Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      Welcome to not Black Mesa where we do science that is really similar to what goes on over there but we're totally different, I promise. According to the description we are a secret organization sending scientists over to another dimension via resonance cascades, that sounds safe. SCMapDB page Author: HeAdCrAb KILLA Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Catalyst (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 9, 2023 | 2142 characters      This map starts out with a very Black Mesa flavor with a big fancy science lab and a room with portals that triggers a bunch of aliens. The goal is to destroy a power source which is on the other side of the teleport past a bunch of soldiers in another science place. At the end we have to fight past respawning aliens so that one player can open a vent and another can toss grenades in, this map requires two people!      We start off in a place that I guess is not Black Mesa and ha...

      The only interactive feature of this map seems to be a big boombox that plays many sounds. The rest of the map is a tiny room that looks very interesting, the map is a lobby so there isn't all that much to do. SCMapDB page Author: Sence Date of release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Chillplace v2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 2, 2023 | 1924 characters      Chillplace V2! If there's a Chillplace V1, I don't know about it!      This map is a chill lobby area with an island of blue grass and a big mystical tree with light shining from within. There's a lot of fun effects on display, like liberal use of sprites to create fun glowing particles and flowers, or additive gradient brushes to create the light burst from within the tree. There's a custom model of a horrible, unchill mothman with a gaping lower jaw laying beneath the tree, likely dreaming of mercifully departing its hideous existence. A stereo plays...

       What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk… Have at you! Explore Dracula's castle, which in this case means a smattering of respawning enemies and long walks through them. SCMapDB page Author: Gadabout Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Castlevania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 2, 2023 | 3838 characters      I was really excited to play this map, I am a big fan of other game franchises shoved into the old school mess that is goldsrc. I haven't played much Castlevania, but the moment we started my teammate ran over to a torch, destroyed it, and then whooped for joy when it dropped ammo so I'm assuming this map nails it.      The map has two primary components, platforming and combat. Combat is against some low health enemies that respawn forever and quickly, mostly stuka bats and Barnabus, both very annoying. There is no armor anywhere so we die very quickly. Becau...

    Buro is a prologue to a map series that was never made, which is a shame because it is a beautiful map. The map is very nicely designed bank filled with assassins that ends when players enter the vault. SCMapDB page Author: Alex546 Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Buro (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 15, 2023 | 2488 characters      Buro is an action map which takes place in a bank being attacked by special operatives. The players counterattack, intercepting the blackops assassins. Players spawn with random loadouts of useful boilerplate weapons- revolvers or deagles, shotguns or mp5s or m16s or uzis. It adds an annoying bit of spice that makes every spawn awkward.      The map is very form over function. Each room is certainly evocative of a real life location that blackops massns and fassns have been dropped into. Rooms and hallways are often awkward for accommodating multiple playe...

      Buro is a prologue to a map series that was never made, which is a shame because it is a beautiful map. The map is very nicely designed bank filled with assassins that ends when players enter the vault. SCMapDB page Author: Alex546 Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Buro (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 15, 2023 | 4747 characters      When my teammate and I first started this map up we both took one look at it and agreed it was beautiful. Then my teammate said "time to give it a bad review!" and I wished upon a star that he was wrong. I haven't decided on a number score yet, but I will say that the map had a lot of good with a little bit of bad.      After a lengthy and cinematic cutscene my teammate and I are dumped outside a bank. He reads the message of the day which informs us of our mission but I don't bother and instead start poking around spawn. One thing that only became appa...

      How well does a game made for the N64 fit into Sven Co-op? Decently as it turns out, the whole map is interesting temple architecture that players must explore (and blow up) to unlock new areas. There are lots of weapons, not just grenades, and respawning enemies to use them on. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of release: 2022 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Bomberman 64 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 13, 2023 | 4936 characters      I've never played Bomberman 64 but I have seen parts of it and I grew up on a Nintendo 64, so the whole map was still very nostalgic for me. It was a bright, somewhat flatly textured, land with lots of platforms to jump on and explosives to toss around.      The map is very nonlinear, we start in a big open area with platforms, cages, breakables, there is a lot to get our attention right away. Despite all of this, the most important breakables are stone textured and do...

      Stomp around a tiny city like Japan's favorite Kaiju. There are four maps of increasing Godzillaty destruction in a fullbright expanding city, but they don't transition to one another. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of release: 2002 Maps in package:4 Map review of Godzilla (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 18, 2023 | 2802 characters      Godzilla is a collection of four maps, each on an escalation of players destroying a city.      The first map is a small city. The map may be small and there may not be a lot of buildings, but there are some very big buildings that take a lot of hits to destroy. Also the map uses stock textures and the skyscrapers use that concrete ceiling with the squares that kinda look like windows. After destroying all the buildings the map does not end and I have to manually switch to the next one.      The next map is like three times as big, players have to ...

      Old school classic Frogger, hop across the freeway and a river to reach some buttons, press them all to go to the next round. Any misstep and you will die horribly. SCMapDB page Author: LentoMan Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Frogger (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 18, 2023 | 2794 characters      I felt a bit of deja vu when I saw this map, I had previously seen it in another map by the same author, retrohunt. That map was duck hunt fused with frogger, but this map is all frogger.      Players have to traverse a very busy and deadly street and then jump across logs in a poison river and jump into alcoves to press buttons. Pressing all four buttons ends the round and there are three rounds. Turrets and weapons start appearing in round 2 and the map gets quite difficult. I had racked up about 60 deaths myself from just running into traffic and hails of gunfire. The map uses a cl...

      Welcome to a scientific facility that looks and feels like Black Mesa but isn't, probably. Fight and scavenge your way up the elevator shaft to an eventual escape. SCmapDB page Author: Agamemnon Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Facility (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 5, 2023 | 4123 characters      Welcome to a secret facility somewhere in America that looks like black Mesa but maybe isn't. Regardless, xen aliens and soldiers show up and are mere speedbumps in the path of the players.      We start off at the bottom of an elevator shaft, a zombie immediately approaches me so I climb a rope dangling from the elevator above and wait. My teammate joins the server and the zombie hits him before he has a chance to react. We spawn with 75 HEV so the hit barely scratches him, but I don't think enemies have any business being in spawn right off the bat like this.    ...

    Welcome to the Holodeck, a map where players can run around an arena while other players spawn monsters in. I'm guessing it's based off the holodeck in Star Trek but I don't remember the that show ever making the holodeck look like this. SCMapDB page Author: Shnuh Date of release:2004 Maps in package:1 Map review of Holodeck (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 4, 2023 | 1925 characters      Holodeck is, if I'm following correctly, a follow-up update to Biodome ( http://scmapdb.wikidot.com/map:biodome ) by the same author. To recap, that is to say, Holodeck is a sandbox map for Sven Co-op, wherein an arena comprised of a flat square area adored with turret towers with bridges between them set the stage for players to toy with the tools of Sven Co-op. I wrote a brief review of biodome which you can see on its page on this site. I recommend looking into that and coming back here to find out how this map differs.    ...

      Climb down into a cave system with a lot of science hallways and industrial rooms. The cave itself certainly is big and the map ends once it is explored in a linear fashion. SCMapDB page Author: amckern Date of release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Big Cave 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 13, 2023 | 6782 characters      As advertised, this map has a BIG CAVE. The story isn't real clear, but we traverse the cave and get to a small door to end the level. It's sort of a beautiful and confusing experience.      Players start in a small camp with a tent, big fan thing, and some ladders down into the BIG CAVE. The tent has a clear window and we can see that it's got a teleporter, but the door doesn't open. We can climb on top of the tent and see that there is no texture on top, so we can see through the level and see a huge vertical climb down ahead of us. The CAVE is at the bottom of a very l...

      This map is a beta and ends abruptly. It also doesn't really have a story. However, it does contain eye gouging amounts of blue and some fun gameplay. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bluecell Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 28, 2023 | 3923 characters      Here is an old abandoned map that plays pretty well for being unfinished. Of course looking at the map description I see that the original map's spawn is broken and when we tried the map we died immediately on spawn and had a message telling us "no spawn points available". So if you want to play this map you HAVE to get the fixed bsp. Maybe this map will get repacked one day and people won't have to deal with the confusion.      Players start off right in front of a barnacle and a deep pit into water. You could just jump down or you can grapple up and get a gauss gun. While the barnacle is not the foc...

    There are a lot of maps out there where players have to deal with infinitely spawning enemies. This map is yet another one of those but it has a pretty good layout. There is no end to this map. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Canal (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 27, 2022 | 2728 characters      Canal is an arena map for Sven Co-op. In it, you can expect to battle headcrabs, houndeyes, vortigaunts, bullsquids, and occasional grunts as they endlessly respawn. To this end, players are armed with a simple but satisfying boilerplate arsenal of an MP5, shotgun, and magnum. During gameplay we never found ourselves running out of ammo, despite being crafty enough to stay alive quite often.      There is a modest moat which surrounds a central arena platform- I presume this is the titular "canal". Falling into this water presents the player with the threat of many leec...

       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 dunkelschwamm | July 28, 2022 | 2591 characters      Sneed's Seed n' Feed is a map converted to Sven Co-op which meticulously recreates its eponymous farming supply shop from The Simpsons and holds a couple fun easter eggs.      First off, this is easily one of the most meticulously brushed maps I've seen in Goldsrc. There's lots of individually crafted store items, farm props, tiny distant details over the mountains- each with defining characteristics baked into the brush detail, like pill bottles with caps, or a pitchfork with individua...

      Assault the other end of the map! This map has a very simple layout, spawn on one end of the map, fight to the objective on the other side of the map.  SCMapDB page Author: Medlam Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Assault (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 26, 2022 | 4664 characters      This is not a map without a point where players just kill enemy after enemy forever. There is a scientist with 1000 health locked in a cage directly across from spawn between two red doors that dump human grunts out.      So when I first spawned in I inspected an elaborate wall texture and noticed that some parts of the wall were offset from others, huh. Then I went through a door with a slightly misaligned texture that was like two feet thick with 'Freeman' written over it. It didn't Z-fight, but it did sink into the wall and disappear completely. I looked up and saw that the sign was it's own block ta...

       The second map of Ascii Art is not quite a sequel and not quite a remake. The whole gameplay flow has been changed and a new area has been added, not to mention the whole map is now at night. SCMapDB page Author: enuze Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ascii Art 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 21, 2022 | 3539 characters      Ascii Art 2 is a map in Japanese that I cannot understand. However, with some patience, I *can* beat it.      Ascii Art 1 was a charming map marred by a pretty unfun gameplay loop. Ascii Art 2 is a map that I also think is very charming and has a pretty unfun gameplay lop for totally different reasons. However, I do think this is an improvement and with lots of players the problems I have with this map really would melt away. Let's discuss.      First off, if you liked the style of Ascii Art 1, you'll really like the style of Ascii Art 2. Basic...

       This great looking map is made to look just like the game Borderlands. I'm not sure if this is a recreation of a Borderlands map or just inspired by the game, but it looks truly unique. SCMapDB page Author: Dr.Abc Date of final release: 2018 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Arena Hyperion Preserve (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 19, 2022 | 5330 characters      Hyperion Preserve is an arena map for Sven Co-op with very ambitious presentation and some wacky ideas. From the brushwork to the textures to the scripted weapons to the silly progression systems, this map tried a lot. Does it all come through?      First thing you'll notice is that the map looks very good, and quite a bit like Borderlands. The environment looks great for Sven Co-op, and is lit, textured, and brushed very well. Even the buttons glow and read very clearly as interactable, fun decorations litter walls- everything looks great.  ...

       This map's long winded and confusing name is brought to you by Counter-Strike: Nexon, a spin-off of Counter-Strike that focuses on players vs. zombies. Weapons, enemies, and level design are all taken from Nexon and combines into something not quite PVP. SCMapDB page Author: Nexon Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Metal Gate Deathmatch DM Map-2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 14, 2022 | 2428 characters      Metal Gate Deathmatch is a couple deathmatch maps from the Nexon series. They come here with some scripted weapons, nifty new zombie enemies called "minions", a mysterious crystal by the name of "Get Score!!!", and an aesthetic that combines the sci-fi brutalist whimsy of Halo and the techno spacepunk of Unreal Tournament '99. Like most Nexon maps, they look great and come with some spectacular new toys, yet play mostly like watching paint dry unless you have a chaotic blend of players creating...

        Kozmic  Chenbox is a small box with piles of crowbars (reskinned to be katanas) and PVP. Large pictures of an anime catgirl line the walls and there is some music as well. SCMapDBPage Author: Gruntzz Date of final release: 2022 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Kozmic  Chenbox (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 8, 2022 | 3687 characters      Kozmic is, as I understand, the first map of 2022. Mazel tov.      Kozmic is a silly little box map with images (some animated, with notable quality and fluidity) from an anime that I am simply not familiar with. I admit, I am not the target audience for this map. I invite anybody who is more familiar with the anime to question my credentials regarding this map. However, I think if these were images of characters I AM familiar with, in similar contexts, I wouldn't regard this map much differently. Again, I invite anybody to question my credentials, as I p...

      Another Unit is an official Sven Co-op map release, it's flavored in typical Black Mesa aesthetic and presented from the HECU perspective. SCMapDB page Author: B-dama Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Another Unit (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 26, 2022 | 4129 characters      Another Unit is an official map and it shows. The level architecture is beautiful. Everything is detailed and would look at home right alongside levels in the original Half-Life.      Players spawn right off the bat with a shotgun, mp5, full ammo for both, and 40 armor. This means players don't have to rearm when respawning. The map starts off with two long hallways side by side with turrets everywhere. You have to toss a grenade in the booth with the evil Barney to open the door, then you can use the big unlock machine to open up the doors at the far end of the hallway. Going through the hologram walls triggers ba...