Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      Fight tons of chumtoads in this very short map. Watch fun cutscenes where scientists mess up (who could have seen that coming!), fight a bunch of chumtoads, kill a boss, and celebrate victory. SCMapDB page Author: the-middleman Date of release: 2014 Maps in package: 2 (includes another map we didn't play or review) Map review of Chubby Mess (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 23, 2023 | 1077 characters      The map starts on a lengthy and cute cutscene where we see scientists messing around with chumtoads. One thing leads to another and we are forced to flee to the other end of the map where we find weapons and armor. We get another quick cutscene before running through a rain of giant chumtoads, it is indeed a Chubby Mess.      The goal of the map is to run back to spawn and then kill the biggest chumtoad, which takes exactly all our explosives so that worked out well. It's short, sweet and incredibly cute and endearing. It lasted around 5 minutes total

      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 (showing various amounts of health regained) l

      Use the gauss gun to jump around the level, avoiding obstacles and toxic goo. This map is apparently an unfinished part of another map, but it feels fairly complete and self-contained as it is. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Shopping Centre (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 3, 2023 | 5838 characters      Gauss jumping is the art of charging up the gauss gun and launching yourself great heights and distances. This map is all about doing that. It's got a lot of platforming featuring gauss jumping, lots of vertical shafts we have to fly up and a couple difficult trick jumps. It should also be noted that this map is an unfinished beta, the message of the day even says the first part of the map was 'misplaced' and that we are left with this. It's a fine map as it is, and it doesn't come off as an unfinished beta.      We start out in a vaguely Black Mesa themed underground walkway comp

      Here is a short mod converted to work in Sven Co-op. The banner itself even says the length is about 20 minutes, which I find is accurate. Story and gameplay-wise it is a very standard Black Mesa adventure. SCMapDB page Original mod author: ToTac Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original map release: 2007 Date of final Sven Map release: 2013 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Mesa Sideline (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 1, 2023 | 2580 characters      Here is a short, one map, mod converted to Sven Co-op. It's not a lazy mod, there are no level transitions to the previous maps! The mod is a fairly standard Black Mesa themed map where we are collectively Gordon Freeman and we are skipping our destiny of saving the world and simply escaping.      This map may be standard Black Mesa, but it looks great. There are a ton of details, like bulging walls, crumpled doors, and natural looking rock walls. The level layout is fairly straightforward,

      There is only a little bit of Black Mesa in this map, but plenty of arenas, 17 in total. Players go from one arena to the next clearing them out with some light platforming in some areas plus plenty of hidden stuff to find. SCMapDB page Author: IT_Skino Date of release: 2016 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Black Mesa Arena (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 20, 2023 | 4034 characters      Black Mesa Arenas is title with three words I dread when I see Sven Co-op maps. The screenshots and the description didn't help. But I must admit to my first impression being totally wrong, which is something I have found happens a lot.      The map description says it all, there are 17 arenas to fight in. These arenas are usually pretty simple with the best looking ones evoking an overlarge liminal feel. Some arenas look better than others, like the graveyard was pretty fun but then there are a bunch that have spike pits ringing the outside that are just big bl

    Agog means to be very eager to hear or see something. Be agog for this map as it has interesting visuals, puzzles, combat, and some very impressive sequences. Mind the eye strain. SCmapDB page Author: RNG Date of release: 2009 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Psychic Agog (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | January 22, 2023 | 3584 characters     This map is just a beta and is unfortunately never going to be 'finished', however it is still playable and is fairly polished as well. The first half has some trippy scenery followed by some space zombie fighting with cube gathering.      The map starts us out in a big black and white grid field with some basic but evocative geometry. large cubes dot the area along with some floating and gyrating cubes above, some interesting towers and some buildings with obvious purpose. This is a puzzle, an escape room of sorts and it is pretty fun. Each time we solved a piece of it there would be something happening, this map uses

      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 GrandmasterJ | August 4, 2022 | 3300 characters      Assault Co-op is the Counter-Strike map cs_assault with changes made to turn it into a Sven Co-op experience. I think it does this well with the appropriate amounts of high damage enemies, weapon and ammo stations, and even a some fun cutscenes, music, and story elements.      The map starts off and I'm getting shot while the map fades in. There are enemies directly in front of me but I'm actually getting shot from a sniper half the map away. Players start with just a pistol, I did not realize the green weapon crates near spawn actually contained weapons and ammo. There is nothing to indicate this, except maybe a single or

       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 dunkelschwamm | July 9, 2022 | 3107 characters      Arena Retrowave is a slick, stylistic arena map with crazy jump pads, teleports, high health, high armor, high ammo, heavy duty weaponry, and high action. Enemies and weapons are skinned to appear like glowing wireframes. This is all to the benefit of a retrowave aesthetic, accompanied by some synth music by Rain Sword (thumbs up, good shit).      The aesthetic is, frankly, the most characteristic aspect of this map. So, let's talk about it. The brushwork, skybox, prop entities, enemies, and weapons all blend together to create a seamless, cohesive aesthetic where even outlandish player models do little to break the atmosphere. I especially like the wirefra

       I am not a fan of jumping puzzles, but this map does it right. There is nothing too crazy and I was able to complete the whole course thanks to the quality of life features like checkpoints and the color coding. SCMapDB page Author: Hezus Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of The Void (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 18, 2022 | 4401 characters      The Void is a map that I'm very nostalgic for, so factor that in while reading this review. I remember playing this back in the day with an internet connection so slow I couldn't platform worth a damn, but I loved it anyway. Looking back, is it still as fun as I remember?      The Void's conceit is minimalism: color-coded grid-tile floors serve simple functions, from launching the player to hurting the player to being ladders to being water to being the next spawn point. These simple tools are used in an escalating series of platforming challenges that, on their face, seem very

          Arctic Incident is a conversion of a single player mod of the same name. Some conversions are just singleplayer experiences dropped into Sven Co-op, but this map has been updated to be more co-op friendly. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: XF-Alien Conversion authors: AlexCorruptor, Outerbeast, and Tunac Date of original mod release: 2015 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Arctic Incident (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | June 5, 2022 | 4278 characters      There is an incident in the arctic, strange arctic creatures have invaded an arctic scientific research base, the arctic military is there to kill both the arctic creatures and the arctic scientists, and you have to escape. It's arctic Black Mesa. This two map set is a conversion of a mod by the same name, so it definitely sits on the easy side even if my teammate and I did die a couple of times each. Despite being a conversion of a single player experience, the conve

          Arctic Incident is a conversion of a single player mod of the same name. Some conversions are just singleplayer experiences dropped into Sven Co-op, but this map has been updated to be more co-op friendly. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: XF-Alien Conversion authors: AlexCorruptor, Outerbeast, and Tunac Date of original mod release: 2015 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Arctic Incident (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | June 5, 2022 | 4448 characters      Arctic Incident is a Half-Life mod which this mapset aims to port to Sven Co-op. Does it do this faithfully? I don't know, as I haven't played the original. However, my understanding is that some maps were consolidated and the weapons have been changed. If that's the case, then this is a very solid port which made some good decisions, as both the maps and weapons work great.      The maps are arctic themed, and mostly revolve around a research base in the

      Arctic Mission is a fun little romp through things that can vaguely be described as 'Arctic'. It is short and sweet with fun combat in interesting locations. SCMapDB page Author: TruckStopSantaClaus Date of final release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Arctic Mission (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | June 5, 2022 | 4278 characters      I feel like if there wasn't already two maps called Arctic Escape then this map would also be called Arctic Escape. The map starts off with players around a campfire (that does hurt if you stand on it) and the story is that we have to escape this terrible place and go home. Unlike the other Arctic Maps this doesn't take place in some remote research outpost in the middle of nowhere, there are some nice looking houses in an environment I would call alpine if it had more trees.      The map definitely has that blocky goldsrc charm to it. The map is divided up into the first half where the player visits some secl

       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 players on the other side of some harbor buildi

      This map is all about fighting the mafia(triads?) in China. It's got the Shanghai aesthetic down pretty well and a very well made harbor. SCMapDB page Author: MysticMDT Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Shanghai Harbor (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | December 12, 2021 | 2632 characters      This map has a really nice vibe to it, the architecture and the enemies go together well to suggest a high stakes shootout between the mafia and the players.      The map starts with me getting shot. I am not a fan of enemies in the spawn area so this immediately put a sour taste in my mouth. Luckily the rest of the map washed it out, that was the only time enemies shot me at spawn and they were quickly dealt with.      I died a lot in this map. Each room is filled with male and female assassins. Players have a good selection of weapons they start with but it is still quite challenging with how fast these things run and the occasional grenade. It

      POW is a bombastic map, from the crazy map description to the crazy above screenshot. POW is an action packed prison break map with some good looking set pieces.  SCMapDB page Author: Necromancer Date of final release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of POW in the Year 3910 (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | December 11, 2021 | 3402 characters      This map starts off with a MotD storyline that sounds like something I wrote in high school. It's a story about friends breaking out of prison together which did indeed set the mood for my friend and I to break out of prison together.      The map is brutal. We both died once before getting out of our cell. There are a lot of enemies and they whittle your health down to nothing fast. There is no health, medkits, or any kind of HEV.      The author really did a good job with updating checkpoints. Dying a lot would be a thousand times more annoying if we had to keep walking long distances. The checkpoint updated ver

      Finally, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has come to Sven Co-op! I am amazed at how close this map is to the actual Zelda game. It's definitely very janky, but it's more faithful to the original game than it has any right to be. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2012 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Zelda OOT Conversion (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | November 30, 2021 | 5694 characters      This map is incredibly neat. The conversion is very faithful to the original. You need a sword and shield to progress to the Deku Tree, all the NPCs are here, the buildings have interiors, the enemies are here and work well. It's just all incredibly impressive.      I'm not going to get into why the map is great, it's Legend of Zelda recreated as faithfully as possible. I'm astounded by how close it is to the original, I really did not expect this level of quality from this map. Instead I'm going to complain about the pro