Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      Fight waves of zombies in a city themed arena. The map description makes it seem like fighting waves of zombies is all that happens but there is a nice exploration aspect as well. SCMapDB page Authors: Searanger, EdisLeado Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of City of the Dead (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 16, 2023 | 3192 characters      I wanted to play a scary map for October and I thought a zombie horde would fit the bill. Instead of meeting a brain dead map with a wad of zombies in an arena I was met with a small facsimile of a town with strategically placed weapons and ammo. In the second half of the map I was really scared of running out of ammo, that is the true horror.      The game starts us off in a pure white hallway that is really blinding. Then we have white text that tells us how many seconds until the round starts, it is almost impossible to see. Go through a doorway to end up i...

      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...

      This is a beautiful map inspired by the famous mod (and map set ported to Sven Co-op) They Hunger. It takes place in a forest filled with derelict buildings, now that I think about it I don't think there is a campfire in this map. SCMapDB page Author: cyberdaemon Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Campfire (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 19, 2023 | 4517 characters      Campfire is a map inspired by The Hunger that puts us in a wilderness with some dilapidated buildings, a minefield, and eventually into a mine. It has no story and ends abruptly with no real resolution when a player walks into a wall of tofu. But it maintains this really atmospheric gritty forest vibe that works really well. Enemies are tons of zombies with the occasional gonome and baby garg.      My teammate an I spawn inside each other inside a burned out house. This map feels pretty big and the house has rooms bigger than what...

      Let's buy some boxes over at the box store! The buying process actually works, players have to earn score and use that to buy boxes. Stealing is not allowed. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Box Store (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 29, 2023 | 2612 characters      The Box Store featured in this map works just like a store, with boxes for sale and a whole system to buy them. We bought them all and the map ended. It's great.      So it starts off with my teammate and I standing in front of the store with an invincible hostile scientist named "shoot me for more money". You don't have to tell me twice. The store sits on a square of land floating in the void. Strange nonsensical signs are plastered over the front of the store. My teammate informs me the music we hear is from Sonic 3, it's pretty good music.      After boosting our scores...

      The original Half-Life: Echoes mod was released in 2018, and one year later the Sven Co-op conversion came out. It's a more modern conversion of a more modern mod. It's got striking visuals and great sequences and the converter did a great job making it ready for cooperative play. SCMapDB page Original map author: James Coburn Conversion author: kmkz Date of original mod release: 2018 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 15 Map review of Echoes (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | April 21, 2023 | 4696 characters      Buckle up for a long cinematic adventure, we have a highly praised Half-Life mod converted for Sven Co-op and it has been lovingly ported. This mod has some great production and we start off strong with a cutscene and voiceover that all players can see! Cutscenes often leave players out but that doesn't happen here and that indicates the quality level of pretty much the whole map series. ...

       Sitting somewhere between a whole new experience and just being Black Mesa but monochrome, this map brings a much needed unique visual style to Sven Co-op. From monsters to lights, everything is either black or white. SCMapDB page Author: BuGi Date of release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black & White (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 28, 2023 | 3592 characters      Black and White is a tricky map where the solution to the puzzle is not always straightforward. All the visuals are simplistic monochrome black and white textures. Standard Half-Life textures are remade in this style but there is also plenty checkerboard as well. Enemies are reskinned to be black and white but blood is not, so red and yellow is the only splash of color you'll see besides sprays.      The map really reminds me of Half-Quake, the whole thing is designed to mess with your head. The first puzzle is pressing a button in ...

      Black Operations (not to be confused with Blackops, a different map) is a Half-Life mod converted over to Sven Co-op. It uses many new textures along with impressive detail to tell the unnecessary story of how the United States acquired the nuke used to destroy Black Mesa. SCMapDB page Original map author: Little_Otis Conversion author: Shinkichi Date of original mod release: 2005 Date of final Sven Map release: 2010 Maps in package: 13 Map review of Black Operations: Special Forces (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 26, 2023 | 5947 characters      This map series is a conversion of a standalone mod by the same name. We follow a Black Ops soldier named Declan Walker whose job is to plant the nuclear bomb that takes out Black Mesa. The map description says we're getting back a mysterious briefcase from a Black Mesa scientist. Spoilers, but that briefcase is the nuke. We're also in Metro City but manage to plant the bomb in Bl...

      This map is one big sudoku puzzle. Players spawn cubes with numbers on them via a well made machine complete with deadly doors and neat visuals. The puzzle is the same every time. SCMapDBpage Author: Puchi Date of release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Beat this (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | January 14, 2023 | 2292 characters      Beat This! is Sudoku played using the silly block physics in Sven Co-op. I thought this was going to be an incredible randomized sudoku game, but my teammate confirmed it was the same puzzle the on retrying. Approach a console and spawn a block with a number from a UI. Place the block where it is missing in the sudoku puzzle. Stand on a glass platform overlooking the puzzle to get a better view of the whole thing, and use the laser of a deagle to point to others solving the puzzle. Shoot straight through the glass barrier to mark spots to remember where you wish to place blocks.  ...

      This map is one big sudoku puzzle. Players spawn cubes with numbers on them via a well made machine complete with deadly doors and neat visuals. The puzzle is the same every time. SCMapDBpage Author: Puchi Date of release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Beat this (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 14, 2023 | 2204 characters      This map is sudoku. Players spawn in elevator looking things to a big room with a big sudoku board in the middle of the room with holes for the answers. Up top there is a glass platform players can walk on to get a bird's eye view of the board. At the far end of the room is a panel that players use to summon cubes with numbers on them to complete the puzzle. Place the cubes in the correct holes and win! There is also some fun music to boost your morale.      All in all, the map isn't hard. I can imagine with quite a few people that the puzzle would just fly by. When cubes fall i...

      Are you ready to barbecue with the bear? There is a story about a zoo being closed due to Covid but the gameplay is all about shopping in the supermarket down the road. The map is very British and has a lot of jokes and references about being British. SCMapDB page Author: Captain Scarlet Date of final release: 2021 Maps in package: 1 Map review of BBQWITTEHBEAR (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 6, 2022 | 6874 characters      Well that certainly was something. This map contains no combat and instead focuses on running errands at a supermarket. There is a whole story about a zoo and some anime girls that have voice acting and large illustrations that float in mid-air. I don't get any of that, it all feels like a bunch of in jokes from a forum or group of friends. It's still a great experience even if I don't understand everything.      Players start off in a room with three doors. One could almost believe this is a ...

    Auspice (ôspəs), noun, a divine or prophetic token.  This is an officially released map for Sven Co-op 3.0 taking place somewhere in Black Mesa with good variety of combat, puzzles, and exploration. Author: Seraph Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Auspices (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 18, 2022 | 5249 characters      This is yet another Black Mesa map. At this point I'm kind of over Black Mesa themed maps, but the difference with this one is that it is done extremely well and offers pretty good variety.      The map starts players off outside at night, in a military themed area with bunkers, tanks, snipers, and soldiers. The map goes through some Black Mesa themed areas pretty quick, starting with the military exterior, moving to a lab complex of tight hallways, gonomes, alien grunts, and shock troopers, ending in a big fight in a wide open room with soldiers storming in from above. It ...

      I am a big fan of Counter-Strike maps ported to Sven Co-op and filled with enemies, which is exactly what this map is. Players must empty the map of hostiles to win. SCMapDB page Author: KiLLeR Date of final release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Assault Co-op (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 4, 2022 | 2958 characters      Assault Co-op is essentially cs_assault but with a ton of blackops grunts. Is it good? Sure!      The map starts out a bit rough, with just a chaotic smattering of blackops snipers, grunts, and assassins firing on us right out of spawn. A ways from spawn, there's a weapons restock point. It's good that you can get a ton of ammo for the M16, Shotgun, and MP5 here, because there are no melee weapons should you run out of bullets. That really shouldn't ever be an issue in this map, thanks to this never-ending cornucopia of ammo. That said, the cornucopia is a bit off the beaten path and ha...

      Step into a world of bright colors and synthesized music. Fight colorful enemies with beams of light. Relax amid a horde of enemies. SCMapDB page Author: Dr.Abc Date of final release: 2018 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Arena Retrowave (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 27, 2021 | 3166 characters      This was the first arena map I've played so I didn't really know what to expect going into it. This was probably the best map for my first arena, it is dripping with style and I spent a good portion of the time playing just exploring the many areas of the map.      I much prefer walkthrough maps or anything where I can make visible progress, which arena maps aren't really good for. This map in particular has a lot going on. In the beginning I was fighting on top of the central building under the mistaken assumption there was some linear path to follow. Eventually I realized I was going in circles and chasing my tai...

      This map's claim to fame is the large crushing machine the map is named after. The crusher works really really well and that is all that matters in a map about crushing. SCMapDB page Author: Unkown Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Crusher (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 30, 2022 | 2252 characters      Crusher is an old school map from the early days of Sven Co-op. The main attraction is a large crushing machine with five scientists that spawn endlessly right in the machine's jaws. The button to activate the crusher is a massive cube, it was not apparent that it was a button at first, but I think the giant button was fitting. If you stand on the button and press it you can jump into the machine just in time!      There is a hallway that goes around behind the machine with another button for the crusher and two spawners that makes about fives scientists and five Barneys each. We led all the...

      Another Unit (alternate version) is a remake of the official map Another Unit. Some details have been lost to time, but the authors seem to be different and there is some confusion as to whether it is a remake or a sequel. Personally, it feels like a remake by a player who didn't like the original map. SCMapDB page Author: GAMESABA Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Another Unit (Alternate version) Part 1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 3, 2022 | 3895 characters      I try to judge each map on its own merits, but remakes, sequels, and the like somewhat demand a comparison. To say it outright, this map is better than the original. Where the original was one long corridor this map shortens the hallway and adds a non linear office complex area that players go through instead. It's almost a complete reimagining of the first map.      Players spawn next to a burnt out plane and a few dead sold...

      Kani Gyosen is Japanese for "Crab fishing boat" and true to the title, in this map players will fish for crabs. Since this is based on Half-Life the crabs in question are all headcrabs. SCMapDB page Author: takedeppo.50cal Date of final release: 2020 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Kani Gyosen (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 20, 2022 | 3971 characters      The idea behind this map is that players must spear fish for headcrabs and gather them all in a cage. The water is dangerous, sharks and bullsquids lurk around. Players have machineguns that work underwater and even have custom models for real world underwater machineguns. The crowbar replacement, the spear and the barnacle has a custom model and custom scripting as well. Although I don't think the barnacle has custom scripting, as the winch kept eating the headcrabs.      Players spawn on a cute little boat, the deck is dominated by a cage, this is where ...

      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...

      Journey to Northern Africa during World War II and challenge the German occupiers under Rommel. It's somewhat hard to tell this is a WWII themed map, probably due to the lack of swastikas everywhere. SCMapDB page Author: MysticMDT Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Afrika Korps (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | February 20, 2022 | 5293 characters      Afrikakorps is a map I don't have fond memories of. Maybe it was my computer, but I remember the map being glitchy and lagging a ton. I was wrong, it was an overall nice experience.      The map starts off going room to room clearing Nazis. There are weapon replacements and even a little scripting to turn the mp5 into a tommy gun. The Nazi enemy models and the guns really helped bring the map together, although I do think the generic HECU grunt chatter that the Nazis used was a little jarring. Really nicely detailed tanks dot the map and look very i...

      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 GrandmasterJ | February 13, 2022 | 2947 characters      This map is a conversion of a Counter-Strike map. Unlike other conversions of CS maps this one actually has enemies and is modified for cooperative play. There are around 100 enemies in the map and players must hunt them all down.      The map is expansive with plenty to see. Some of the architecture looks bad, like the staircases. Some of the hallways are really narrow with lots of twists and turns. In a competitive map these features would add to the challenge but in Sve...