Sven Co-op Map Reviews

             We travel back to Black Mesa to travel through the deteriorating facility and make our escape. The map is a fairly straightforward walkthrough map with some hazardous platforming areas to break up the combat. SCMapDB page Author: The-Real-Game Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bridge 2k (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 25, 2023 | 2636 characters      Broken Path is a very straightforward and simple walkthrough map with some very bare hallways, some attempts at detail, and respawning enemies. When I first started reviewing maps I figured the majority of them would be something like this.      We start in a big room with a pipe bursting out of the ceiling. The space beyond the pipe is just a closed off void in the ceiling, as if the only thing in there was the pipe just laying there. When we move out of spawn a bunch of zombies and a gonome appear. This is the gameplay really, walking forward and getting enemies spawned right

      The 2k version of Bridge (both were made in 2001) is lengthier with a whole complex to be explored after the bridge section. It is much more in line with traditional walkthrough maps and has far less respawning enemies. SCMapDB page Author: Hezus Date of release: 2018 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bridge 2k (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 21, 2023 | 3166 characters      So I played Bridge which was a bridge with a bajillion respawning enemies and a paucity of ammo. The sequel/remake promised more, but did it deliver?      So my teammate spawns above, on top of the bridge, and I spawn under the bridge. This split up of spawn points really hampers any attempt we make at cooperating against the respawning grunts. While my teammate struggles with respawning human grunts and an apache up top I am throwing myself against about six turrets with respawning grunts below. It takes a while but I get the turrets down and eventually the grunts stop spawning an

      Inspired by the very similar Breakfree 1 and 2, in this map players ride an elevator up through some deadly obstacles. Elevators in Sven Co-op are prone to killing players so only the luckiest folks will make it to the end. SCMapDB page Author: Zorak Date of release: 2009 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Break GO: Game Over (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 29, 2023 | 2321 characters      This map was inspired by Breakfree, and right when the map started I thought that maybe I was playing the next map in that series. But no, this map was made by a different author and does a few things differently, but it's also mostly the same.      So the whole premise of the map is that players are on an elevator going up through a shaft filled with obstacles. We have lots of rotating brushes that will splatter incautious players and dead players get stuck in a viewing room where they can only watch the live players finish the map.      Now elevators are finni

       BMTCoop, a cooperative map (hence the coop) made by BMT (hence the BMT). It's a rather short shooty experience in good ol' Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Author: BMT Date of release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of BMTCoop (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 13, 2023 | 3690 characters      BMTCoop is an old silly Sven Co-op walkthrough action map. If you're looking for oldschool Sven Co-op action, this really houses it. An obtuse switch puzzle toward the beginning, enemies spawning in over and over again in oddly stilted timeframes as you hope the waves will eventually end and a door will open (don't worry, it will!), a bizarre choice of weaponry borne of 2001 naivete when approaching the Half-Life arsenal, and an absolute cluster of enemies thrown at the players with little thought of the balancing whatsoever.      In some ways, BMTCoop plays almost like a late Serious Sam map shortly after (and immediately preceding) the first (an

       BMTCoop, a cooperative map (hence the coop) made by BMT (hence the BMT). It's a rather short shooty experience in good ol' Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Author: BMT Date of release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of BMTCoop (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 13, 2023 | 1930 characters      This was a quick walkthrough map where we fight waves of monsters in a very Black Mesa environment. We even get a cutscene at the end of G-man giving us the credits. It took us less than ten minutes to beat it and we had some fun.      We start off in a room with a revolver, health, and HEV chargers, players only spawn with medkits. There are plenty of supplies and we are always topped off, I think we died once due to monsters spawning on top of us. Which they do very often, the combat is almost entirely wave based with enemies dropping out of xen effects.      We pick up the shotgun later and shotgun ammo appears more frequently as we near the end of the m

      Welcome to a store that sells toilets. There are no enemies, but there are plenty of weapons, scientists, and toilets to play with. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Toilet Store (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 12, 2023 | 1655 characters    So we start off in what looks like an alley. There are some huge cardboard boxes here that we can use to jump on and grab a rocket launcher that balances precariously on the edge of sanity and reason. Then we break down the glass and enter the toilet store.      The first thing we discover is that the toilet lids are destructible and sometimes they hide supplies in the toilet bowls. I start on breaking those while my teammate discovers that some toilets sink down into the ground. We both find a toilet that floats up.      After we finish examining all the toilets we turn our attention to the scientists wandering the aisles. There are plenty of weapons strewn

      It's a fairly standard kill box map. There are a bunch of monsters in a pit, safely away from players, and players get to pour death down the hole at their leisure. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Splatter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 11, 2023 | 2032 characters      Spawn in a safe room filled with weapons and take a peek through some holes in the floor to a pit filled with monsters. Drop a satchel charge in, launch a rocket, perhaps lob an underbarrel grenade. The monsters respawn near instantly.      That's about it for interactivity. There are some interesting things to look at, some checkerboard missing textures, a stack of unbreakable boxes, and a weird booth behind some chain link with a bunch of satchel charges in front of it. The map description says that's an admin room, and it certainly had a bunch of buttons that did some stuff. But there is no discernable way in or out,

      Don't let the fancy title screen that looks like the X-Files fool you, this is a Black Mesa adventure. Players take on the role of scientists trying to escape the disaster, unsuccessfully. SCMapDB page Original map author:LetKyx Team Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release:2004 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package:4 Map review of Unholy (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | February 11, 2023 | 2613 characters      Unholy is a Half-Life mod that takes place back in Black Mesa, this time we play as a scientist and the twist is we aren't as cool as Gordon Freeman. Honestly the whole thing is mostly vents and is mercifully short.      We start off with a cutscene, I get to see it but my teammate who joins after the map starts does gets to watch a wall. After turning off survival mode we get into the map proper and its a lot of vents. There are some rooms, some hallways, tons of vents, and it is all Black Mesa themed so it

      Three almost identical lanes with obstacle courses. Run like the Terminator! Then longjump back and do it again, the map has no end. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Terminator Run (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 14, 2023 | 2029 characters      This is a very straightforward map, players spawn in front of three colored lanes with an obstacle course to the other end of the map. There is a blue, red, and green route but they are all the same, except for blue becuase it does not have a shotgun at the end and the other two do for some reason.      The obstacle course itself is fairly simple, with bars blocking the way that must be jumped over or crawled under, some other simple platforming challenges, and the one I really failed at which was the ceiling ladder. At the end is a big drop into the last stretch to the finish line. As I mentioned before, red and green get shotguns and longjump here but blue does

      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

       This is a symmetrical map where players have to take out four identical towers in the same way to win the map. The spawn gives players plenty of supplies and there are only a few enemy locations, although they do respawn. SCMapDB page Author: tdw Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Under Fire (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 2, 2022 | 3544 characters      Base Under Fire is the type of game for people who like prepackaged cracker sandwiches. Players face off with an apache, then systematically take down 4 identical towers with identical defenses using the same set of weapons each time. Once every tower is destroyed, an apache appears, but don't worry- the map ends immediately.      The visuals of the map are that of an appealing, if spartan, Mos-Eisely-esque desert and stone fortress, with the players in the very center. The only interior area of the map is in the central hub, where players respawn and resupply in a bril

      This small slice of map is a recreation of the World War 2 beach landings at Normandy. It was converted from the 'War in Europe' and renamed to 'Barney Beach' for some reason, there are no Barneys here at all. SCMapDB page Original map author: Rob Lutz Conversion author: Unknown Date of original mod release: 2000 (estimated) Date of final Sven Map release: 2000 (estimated) Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Beach (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | September 25, 2022 | 2150 characters      This is a conversion of a World War II map, specifically the Normandy beach landings, I don't know why it is called Barney Beach since there are no Barneys in the map. Are players supposed to be the Barneys? I have questions.      Players spawn in landing boats, the water here is really choppy, it has been put together in chunks and each block's waves don't match up with the waves of the adjacent blocks, it just looks incredibly bad. Players run ou

      Barnacle Flight 2 is a map based around a quirk of barnacle grappling your fellow player, causing everybody to fly (glitch around) in the air. This is a sequel to a map that doesn't exist, the other Barnacle Flight map was made after this one and is unrelated even though it is the same concept. SCMapDB page Author: Naigel Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barnacle Flight 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 24, 2022 | 2461 characters      So I tried this map after I tried "Barnacle Flight". Funny story, according to map descriptions when Barnacle Flight 2 came out there was no Barnacle Flight 1, then Barnacle Flight came out a couple years later inspired by the original map. Anyway, the map started up and I looked around, we were in a big grey box with big blocky instruction signs around us. "Oh," I say to my teammate "this is just worse Barnacle Flight." Then I fall down the long shaft to the bo

      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

      Despite the presence of a '2' in the title this map is not a sequel. It consists mostly of vaguely Black Mesa themed areas filled with enemies and long walks. SCMapDB page Author: Penguin Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Assault On Black Mesa 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 7, 2022 | 7830 characters      Assault on Black Mesa 2 (apparently there never was a 1) is an old school Sven map from back in the 2.0 days that definitely plays like an old school map. It also has the problem that plagued many older maps with respawning players walking long distances back to where all the action is happening.      The map set has two maps in it. The first map puts players in a canyon with a truck trailer behind the players and some ammo and green military crates. There are teleporters in the truck trailer and weapons do spawn in the crates as the map progresses. These are good features that show the mapper cares about players, but un

      Remember the Simpsons episode about tomacco? Well this map is based on the store where Homer went to buy tobacco and tomato seeds in that one episode. SCMapDB page Original map author: Garfield (super163) Conversion authors: Zorik Date of original mod release: 2022 Date of final Sven Map release: 2022 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Sneed's Seed & Feed (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | July 28, 2022 | 3214 characters      Sneed's Feed and Seed (Formerly Chuck's) is a location from the Simpsons, it's a store nearby the old Simpson Farm and pictures of two locals can be found by jumping out of the map and walking around the big noob box.      The map itself doesn't have much to do, but it does have a lot to look at. There is an NPC (not really Barney although the model is based off of him) that kind of wanders around the front and a scientist manning the register. Neither can be killed. The store has a lot of brushwork commodities on the she

      The map name doesn't seem to really describe what is going on in the map. There is a very small and simple maze, followed by a large area with shipping containers, female assassins are everywhere. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Army (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 16, 2022 | 1423 characters      The army that the title of this map refers to is an army of female assassins. The map itself has two parts, a small complex of hallways filled with female assassins with some supplies, and a large open warehouse area also filled with female assassins but without supplies. The spawn area has shotguns, grenades, and a crossbow. It should be noted the the crossbow does have the explosive bolts and that there is no flashlight. After killing all the female assassins (I must say, gibbing an assassin with a direct hit from the explosive bolt crossbow is wonderful) we climbed up to a windy rail above the cargo conta

       There are nine r's. This is a very short map that feels more like a tech demo than anything else. Players fly through arches, throw grenades in holes, and make a face spin, and that's it. SCMapDB page Author: CryoKeen (aka Keen) Date of final release: Unknown Maps in package: 1 Map review of rrrrrrrrr (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 19, 2022 | 2261 characters      rrrrrrrrr is a map credited on this site to CryoKeen, though Keen's profile does not display this as one of his maps. I'm not entirely sure how to categorize it. It's perhaps a joke map, but the joke is so esoteric I don't know how to interpret it. It's like a Meredith Monk performance- I'll just be reviewing it very technically, as I concede I don't quite understand it.      After three brief puzzles, the map ends. Two of the puzzles involve images of people I don't know in a context I don't understand. I shot the first image, and after my teammate pre

      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-Strike Nexon. I think the zombie models and animations

      Another Day At The Office is set in laboratories made by the same company who built Black Mesa because even though we are not in Black Mesa it looks just like Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Author: BonkTurnip Date of final release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Another Day At The Office (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 2, 2022 | 8733 characters      When I come across a map with survival mode I don't even think about it, I toggle survival mode right off. I usually forget all about it and don't even mention it in my reviews but I think its important to note this map has survival mode on by default. This map set has two maps and both piss me off for different reasons.      The first map starts players off in offices, with a nearby security office granting access to a room with a scientist and a room with an gluon gun. There are two buttons, one for each door, and pressing one will break the other thus cutting off access to that room. We kept picking