Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       There are two castles in separate rooms joined by a catwalk at the very tops of the castles' towers. Cramped and slow elevators allow access to the tops of the towers, enemies pack the corridors below. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Robo's Castle Wars (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 2, 2022 | 2567 characters      Robo's Castle Wars is a map by robootto. Like many maps by robootto, it defies classification both by pure unique spirit and because its hostile presentation is enough to dissuade any from trying.      Castle wars starts by plummeting players down through two vertical shafts that teleport the player forward before they impact the ground. It's annoying and it happens every time the player respawns. It's a very robootto move, and I think I've seen it more than one of his other maps.      The main body of the map is a kind of obstacle course- it's two rather la

      There are two castles in separate rooms joined by a catwalk at the very tops of the castles' towers. Cramped and slow elevators allow access to the tops of the towers, enemies pack the corridors below. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Robo's Castle Wars (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 2, 2022 | 2543 characters      This map has some colored lighting that gives the whole thing a surreal feeling. The texturing is pretty bad and very flat but that adds to the somewhat disorienting experience of playing this map. Half the time I was playing I was intrigued by the level design and aesthetic but the other half I was annoyed at the elevators and respawning headcrabs.      Players spawn in a long shaft headed down. Players of Nuclear Poison by the same author will recognize this shaft as being the entire map of Nuclear Poison pasted right in. At the bottom of the long fall is a teleport that puts p

      Players start in a grey boxy building and outside are tons of enemies. The boxy grey building is the bank, you are the robbery, and the enemies are the cops. SCMapDB page Author: halfliferyan Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bank Robbery (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 24, 2022 | 3734 characters      Bank Robbery is a funny little action map where the players start in a big box within a huge box and must fight the enemies who are within the huge box but not within the big box (unless they run inside). The huge box may be called the "exterior" to some, but let's be real it's just a huge box.      The big box has a few hostages, a bunch of weapons and HEV and some medkits and a scant bit of ammo for 9mm and the sniper. This is where you spawn. There's a barricade that provides excellent cover from which you can easily decimate enemy forces, but the barricade does shatter after some punishment.      The hu

      Players start in a grey boxy building and outside are tons of enemies. The boxy grey building is the bank, you are the robbery, and the enemies are the cops. SCMapDB page Author: halfliferyan Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bank Robbery (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 24, 2022 | 2601 characters      The map is very straightforward, players spawn in a building with a barricade on the front door, the outside is a wide open area hemmed in by very tall walls (with snipers on top) and loads of enemies spawning in on the ground. At a certain point the enemies thinned out and we killed a female assassin with 5000 health named something like "must kill target" that instantly ended the map when we killed her.      That is the entire map, the map itself was very ugly, blocky buildings with bad proportions, flat texturing, and the exterior area was so big and empty that the draw distance cut the far end of the map off. The gr

       It seems that making a map in an hour is something of a trend among Sven Co-op mappers. This one is from Robootto, an infamous author known for making strange and unplayable maps. Thankfully this map is, as the map description says, almost playable. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Robo's 1 Hour Map (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 17, 2022 | 2698 characters      If "1 hour map" legitimately means Robootto made this map in one hour, it'd explain a lot. Robo's 1 Hour Map is a walkthrough map that is mostly broken and sloppily thrown together. Textures exist where they shouldn't be, level geometry is jank, combat is a mess, the progression is broken, and there is no real map end. I do not recommend.      It should be noted that this review is primarily of the unlit version of this map. However, I think I've played enough of the version shown here to know that, despite

      It seems that making a map in an hour is something of a trend among Sven Co-op mappers. This one is from Robootto, an infamous author known for making strange and unplayable maps. Thankfully this map is, as the map description says, almost playable. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Robo's 1 Hour Map (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 17, 2022 | 3651 characters      For a map made in one hour, this is pretty terrible. I played this map from the Big Robootto Map Pack, and that version was fullbright, I then downloaded the map off the map's page and reinstalled from that, the map's lighting was fixed. So if you have the big map pack you'll want to use this one instead, not that it matters much, you probably shouldn't play this map.      When the map starts I am already being eaten by headcrabs. This is a good start. There are weapons and ammo strewn about the floor, each door we ope

    This is a short map that puts players in a very defensible building with respawning monsters outside. Players who can get past the enemies can explore a short walkthrough portion until hitting the map end. SCMapDB page Author: Yaxez Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Azac (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 10, 2022 | 3040 characters      Azac is a map from 2005 which features lots of action, some cute moments, and overall clunky presentation.      Players at first begin in a very clunky spawn area: a tower which is traversed via narrow elevator (great for co-op /s), enough equipment for approximately one player until the equipment respawns, and an attic which players must clunkily slide down a cliff face 3 stories down to a fighting pen surrounded by laser gates warding off respawning zombies and gonomes. The laser gates can be toggled on and off from within the spawn area, I'm presuming for the express purpose of trolling othe

      This is a short map that puts players in a very defensible building with respawning monsters outside. Players who can get past the enemies can explore a short walkthrough portion until hitting the map end. SCMapDB page Author: Yaxez Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Azac (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 10, 2022 | 3297 characters      This map started off looking like a defense map with never-ending zombies and gonomes. But it turned out to be a mix of a couple gameplay elements. It's very short and my teammate and I beat it in less than ten minutes.      The map starts off with a cutscene of a courtyard with a fence, full of zombies. The camera follows a baby garg around and eventually the fence shatters. I was surprised at first because I was not expecting this map to have production value like this, but it was a fairly simple cutscene.      Players spawn in a room with a big window and four buttons. These buttons control

       There are a lot of Resident Evil maps for Sven Co-op and they mostly follow the same formula of exploring a mansion. The 'Aftermath' part of the title implies this map is a sequel but it is unclear what the previous map could be. SCMapDB page Author: James Smith Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: The Aftermath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 1, 2022 | 3777 characters      Resident Evil: The Aftermath is an attempt at a Resident Evil map that barely replicates the broad strokes of what one might think Resident Evil is from vague memories of having played up to the the first zombie in the first Resident Evil, not figuring out what to do, turning the game off, and then later seeing art of Nemesis and looked up some Resident Evil art and thought it was cool. I know that's oddly specific, but it just really gives me that impression.      The spawn area requires players choose a class. The classes are kni

      There are a lot of Resident Evil maps for Sven Co-op and they mostly follow the same formula of exploring a mansion. The 'Aftermath' part of the title implies this map is a sequel but it is unclear what the previous map could be. SCMapDB page Author: James Smith Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: The Aftermath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 1, 2022 | 5740 characters      I've been playing the first Resident Evil lately so my teammate and I decided to try out a Resident Evil map. He remembers the Resident Evil maps being pretty bad and I only remember vague impressions of them. So I thought I would start with the one with the lowest STARS rating.      The map starts off in a red chamber with a locked door and a hole high up in the wall. I think this is supposed to force at least two players to play but with the climbing mechanic that was added into Sven Co-op later you don't need two players to ge

      Attack aliens in the courtyard, behind the building, and sometimes in spawn if they can manage to walk through the front door. This is a small map with plenty of combat. SCMapDB page Author: Hterag Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 11, 2022 | 3851 characters      Attack is a short garg map with vortigaunts, zombies, and shock troopers respawning in endlessly to add variety and spice. Given that this is post-the shockroach update, I ended up abusing the shockroaches to do some damage to the gargs.      The map takes place in a building surrounded by fences. Players spawn in the building, and running out and to the back makes the first garg spawn in front of the building. There's a side area that can be broken into to retrieve a crossbow, and in the back there are grenades. Once players obtain explosives they can blow up a door in the spawn area to reveal a shelf full of the boiler plate

      Attack aliens in the courtyard, behind the building, and sometimes in spawn if they can manage to walk through the front door. This is a small map with plenty of combat. SCMapDB page Author: Hterag Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 11, 2022 | 2741 characters      Aliens are attacking, this map plays more like a defense map. Players start in a room looking out some windows in a second story room in a building. There is a door here that shows a message stating we'll need explosives to get through it. The other door leads down stairs to outside the building. The courtyard is filled with zombies, vortigaunts, and shock troopers. These all respawn endlessly the entire map.      From here I went forward and leapt over a small gate to examine a waterfall that eventually led to snarks, both the weapon and the enemy, on a ledge that was frustratingly hard to climb up onto. My teammate went around

       This is yet another Black Mesa map, taking place in the facility with parts of Xen merged in places. The map set is fairly difficult but short. SCMapDB page Author: The Fox Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Area Zero (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 12, 2022 | 6357 characters      Area Zero is an old pair of maps by The fox. The first is Black Mesa themed, the second Xen themed. The genre is straight-forward run-n-gun action and the brushwork is mediocre. Let's go over it.      First off, the presentation. Players will be struck right away by the flat, boring lighting, the bland brushwork and blocky architecture. Some rooms are outclassed by Wolfenstein 3D in atmosphere. The environment feels unbelievable, a series of Doom-like corridors which vaguely imply function. Effects are lazily and haphazardly thrown around with little fanfare. Some environments, especially in the first map, do manage to be effective- some corridors ev

      This is yet another Black Mesa map, taking place in the facility with parts of Xen merged in places. The map set is fairly difficult but short. SCMapDB page Author: The Fox Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Area Zero (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 12, 2022 | 3911 characters      Area Zero is a simple Black Mesa themed walkthrough map from 17 years ago at the time this was written. I didn't expect much from it and so I was surprised at some of the tricks it pulled on me, like hitting us with baby headcrabs out of nowhere. Overall the map did look blocky and rough but there were some features that showed real promise.      Players start out with no weapons and no medkits. I died a lot on this series, there is no ammo and there is no health in the first map. Players find a wrench in spawn area and fight through some minor enemies and then a shock trooper. We pick up a shotgun around the same time.      Players go up an elevator a

       Apprehension is a map that looks like Black Mesa but the story is about terrorists capturing scientists. There are also aliens here so if you ignore the story completely this map plays like yet another Black Mesa map. SCMapDB page Author: HeAdCrAb KILLA Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Apprehension (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 5, 2022 | 6095 characters      Apprehension is the name of this map from HeAdCrAb KILLA. Despite the festive name, Apprehension is what I would consider to be a very straight-forward walkthrough action walkthrough map with a typical Black Mesa style. Specifically, the map focuses on grand fire fights between players, ally soldiers, and various enemy factions. Within the map you find yourself fighting grunts, robogrunts, robogrunt gargantuas, and Race X as your primary foes. You face these with an MP5, a shotgun, a handgun, grenades, and later a 357, a rocket launcher, and if you play your cards right qu

      Apprehension is a map that looks like Black Mesa but the story is about terrorists capturing scientists. There are also aliens here so if you ignore the story completely this map plays like yet another Black Mesa map. SCMapDB page Author: HeAdCrAb KILLA Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Apprehension (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 5, 2022 | 5000 characters      I played the first half of this map quite a few times, there was a door that we just couldn't seem to open. But we revisited the map and tried again and it seems the map opens via a computer console in a security office. I know I've used that console many times in the past, why did it work now suddenly? I restarted the map and did some testing. You have to hit the button three times to open the door. Granted, there are three red lights that switch to green when you use it, but also I didn't notice that until my fourth playthrough of the map and only after I was s

       This is a one room map with infinitely spawning enemies coming down a slope. Really, never has a map screenshot encapsulated an entire gameplay experience more than the above. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Spynzlersplatter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 17, 2022 | 1339 characters      Spynzlersplatter is a robootto map wherein players hunt respawning bullsquids, zombies, and headcrabs in the same sense that bowlers hunt bowling pins. The enemies appear on alcoves above a large inclined plane which they slide down if they leave their alcove (which they often do). Sliding down drops them into a hurt brush that'll kill them (or the player) dead. The players are given grenades to have fun with.      If you're into slaughter maps, maybe this will seem great to you. I think the enemies falling into an invisible hurt box and the player having so few choices for killing them really hurts its ef

      This is a one room map with infinitely spawning enemies coming down a slope. Really, never has a map screenshot encapsulated an entire gameplay experience more than the above. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Spynzlersplatter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2022 | 1709 characters      This map consists of a spawn area with a couple miniguns and three piles of grenades and on the other side of an instant kill wall is a steep slope with enemy spawners at the top. This is not enough for more than two players to massacre these monsters at once. The monster spawners drop a bullsquid and a zombie along with a ton of headcrabs. It is a little more difficult to hit the headcrabs with the minigun, but the slop stops grenades in their tracks and it is fun and easy to explode all the monsters. The map description says the wall will kill most of the monsters and it does, only one headcrab managed to get thro

       Nuclear Poison is a small map made by the infamous mapper Roboootto. Players spawn at the top of a shaft and fall through a green goo teleport and either hit the tiny patch of water at the bottom or die and explode on impact with the floor. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Nuclear Poison (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 17, 2022 | 1487 characters      Nuclear Poison is a map by Robootto that is very much a map by Robootto. It features large letters made out of brushes which players can awkwardly attempt to navigate around on, a spawn which is immediately hostile to the player, a fall relying on obscure water tricks to survive, and then a battle with two overpowered zombies at the bottom of it all. The rest of the map is just a large shaft lit with brightly colored ambiguous light sources. The intended fun is supposed to be in landing on the zombies to deal enough damage to kill them, or landing in t

      Nuclear Poison is a small map made by the infamous mapper Roboootto. Players spawn at the top of a shaft and fall through a green goo teleport and either hit the tiny patch of water at the bottom or die and explode on impact with the floor. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Nuclear Poison (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2022 | 1817 characters      Players spawn at the top of a tall dark shaft, at the bottom is green goo that teleports players to an adjacent shaft that is green and has the word 'nuclear' spelled out vertically in huge letters. While falling down the green shaft players can angle themselves to land on the letters in 'nuclear', some of parts of some letters have grenades. The bottom of the shaft is a sure death unless you can angle towards a tiny square of water in one corner.      The only real gameplay in this map consists of trying to survive the fall from spawn an