Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       Aliens have invaded a city and it is up to YOU to repel them! There is one part that needs two players to complete but a community tweak that removes that part, the map does seem balanced for two people. SCMapDB page Author: Foofinoo Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of City Invasion (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 6, 2023 | 3028 characters      City Invasion is an action walkthrough map with some minor story elements. That is to say, it tells you what is happening throughout the action and why, sort of. Players are expected to clear a "city invasion" of invading aliens with the occasional help of some soldiers.      The combat itself is broken up into really solid action setpieces which flow into one another seamlessly. You've got just about every xenian you can think of up to the gonarch, and even some voltigores (though they infight with the xenians, much to our delight). There's an ar...

      Aliens have invaded a city and it is up to YOU to repel them! There is one part that needs two players to complete but a community tweak that removes that part, the map does seem balanced for two people. SCMapDB page Author: Foofinoo Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of City Invasion (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 6, 2023 | 3892 characters      The city has been invaded by aliens! Fight your way through a factory, make some friends along the way, and have a boss battle in the sewers. The map is a straightforward walkthrough map that delivers a good looking and well done experience.      We start out with a shotgun and mp5 in addition to our usual loadout as well as armor. This is enough to take on the rest of the map and there are other weapons we can find as well like the revolver and uzi. The SAW and rpg make an appearance but they are exclusive weapons that you have to drop before changing t...

       Lobby maps are for players to pick their next map. The Single Player Campaign Portal map is a really well done example and its mere existence pretty much makes this map obsolete. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Choose Campaign (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 7, 2023 | 1824 characters      Choose Campaign! Two lobby maps wherein players vote for a map to play.      choose_campaign_2 is a simple functional hub wherein players can stand in lots to vote for which specific map from the three main campaigns the players want. Voting lasts for roughly 2 minutes, after which point whichever map has the most votes wins. The server will then switch to that map.      choose_campaign_4a is a far more interesting map, though it gives players far less finesse in which map they wish to vote for. There are instead lots for voting for Half-Life, Half-Life: Blu...

      Lobby maps are for players to pick their next map. The Single Player Campaign Portal map is a really well done example and its mere existence pretty much makes this map obsolete. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Choose Campaign (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 2347 characters      I feel weird reviewing maps that have been made obsolete by newer maps. It doesn't really matter how good this map is, players probably won't play it because the successor is an upgrade. I'm a bit relieved that this map is obviously inferior, it's split up into two maps, the first one (helpfully named '2') lets us choose between chapters in the big three, Half-Life, Blue Shift, and Opposing Force. The second map is a much smaller single room affair that starts the same campaigns plus They Hunger, Half-Life Instinct, and I think two others that I didn't recognize and did not care about.  ...

      Battle exactly one boss in an well made arena using barnacles to fly around the arena and summon bombs. The map ends when the one boss is dead. SCMapDB page Author: Streamfox Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bossbattle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 24, 2023 | 3350 characters      Bossbattle is a battle against a boss. Which boss? Why, the gargantua, of course! How are you going to fight the gargantua? Why, with a barnacle and timebombs, of course!      The setup is pretty simple: a big indoor arena sizeable enough for a player to maneuver around a gargantua, complete with grapple points for the player-held barnacle. Press buttons on ceiling-bound grapple points when they highlight to place bombs directly beneath, then lure into gargantua into said bombs when they go off. The buttons are chosen seemingly at random, at which point it's up to the players to grapple up to it an...

      Battle exactly one boss in an well made arena using barnacles to fly around the arena and summon bombs. The map ends when the one boss is dead. SCMapDB page Author: Streamfox Date of release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bossbattle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 24, 2023 | 2817 characters      The entirety of this map is one boss battle in a fancy arena. Players have barnacles only and must press buttons on the ceiling to summon bombs, and then lure the gargantua boss into the bomb. It's a really short map with only one thing going on, but it is done really well.      Players get dumped in a spawn zone with a little rack filled with barnacles, not the enemy, but animated models that actually grant us barnacles. A lives meter is on one wall and the gargantua's health is displayed on the other, there are also boss health meters inside the arena. Floating health symbols of various colors (showi...

      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 ...

      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 helic...

      One can be forgiven for reading the title of the map and thinking they are in immediate danger of learning something. I can assure you this map has only the barest connection to things newsworthy in 2017. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of BBC World Service (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | November 19, 2022 | 2998 characters      BBC World Service is a political commentary map by shitpost extraordinaire Keen, with a fitting contribution from regretful, and some of w00tguy123's work utilized in a way that is awfully familiar.      This map came out in 2017, and I can't claim to have a great memory of international politics 5 years ago, and my attention was probably elsewhere anyway. So, I can't make much of an evaluation of the commentary provided. The map features big tanks, three consoles which spew random segments from BBC new coverage, friendly NPCs coded as...

       The most recent Resident Evil map takes place in the streets and the Raccoon City Police Department just like Resident Evil 2. Later on it takes on a blend of different Resident Evil titles. SCMapDB page Author: Jamesmarine Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: Biohazard (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 20, 2022 | 5842 characters      Resident Evil: Biohazard is a Sven Co-op walkthrough map themed after Resident Evil. Now, when you say Resident Evil, you might think: "gosh, what a media franchise! What Resident Evil could you mean? Do you mean the first game in the puzzle mansion? Or the second game, with the police station? Or the third game, on the streets? Or the movie franchise, which is totally different?" The answer to your question is "Yes."      This map is a big mix of Resident Evil media, barely glancing the essence of each game. Start in the streets, move yo...

      The most recent Resident Evil map takes place in the streets and the Raccoon City Police Department just like Resident Evil 2. Later on it takes on a blend of different Resident Evil titles. SCMapDB page Author: Jamesmarine Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: Biohazard (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 20, 2022 | 7715 characters      I really want to like a Resident Evil Sven Co-op map. This map starts off strong with a beautiful opening, a great looking street, and it actually looks like a Resident Evil themed map. It's got a lot of backtracking and a combination of few enemies and firepower makes a lot of the map pretty boring.      The map starts with difficulty selection, normal and hard. We opted for normal but in hindsight that may have made the map far too easy for two seasoned players. Regardless of difficulty players get shown a cutscene introduction and are dropped...

       This is one of those maps where the title says it all. The map is an arena set in a subway and players fight against neverending zombies. The map has no end or objective, just endless zombies. SCMapDB page Author: SLeNd3rMaN23 Date of final release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Survival Subway (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 4, 2022 | 2759 characters      Zombie Survival Subway is a Nexon zombie survival map in Sven without the cool Nexon weapons or enemy variety. Players fight swarms of sprinting medium-tier zombies who make, I think, some of the most annoying sounds in a Sven map yet. Players get their weapons in a spawn room (instead of spawning the player with them already in possession, as most Nexon maps usually have the good sense to do), and does little to resupply them as they battle an endless onslaught of mediocre enemies.      The big selling point is the visuals, as is often...

      This is one of those maps where the title says it all. The map is an arena set in a subway and players fight against neverending zombies. The map has no end or objective, just endless zombies. SCMapDB page Author: SLeNd3rMaN23 Date of final release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Survival Subway (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 4, 2022 | 2046 characters      Zombie Survival Subway is pretty much the most standard zombie experience a Sven Co-op player could ask for. Players start in a room with some weapons, sniper rifle, M16 (sans grenades), shotgun, and desert eagle. There are green portals that players walk through to drop into the arena itself.      The arena is a sectioned off part of the subway to two derelict subway cars next to each other. The whole area is very well detailed, which from the credits plaque in-map and from what the map description says, this map was ported from Counter-Strik...

            Aggregate Pain is another conversion of a standalone Half-Life mod. It takes place in Black Mesa and players fight both soldiers and aliens. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: Michael Sisk Conversion authors: Garompa Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Aggregate Pain (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 5, 2022 | 1939 characters      Aggregate Pain means Total Pain.      That's what the mod's creator seems to indicate on the map description. I guess must have been updated for more recent versions of Sven, as it has modern Sven monsters despite being dated originally for 1999.      The map follows walk-through format for the most part, with the players moving from room to room clearing out enemies and occasionally dealing with other obstacles. I'm gonna be completely honest, no matter how hard I try I cann...

           Aggregate Pain is another conversion of a standalone Half-Life mod. It takes place in Black Mesa and players fight both soldiers and aliens. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: Michael Sisk Conversion authors: Garompa Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Aggregate Pain (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 5, 2022 | 3200 characters      Aggregate Pain is a very short three map series. The map is set in Black Mesa like a lot of maps are, this map does almost nothing to stand out.      The first map players start in a truck. A human grunt stands right outside and will begin shooting so don't dawdle. One my first playthrough three more grunts came around the corner and I had a big fight right out of spawn. On my second playthrough the grunts stayed put. There is a hallway with a lot of enemies at one point with two heavy weapons gru...

      Players spawn in an arena with a big monster labelled "Alien Boss' stands facing a wall. The goal is to kill this boss. Players have some nice custom weapons and zombies begin to infinitely fall into the arena. SCMapDB page Author: Nexon Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of ZS Lastclue Zombie Scenario Map-2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 20, 2022 | 3820 characters      ZS Lastclue Zombie Scenario Map 2 is a conversion of a Counter-Strike Nexon map, I think? I know nothing about Counter-Strike Nexon, and I'm not going to pretend like I know anything I don't. As such, I'll review this map completely on its own terms.      The map begins with the players in an arena with a massive "Alien Boss" with his back turned. It reminds me of how some Doom maps begin with a monster with its back turned. Shortly after the map begins, the warehouse which houses your arena comes to life as mechanical g...

      Players spawn in an arena with a big monster labelled "Alien Boss' stands facing a wall. The goal is to kill this boss. Players have some nice custom weapons and zombies begin to infinitely fall into the arena. SCMapDB page Author: Nexon Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of ZS Lastclue Zombie Scenario Map-2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 20, 2022 | 2589 characters      This map is a simple arena battle. Players are dumped into a pit with a large creature called an "alien boss" it has 600000 health. Zombies will rain down into the arena at set intervals, flooding the area with zombies.      There are some new weapons in here, the large axe that replaces the pipe wrench is my favorite. It is powerful enough to blow the zombies to pieces and swings much faster than the wrench. The crowbar replacement, a mace, is worthless. The machine gun is the best one, it's the only gun that can really ...

      Sv Mountain is the first map made by the author, it combines platforming with some combat. Players must scale the outside of a mountain and clear some rooms inside the mountain. SCMapDB page Author: SV BOY Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sv Mountain (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 18, 2022 | 5605 characters      Mountain is a platforming-centric map wherein players climb a mountain, navigate tiny cliff edges, move through vent hell, and fight in a xen arena. Some of it is somewhat effective and charming in a beginner's fashion (this is, apparently, the first map by its author, SV BOY) though most of it is the kind of "challenging" that reminds me a bit of troll games of the '00s and the '10s. This isn't an attitude that is novel in Sven maps, as troll-ish nature is prevalent especially in platforming maps, it's just something to be aware of.      The player ascends a very block-sha...

      Sv Mountain is the first map made by the author, it combines platforming with some combat. Players must scale the outside of a mountain and clear some rooms inside the mountain. SCMapDB page Author: SV BOY Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sv Mountain (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 18, 2022 | 4800 characters      Sv-mountain is a map that focuses heavily on jumping around the exterior of a large rectangular mountain. I'm not a fan of first person platforming so this didn't really appeal to me. I will say up front that I had to cheat my way through the map, my teammate who is much better at platforming than I agreed we had to in order to finish. By the way, what kind of maniac names their bsp file sv-mountain? We use underscores here, not dashes.      The map starts players off in a small blocky encampment next to a big block of rock that stands in for the mountain. Right off the bat ...

       Galleon is a converted Counter-Strike map with enemies and some weapons scattered around. There are quite a few Counter-Strike map conversions but it is so nice to see one that's not meant for PVP. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: PhantomLord Conversion authors: kmkz Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Galleon (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | February 13, 2022 | 3456 characters      Galleon is, if I understand correctly, a conversion of a Counter-Strike map littered with enemies and scripted weapons. The scripted weapons act much like Counter-Strike weapons and include such hits as: the Mac-10, the AK-47, the Famas, the Fiveseven, the Deagle, the Knife, the P90, and some wonky-ass grenades. The enemies compose mostly of BlackOps snipers, HECU grunts, Heavy Weapons guys, assassins, robogrunts, Otises, and Barnies.      The map begins with the pl...