Sven Co-op Map Reviews

    Whenever a map comes to a close and transitions to the next map we have a good chance of that next map being Black Mesa EPF. It's a well made if not boilerplate Black Mesa adventure easily accessible to all players. I don't know what EPF stands for. SCMapDB page Author: Mutant Date of release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa EPF (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 19, 2023 | 5067 characters      Black Mesa EPF is one of the maps that comes with Sven Co-op. It's a very competently made Black Mesa corridor hub action-walkthrough map with a mission system. What does it do that other Black Mesa maps don't? Does it stand out enough to be a default map?      Well, the aforementioned mission system is a sign of where I think this map excels. Even when progress isn't clear, progress is clear enough to find fast. The mission texts and some cutaway scenes help convey what needs to be done next. Th...

      Whenever a map comes to a close and transitions to the next map we have a good chance of that next map being Black Mesa EPF. It's a well made if not boilerplate Black Mesa adventure easily accessible to all players. I don't know what EPF stands for. SCMapDB page Author: Mutant Date of release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa EPF (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 19, 2023 | 4060 characters      Here we have a classic, and official, Sven Co-op map where we teleport to Black Mesa and then escape. We fight plenty of aliens, mostly the ones from Opposing Force like pit drones and shock troopers.      Players spawn in on teleport pads and then cross a bridge to a supply room. Weapons and ammo are on big shelves and we have to crouch in them to suck up all the good stuff. Then we go downstairs and fight some stuff. Across the hall is a room that has a security office with an HEV station a...

    Players get dropped, quite literally, into a wreck building and must kill hundreds of zombies with a lot of health. New areas open up at certain milestones and then there is a boss. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Haze (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 12, 2023 | 4018 characters      Black Haze is a zombie horde survival map. Players must survive 3 rounds of seemingly endless 1000 hp "zoomies" zombies (as my teammate and I called them, on account of their zooming speed). To combat them, players can scavenge a veritable arsenal from the area we explore.      The area to explore is a "building in ruins". My teammate and I both had the initial impression of it being a shopping mall due to its layout and the beginning taking place in some sort of plaza, but there are strange autopsy tables in most of the rooms so maybe not a shopping mall. It's brushed...

      Players get dropped, quite literally, into a wreck building and must kill hundreds of zombies with a lot of health. New areas open up at certain milestones and then there is a boss. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Haze (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 12, 2023 | 3209 characters      Both the map description and the message of the day is somewhat vague on what is expected of the players. This map is a wave defense map where players have to kill a set number of zombies to unlock the next stage. This particular map has three areas and ends after a boss.      I played this with one other person and it was slow and boring. The zombies have 1000 health each and are extremely fast. With a lot of players I can see fun gameplay with people gunning down zombie swarms but all the weapons were scattered around and there was a shortage of ammo. Most of the ...

    Blitzwar is a map originally made for Counter-Strike and reworked to include round based combat. It's fairly small and there are only five rounds that only last for 90 seconds each, but the enemies are deadly and it can be challenging. SCMapDB page Original map author: Elber Conversion author:Enuze Date of original map release: 2010 Date of final Sven Map release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Blitzwar (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 11, 2023 | 4095 characters      CS-Blitzwar is a round-for-round action map wherein players must exterminate an opposing team of soldiers within 90 second rounds. The map has two start points, and it is randomized each play which will host the players and which will host the enemies.      The enemies are mostly Barnabuses, Soldiers, Blackops, and Otises. However, there are also Agent Smiths who seem to dart around a bit more erratically, and special "Cheater" miniboss...

      Blitzwar is a map originally made for Counter-Strike and reworked to include round based combat. It's fairly small and there are only five rounds that only last for 90 seconds each, but the enemies are deadly and it can be challenging. SCMapDB page Original map author: Elber Conversion author:Enuze Date of original map release: 2010 Date of final Sven Map release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Blitzwar (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 11, 2023 | 3692 characters      Lots of maps get converted to work in Sven Co-op, this one is a counter-strike map converted to work with round based gameplay. The map description stops there and was so vague we didn't really know what we were getting into.      The map works by spawning a handful of enemies and telling players to clean them out in 90 seconds or less. The map uses a more realistic weapon damage model where bullets hurt! It is very easy to get sniped...

      A front-doorless fort with a scientist glued to the center, a courtyard, and a button that spawns waves of enemies, the goal is to protect the scientist. Except enemies don't target the scientist so it is hard to lose this map. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Baohu (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 18, 2022 | 3108 characters      Baohu is a wave defense map which really requires a large number of players to make feasible. The point of the map is to protect a scientist from an onslaught of progressively more impossible waves of bullet-spongey enemies. However, the scientist himself has a ton of health and is never explicitly targeted by the enemies. Rather, the main obstacle of this map will be enemies breaching the base where the players spawn and spawncamp the players. I played this with one other player, and we got as far as a wave of bulky snipers who would unload se...

      A front-doorless fort with a scientist glued to the center, a courtyard, and a button that spawns waves of enemies, the goal is to protect the scientist. Except enemies don't target the scientist so it is hard to lose this map. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Baohu (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 18, 2022 | 3108 characters      The map is simple, players start in a small fort and outside the front gate is a big field where enemies spawn in waves. There is a scientist in the middle of the fort stuck in place, if he dies then the game is lost. Now I thought this map was going to suck because it was going to be hard keeping the scientist alive, this is not the case. The scientist has 15000 health and can be healed, takes no damage from players, and enemies don't target him. We were careful about him at first but near the end we would bury him under satchel charges and bl...

      Play a Sven Co-op map while it is being generated! This is a strange marriage of Roguelike and Co-op FPS that is really cool to experience, but unfortunately has been abandoned. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Automap (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 21, 2022 | 3763 characters      Automap is an abandoned map project for Sven Co-op that I think was really novel and almost works. Unfortunately, it doesn't. So, if you're looking for a recommendation, I recommend only trying this map out with friends if you're looking to run multiple iterations on the map before you get something nearly playable. But, when it does work, it's really quite neat.      The generator places players in a starting room and generates a map out of various possible pieces. When it works, it creates these funny tunnels full of a hodge podge of enemies that you're given a random ...

    Play a Sven Co-op map while it is being generated! This is a strange marriage of Roguelike and Co-op FPS  that is really cool to experience, but unfortunately has been abandoned. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Automap (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 21, 2022 | 3132 characters      What an amazing concept, Automap turns Sven Co-op into a roguelike. Every part of this is really interesting and executed really well. Maybe not perfectly, in fact, my teammate and I only got one run in before the map totally broke and we couldn't play it anymore. But when it sort of worked that first and only time we had a lot of fun.      So to reiterate the map description, player start off in a room and then have to go through a randomly chosen hallway layout with random enemies and a random weapon loadout. After going upwards of 50 meters (which is five hallways if I remem...

       Zombietown is a zombie survival map with a LOT of scripting done. Players can go to a shop and buy weapons, play one of three fun and unique minigames, or fight zombies in the town. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombietown (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 27, 2022 | 5181 characters      Zombietown is an utterly charming zombie horde survival map which pits the players against nights full of zombies and days full of shopping and minigames. The crux of the map is in the points system: the Sven Co-op points, applied as Sven Co-op points normally are, are used in shopping for guns. If you die during normal zombie waves, you can also gamble points in a spooky booth, but if there's multiple people who died in the zombie wave you have to take turns using the spooky gambling booth. You use the points to shop for guns to kill the zombies to make more points to gamble the ...

      Zombietown is a zombie survival map with a LOT of scripting done. Players can go to a shop and buy weapons, play one of three fun and unique minigames, or fight zombies in the town. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombietown (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 27, 2022 | 6448 characters      Zombie maps are a dime a dozen, I didn't have high hopes for this map. The first wave started and these bloody naked men started running at me and all I had was a wrench. I died and respawned in a waiting room. I was annoyed. But as the map went on and I played the amazing minigames I began to love it.      Players begin in a set up room, each person presses a sequence of three buttons that ultimately kills them and respawns them in the main arena. Once there the first wave begins.      The game is round based, there is a vote every round whether or not to g...

       Released officially in the Sven Co-op 4 release, this map claims to have leaks. The name is a non-sequitur, as the main point of the map is to retrieve the scroll of wisdom. SCMapDB page Author: Skacky Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of It Has Leaks (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 15, 2022 | 3300 characters      It Has Leaks was an old favorite of mine back in the Sven Co-op 4.0 days. Of course, those days are long ago, and we've come a long way. Does It Has Leaks hold up?      The first thing you'll notice about IHL is its striking style. It has a decidedly Quake/Hexen 2 feel to it, and takes place entirely in dingy Eldritch libraries. Everything from the red skybox to the lighting is fantastic throughout the map, and the visuals hold up even after all these years.      The enemies you'll be fighting throughout are alien controllers, pit drones, voltigores, and a ...

      Released officially in the Sven Co-op 4 release, this map claims to have leaks. The name is a non-sequitur, as the main point of the map is to retrieve the scroll of wisdom. SCMapDB page Author: Skacky Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of It Has Leaks (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 16, 2022 | 4471 characters      I played It Has Leaks years ago back when it was a map included in SC4. I don't remember much of it or how I felt about it then. But now that I've played it again it is solidly all right.      Before I even get into the map itself I want to talk about the textures. The whole map takes place in a library and there are some interesting textures used for the library shelves. There are jars of weird liquids, scrolls, and of course books. The lighting is very moody and really sells the fantasy medieval library vibe the map has. The architecture is somewhat alien and reminiscent of Qu...

       Surface Run is a map where players must run to the surface. It's a conversion from a standalone mod that takes place in Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: noSICK Conversion authors: Outerbeast Date of original mod release: 2011 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Surface Run (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | January 16, 2022 | 3530 characters      Surface Run is a Half-Life mod with some really novel ideas. I didn't play it but from what I can tell it has a lot of differences from its original version and this conversion, which I understand takes many liberties with the stories, monsters, and items. So, as such, I'm going to review it as its own thing.      Surface Run is a Sven Co-op mod with some really novel ideas. It takes the player into an underground facility run by a malicious science organization trying to make more resonance cascades. Well- OH NO- they d...

      Surface Run is a map where players must run to the surface. It's a conversion from a standalone mod that takes place in Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: noSICK Conversion authors: Outerbeast Date of original mod release: 2011 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Surface Run (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | January 16, 2022 | 3918 characters      The objective of the map is simple, run to the surface. Players spawn at the elevator to the surface and are told their first objective is to find a medkit. If players use the elevator they get a message saying it needs a keycard. This first part has players wandering around with no weapons. The map is fairly linear until player get to a grate that breaks underneath their feet plunging them down into a portal to Xen.      This is where the map starts having some issues. My teammate died during this fall to Xen and I don't know ...

      1742 is a historically themed map complete with redcoats vs. . . .some other army, I don't remember. The map looks great but unfortunately does not seem to work properly. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 1742 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | November 27, 2021 | 1824 characters     I'm really not sure what to say about this one. On the outside, it looks like an ambitious map: there are custom models, the map opens on a cutscene, there is a clear attempt to create a unique mod atmosphere and style all to itself, and there is a fairly impressive battle setup which plays out with varying levels of success.     As my friend and I attempted to play, one of us has a gun and the other did not- this made little difference, as he was unable to fire the weapon anyway. The battle commenced and we were separated by an invisible wall from the action. A wave of bluecoats overran the redcoat...

      1742 is a historically themed map complete with redcoats vs. . . .some other army, I don't remember. The map looks great but unfortunately does not seem to work properly. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 1742 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 27, 2021 | 1205 characters     This map looked promising, it has a bunch of fun new models for both enemies and guns, and it boasted five missions. I never got to play the other four missions because I think the first mission broke.     So my teammate and I eventually end up in a firing line, or behind it at least, I have a gun and he does not. Neither of us can approach the enemy army and we watch helplessly as our army and the enemy exchanges fire. I can't shoot the gun I have, he never actually gets a gun, and there is an invisible wall blocking us from even getting close to the other side. The enemy army kills us and we can't ...