mode. Apparently the monsters are supposed to target the Chumtoad statue in the middle of the defense area, but they don't (anymore?). In my estimation, this is for the best, as I do not want to spend this map defending against the updated and boosted Sven Co-op 5 enemies while they can attack a helpless target and trigger a lose condition. The players face

      Hellmouth is a map that takes place in Hell! Players must defend a statue at the mouth of Hell before venturing in and killing a bunch of monsters. SCMapDB page Author: Ike Brovlofski Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Hellmouth (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 22, 2022 | 5488 characters      Hellmouth is a map I went into thinking it would suck, reading the description and looking at the screenshots I thought I would have a hell of a time playing this. My main concern was that I would have to defend the statue in the first map. Much to my surprise and joy no monster ever tried to attack the statue, this was a ton of pressure off me.      The first map is simple wave defense. Protect the statue (no pressure, the enemies don't attack it, at least not that I saw) and kill all the enemies. Players start with a crowbar and have to fight zombies and fat zombies. Eventually an mp5 and revolver appear at the base of the statue. Enemi

       Maps that attempt to recreate a sport are fighting an uphill battle. Ball physics are simply nonexistent. The ball in this map is a pushable ashtray. SCMapDB page Author: acehigh Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ace Football (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 16, 2022 | 2925 characters      ace-football is a goof-off map which takes place in a soccer field complete with an ash tray to use as the soccer ball. It's pretty simple to play. There's no automatic reset after a point is scored, and points being scored are counted in the moment only by a text notification of a team scoring a goal and nothing else. In addition to this, there is also an admin room with buttons to move brushes across the field, catching and squishing players. Player spawns are in a red or blue team locker room, so delineating teams is as easy as leaving it to spawn order.      Where this map goes somewhat off the rails is where the the stuff on TOP

      Maps that attempt to recreate a sport are fighting an uphill battle. Ball physics are simply nonexistent. The ball in this map is a pushable ashtray. SCMapDB page Author: acehigh Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ace Football (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 22, 2022 | 2638 characters      I never expected a working football map in Sven Co-op. But I had hoped for something fun. I don't think this map delivered fun.      I spawned in the red locker room. For some reason the red locker room has another room filled with friendly enemies. There was a Big Momma, Shock Trooper, two soldiers, one of the npcs had the skin of the floater, an enemy cut from Half-Life, and some others. These NPCs did nothing but leave the room and get in the way of the players. The blue locker room does not have this menagerie of useless barriers.      Outside of the locker rooms is the football (soccer) field. It's a wide open space with an ashtray

       Jump Fall is a map with one spot where you jump and then fall. The rest of the map is a somewhat broken jumble of things. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Jump Fall (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 15, 2022 | 1583 characters      I don't even know what to say about Robootto's maps anymore. They just unfold and unfold and unfold just enough for you to believe there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, but it's always just confusion and disappointment.      This map is no different.      After a series of confusing events whose events seem untied to one another, mostly involving finding out which spawn room you appeared in at different ends of the map, other times involving finding hordes of enemies. Sometimes you find big troves of ammo.      After aimlessly wandering there's nothing much left to this map. I really wish I had more to say, but this map is just an amorp

      Jump Fall is a map with one spot where you jump and then fall. The rest of the map is a somewhat broken jumble of things. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Jump Fall (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 15, 2022 | 3215 characters      Whenever I play maps made by Robootto I get one of two distinct feelings. One feeling is 'this is absolute garbage' and the other feeling, which this map gave me, is 'this map is made to piss me off'.      I downloaded the Big Robootto map pack which means I got not only this map, but two earlier versions of this map as well. So I got to see behind the curtain of this map, just a bit. There is a lot going on, there are a lot of rooms, and I have no clue how to get to any of them.      The map starts in one of two places, either a room with a load of weapons, a glass plug in the floor, a glass window, and a door. Or it starts in a room with respawning alien s

       Ice Grind is a map where I assume players are supposed to grind the rail shown in the above picture. There is also a button that causes explosions. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ice Grind (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 7, 2022 | 728 characters      Ice Grind is a Robootto map, which means that most of the fun is figuring out what you're in for. This map doesn't have much to reveal, but it's certainly an oddity while it lasts- a simple slippery ice rail which passes through tripmines to an alcove with a button which causes an explosion in the middle.      There is nothing more to this map to discuss, so I'll go ahead and end my review here.      I don't recommend it for anything. It's a nothing. Pros: It's over quickly. Cons: It's a nothing. Score: 0.1 / 10

      Ice Grind is a map where I assume players are supposed to grind the rail shown in the above picture. There is also a button that causes explosions. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ice Grind (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 8, 2022 | 808 characters      Sometimes it can be hard to give a map a bad review when the description warns you of what is to come. The map is one room with a slippery rail, some tripmines, and a button that spams explosions. The most interesting and fun part of the map was finding out the rail had a smaller rail inside of it. I'm guessing it's an intangible brush over the real rail to make it harder to stay on. It's real boring and I spent barely any time on it before getting bored. Pros: This is one of the most accurate map descriptions on scmapdb Cons: boring not a good concept, its not even surfing Score: 0 / 10

       As suggested by the name, this map has eight chambers of jumping puzzles. Some of the jumping is easy and some is so hard as to be almost impossible. SCMapDB page Author: Kataclism Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 8 Jump (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | December 16, 2021 | 1729 characters      Played this with a friend. Neither of us knew the jump techniques needed to leave the first area. We set the gravity low and jumped around the map. It was kinda fun to jump around with low gravity. Aside from some curious shapes in the brushwork, such as a map with pyramid-shaped spikes jutting from multiple spots in a wall, the visuals were fairly dull, bland, repetitive, devoid of memorable style. I don't think it was going for anything more than spartan visuals, but if I was accomplishing the jump puzzles I would feel a little let down from the progression. It also seemed as though the easier jump puzzles came after the much, much harder

      As suggested by the name, this map has eight chambers of jumping puzzles. Some of the jumping is easy and some is so hard as to be almost impossible. SCMapDB page Author: Kataclism Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 8 Jump (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | December 16, 2021 | 1529 characters      I'm going to say this upfront, I turned the gravity way down and floated through this map.      I'm not a big fan of first person platforming so I was not looking forward to this map. I gave the first room a concerted effort though. Unfortunately the first room requires grenade jumping. Without HEV I was dying pretty much every time. My teammate and I were both trying but in the end we decided turning down the gravity was for the best.      The jumping puzzles are not in order of easy to hard. The first room was near impossible, but the next was very easy. Some rooms are insane, some are easy, some are tedious. If you die you go back to th

       This is a map that has nothing to do with the title. The map description is candid about the fact that the rooms are textureless, the hallways are pitch black, and there are a ton of monsters. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Fun Fun Fun (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | December 12, 2021 | 942 characters     Fun fun fun is another Robooto map that exists to fulfill a simple niche in things Sven Co-op maps technically can do but never would have if Robooto hadn't made them. A large, featureless room is full of weapon pickups and constantly alien military. Surrounding rooms are full of darkness. Maneuver around and kill the enemies. To what end? To no end. It is endless. Endless fun?      Well, frankly I found the map tedious after a few minutes. If you're looking for a slaughter map that offers literally absolutely nothing but the tedium of endlessly slaughtering monsters then here it is. I think

      This is a map that has nothing to do with the title. The map description is candid about the fact that the rooms are textureless, the hallways are pitch black, and there are a ton of monsters. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Fun Fun Fun (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | December 12, 2021 | 816 characters      This map is a large well lit room filled with what looks like a handful of each alien enemy with a large very dark hallway wrapped around it that ends in a ramp to a platform that overlooks the room. From this platform I can see a hole in the ceiling that is so far up I will never be able to get in there without cheats. From screenshots I can see weapons in there. Down here I don't have weapons, I have a pistol and 17 bullets.      I feel like this map is a slap in the face. Pros: Cons: absolute terrible design in every category players are taunted with actual fun just out of reach Score: 0 / 10