Sven Co-op Map Reviews

           Piha is a façade of what appears to be an apartment building, the map description claims this to be the author, Robootto's, house. There isn't much interactivity or stuff to do in this map. SCMapDP page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Piha (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 26, 2022 | 1554 characters      This map is mostly a façade of an apartment building. It's got a nice open lot, presumably for parking, in front of about 8 units, four on the first floor and four on the second floor. Ther eis only one part you can really enter, the cluster of units on the left has a staircase up to the two units upstairs, only the one on the right exists and is a simple affair consisting of a room with an American flag and a balcony.      There are some ladders providing access to the roof from the back of the apartment building, but I can see no way to get over there without cheating. I noclipped through the whol

      This is something like a recreation of the first level of Duke Nukem 3d. Most of the map does its own thing but for the most part it kind of feels like Duke Nukem. SCMapDB page Author: DukeN Date of final release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dukemap (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 27, 2022 | 5930 characters      I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Dukemap, made by DukeN, is inspired by Duke Nukem 3D. Duke jumps down from a ship in the first level of Duke 3D and players jump down from a flying saucer in this map. The gameplay diverges pretty differently here, it's not a remake but just feels inspired by Duke Nukem.      Players spawn in a space ship with these green bars rising out of the floor, these are HEV chargers. I didn't realize this until my teammate started sucking up that sweet armor. There is a door at the bottom of the ship that opens when two players press two buttons simultaneously. Once its open players fall t

       There are quite a few maps centered around the gargantua, this particular map has tons of enemies in it yet the gargantua gets all the credit. Players go through teleporters and end up in a big room full of enemies. SCMapDB page Author: Hezus Date of final release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Garg House (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 24, 2022 | 3744 characters      Garg House is a horde arena map where players are dumped into an arena filled with respawning aliens, not just the gargantua, and eventually human soldiers as well. The map descript says you go into battle 'well stocked' but that is a lie, the biggest problem in the map was trying to get explosives to take down the gargs.      The map layout is a large simple room. The spawn area is a fenced off section on one side of the room above the chaos, allowing players to see what they are getting themselves into. Each end of the room has a teleporter into the arena with no way to get

      Dock Battle is a very early map with a very common gameplay type of the era, neverending swarms of enemies. Unlike similar maps this one does not have a safe place for players to spawn. SCMapDB page Author: Mad Jonesy Date of final release: 1999 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dock Battle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 16, 2022 | 4601 characters      Dock Battle is a map with a simple blocky dock jam packed full of enemies. Both humans and aliens constantly respawn all over the place fighting each other but also not forgetting to attack the players as well. When the map first started I was standing in full view of an mounted gun which started shredding me with the motd still up. The map description says something like the map could be played with your eyes closed, when the gameplay is neverending chaos and combat then yeah I guess you can totally play with your eyes closed.      The map doesn't start off well, getting immediately attacked before you c

      From the maker of the first Apache comes Apache 2, with not one, but two Apaches! There is also a swarm of soldiers present to make things more difficult. SCMapDB page Author: Wildcat Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Apache 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 3, 2022 | 1690 characters      The sequel to Apache 1 funnily enough has two apache helicopters. The map description says take down two but we only killed one and the map immediately ended.      Players start off in a hallway, in two rooms on either side of he hallway there are weapons, including a rocket launcher. There is also a set of HEV and health stations, but one HEV station is nonfunctional, which is a shame because that severely limits how much armor players can get. At the end of the hallway is a way outside where a swarm of soldiers waits and two apaches fly overhead. I kept ignoring the guys and hitting the helicopters, they had a lot of health. My teammate helped

       Normall is a map series all about walking through hallways. Robootto, a mapper with a bad reputation, and RNG, a mapper with a good reputation, have teamed up to bring us these hallways. SCMapDB page Authors: Robootto, RNG Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 10 Map review of Normall (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 31, 2022 | 7332 characters      Normall is a mapset by Robootto and RNG. I would say it is their most prolific collaboration- and Robootto's advertisements for Normall in his other maps would certainly seem to suggest that he thinks the same.      The Goldsrc engine is a mapping engine which specializes in drawing corridors. The entire visleaf setup is designed to ensure that condensed interior areas are best optimized.      Half-Life is a game which utilizes the Goldsrc engine in a way which masks these corridors- sometimes as science labs, sometimes as alien factories, and sometimes even as outdoor areas… but sometimes it just mak

  This map follows the proud tradition of not featuring what is in the title, the above picture is the closest to an alley we're going to see in this map. It's a linear map through varied locations and themes and some combat. SCMapDB page Author: Vince Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Alley (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 19, 2022 | 4184 characters      When I first loaded up Alley I immediately thought that this map didn't look like an alley. It starts off in a desert canyon area and then goes into long hallways with your standard Black Mesa textures. The whole map is a series of hallways and rooms with varying themes and enemy composition.      Players start off in an outdoor desert room with a truck and enemies directly behind the truck, so combat starts right off the bat. Fight some soldiers through linear hallways and find a room witha barney and a shotgun along the way. The shotgun, along with every other weapon on th

      Alien Battle is a simple arena map. Players start in some sort of fort and fight off infinite waves of alien slaves. The map is based off of Starship Troopers according to the map description but it's hard to tell from the map itself. SCMapDB page Author: Ttam Date of final release: 1999 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Alien Battle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 5, 2022 | 1382 characters      Alien Battle is a very simple arena map. Players spawn in a fun little fort and vortigaunts spawn in continuously and invade the fort. When I first spawned in vortigaunts ran up and started attacking me right away, so that was annoying. Players only have mp5s, no medkit, no crowbars. There was a mounted gun on the front of the fort, it gibbed the vortigaunts instantly and you can maneuver it into a position to kill most vortigaunts the moment they spawn in.      The map wasn't much really. There is ammo and HEV spread around so killing vortigaunts is never re

       As you may have guessed from the map name and the above picture, this is a map about fighting an Apache helicopter. The map consists of a hallway and a courtyard and will end with the apache's death SCMapDB page Author: Wildcat Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Apache (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 5, 2022 | 2058 characters      Apache is a short map that was made for a different time- a time before Sven Co-op updated and made the enemies that were already present way harder, thereby fucking with the balance and design of every map which had committed the sin of using and trusting Sven's content continuity.      The map is running down a hallway, attempting to survive respawning robogrunts, and then shooting at an apache until something kills you or you die. I fell asleep playing it, and most of what I remember before losing consciousness was repeatedly running into walls and throwing grenades hoping to disrupt the robo

           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 grunts. After another hallway the map ends.      We played the

      Alamo is a level taken from the Half-Life mod Heart of Darkness. Unlike other mod conversions to Sven this is just the one level taken out of context. It's set somewhere in Asia, not Texas. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: foolish_mortal Conversion authors: Trempler Date of original mod release: 2002 Date of final Sven Map release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Alamo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 27, 2022 | 6472 characters      The point of Alamo is to assault what appears to be a ruined military base, but not the actual Alamo. The map is from the mod Heart of Evil so it must be meant evoke a feeling of being in Vietnam, the player spawn is in a multi-tier rice paddy so right off the bat it does give players an Asian vibe.      When the map starts there are some friendly NPCs. My teammate and I spent some time messing around before the map started and eventually enemies invaded spawn and started shooting at us. I imagine our allies ran st

      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 the architecture is blocky and rudim

      This map is all about elevators. Get it? Lift Lifters? Elevators? I think the 50 50 refers to the authors, RNG and Robootto, each creating half of the map. I'm not sure what Xsus means. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto and RNG Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Lift Lifters 50 50 Xsus (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 30, 2022 | 2407 characters      This is easily the best map I've played made by Robootto so far, probably because RNG, a generally beloved mapper, is a co-author. When I play maps made by Robootto usually I am trying to figure out if the map is trolling me. This map gave me no such feeling.      The map is about elevators. The map name, lift lifters, makes a lot of sense when you realize this, The elevators are usually simple but big with lots of variation on the design. Combat is minimal, there is a gargantua serving as a sort of boss fight about halfway through. Most of the combat is scattered skirmishes with v

       Putki is a kz map, which stands for Kreedz Climbing. There is a long and arduous platforming section that leads to the goal, which is nothing. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Putki (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 29, 2022 | 2750 characters      Putki is a Robootto map, which means you know for certain upon starting it up that you are in for confusion as to whether the map is laughing with you or at you. This is one of the maps that, for me, feels like it leans more toward the latter, but I think that could also just be inherent in the design goals of a challenging platforming tube- which is exactly what this map is.      Put properly, Purki is a Robootto map wherein you traverse a challenging platforming tube. The tube is glass, and the platforming contained within is mostly wood blocks. It has a sorta cramped diameter, but can fit woodblocks and ramps which are incredibly steep and difficult to

      Zombie Nights is a very ambitious project. It's a large open area with some buildings scattered around, a janky day and night system, supply drops supplied via parachute, an inventory system, and a never ending zombie swarm. The objective is to last three consecutive days. SCMapDB page Author: The-Middleman Date of final release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Nights (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 29, 2022 | 6639 characters      This map looked really interesting to me. It's an open world full of zombie that players have to survive in and it has pvp. This is a pretty unique thing to attempt in Sven Co-op. I kind of don't know how to start this review, there are so many things to talk about.      Right off the bat the map description page has a bunch of stuff about the map being abandoned, unfinished, and generally not in a state where it is actually playable. I would agree with that assessment. In fact, I think the three day lim

      This map's name is a mouthful. It is essentially a monster hunt map. The arena uses the de_dust textures to create a new area highly reminiscent of de_dust. Four monsters with high health and interesting models from Counter-Strike: Nexon are scattered around for players to hunt. SCMapDB page Author: Patrick Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Darkness-4 Dust Survive Map-1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 28, 2022 | 3378 characters      There are a lot of zombie maps on scmapdb. I wanted to play a zombie map and I chose this one for some reason. It wasn't as bad as I feared but it was way worse than I had hoped.      If you've ever played Mega Monster Massacre this map is almost exactly the same. It uses textures and inspiration from de_dust but it is not actually de_dust. It is an arena with wide corridors and some crates with just four enemies sprinkled around and each one has an astronomical amount of health.  

       Acopz is a simple two map series where players must destroy a generator that powers the Xen invasion and then kill a boss in the second map.  SCMapDB page Author: matman Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Acopz (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 16, 2022 | 2233 characters      Acopz is a couple of little maps which feel like fun little beginner maps. You can tell there's a lot of budding ideas and concepts under the surface, but the maps are ultimately unambitious and timid in execution.      For the most part you simply move through lazily lit, blocky rooms with an overabundance of ammo and supplies. Rooms often feel bizarrely proportioned, with an oddly claustrophobic vibe to some of them.      The first map features a moment of unnecessary backtracking which ultimately turns out to just be a straight march back to spawn, then through a couple rooms, right into the end of the map. The second map ends fairly abruptly after a

      Acopz is a simple two map series where players must destroy a generator that powers the Xen invasion and then kill a boss in the second map.  SCMapDB page Author: matman Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Acopz (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 16, 2022 | 2233 characters      Acopz is a very short amateurish attempt at making a map series. There are no major problems in the map design except maybe some destructible objects necessary for progression not being obvious enough.      Players spawn in a room filled with weapons and ammo, and with double health and HEV chargers on the wall. It felt great starting the map with 100 HEV and full ammo.      The map design is rudimentary and simple. The rooms were bland and uninteresting. The enemies were placed in weird ways. The first combat in the map has players going down a ladder and pressing a button to open a door. On the other side of the door are soldiers shooting at zombies who are

       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

       Ice arena is a simple map that attempts to recreate a hockey rink. Due to limitations of the game engine and the author's modus operandi you can not actually play hockey in this map. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Icearena (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 7, 2022 | 3155 characters      Ice Arena is an idea that doesn't entirely work in current builds of Sven Co-op because of how the pushable brushes work, and I'm not sure it would have worked any better in the old versions. The idea is that the map is an ice rink and there are pushable brushes for hockey pucks. The players can drag these colossal pucks into the goal posts, though doing so really doesn't accomplish anything or update a score ticker or anything. Not that it has to by any means, obviously in real life when you play sports you keep track of points yourselves. I'd just like to emphasize how barren and simple this