Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      The map title is a misnomer, there is nothing to build and the puzzles are all platforming challenges. There are 12 challenges in total and all are easily accessible from the spawn room. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Build Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 28, 2023 | 3057 characters      What even is a puzzle map? What does the Sven Co-op community consider a puzzle map? I mean really, it seems whenever a map is considered a "puzzle" map it just means any map where you spend one minute not stubbing your toe on a monster entity. This map includes platforming, gimmicking platforming, trivia, invisible mazes, hidden progression switches, and tests of coordination skill. There's a few problem-solving bits, but overall I feel the majority of this map relies on extreme displays of goldsrc movement mastery over any puzzle-solving skills.      So, sc_tl_build_puzzle_fft_final isn

      The map title is a misnomer, there is nothing to build and the puzzles are all platforming challenges. There are 12 challenges in total and all are easily accessible from the spawn room. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2010 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Build Puzzle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 28, 2023 | 4521 characters      I don't know why this map has 'Build' in the title, I was expecting some sort of building mechanic and I was excited to see how that played out. Unfortunately the map is a series of ultra hard platforming sections. I'm always a little nervous reviewing these kinds of maps because I am very bad at them and I don't want my personal failings to reflect on the map. But I played for a half hour with zero progress made and when I started cheating I discovered a lot of really annoying gimmicks.      So the map itself is a big grey hallway with 12 doorways each with a teleporter in it. The l

    Players get dropped, quite literally, into a wreck building and must kill hundreds of zombies with a lot of health. New areas open up at certain milestones and then there is a boss. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Haze (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 12, 2023 | 4018 characters      Black Haze is a zombie horde survival map. Players must survive 3 rounds of seemingly endless 1000 hp "zoomies" zombies (as my teammate and I called them, on account of their zooming speed). To combat them, players can scavenge a veritable arsenal from the area we explore.      The area to explore is a "building in ruins". My teammate and I both had the initial impression of it being a shopping mall due to its layout and the beginning taking place in some sort of plaza, but there are strange autopsy tables in most of the rooms so maybe not a shopping mall. It's brushed decently enough, bu

      Players get dropped, quite literally, into a wreck building and must kill hundreds of zombies with a lot of health. New areas open up at certain milestones and then there is a boss. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Black Haze (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 12, 2023 | 3209 characters      Both the map description and the message of the day is somewhat vague on what is expected of the players. This map is a wave defense map where players have to kill a set number of zombies to unlock the next stage. This particular map has three areas and ends after a boss.      I played this with one other person and it was slow and boring. The zombies have 1000 health each and are extremely fast. With a lot of players I can see fun gameplay with people gunning down zombie swarms but all the weapons were scattered around and there was a shortage of ammo. Most of the time when I would spawn in I would run to the nea

      A front-doorless fort with a scientist glued to the center, a courtyard, and a button that spawns waves of enemies, the goal is to protect the scientist. Except enemies don't target the scientist so it is hard to lose this map. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Baohu (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 18, 2022 | 3108 characters      Baohu is a wave defense map which really requires a large number of players to make feasible. The point of the map is to protect a scientist from an onslaught of progressively more impossible waves of bullet-spongey enemies. However, the scientist himself has a ton of health and is never explicitly targeted by the enemies. Rather, the main obstacle of this map will be enemies breaching the base where the players spawn and spawncamp the players. I played this with one other player, and we got as far as a wave of bulky snipers who would unload several sniper shots into o

      A front-doorless fort with a scientist glued to the center, a courtyard, and a button that spawns waves of enemies, the goal is to protect the scientist. Except enemies don't target the scientist so it is hard to lose this map. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Baohu (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 18, 2022 | 3108 characters      The map is simple, players start in a small fort and outside the front gate is a big field where enemies spawn in waves. There is a scientist in the middle of the fort stuck in place, if he dies then the game is lost. Now I thought this map was going to suck because it was going to be hard keeping the scientist alive, this is not the case. The scientist has 15000 health and can be healed, takes no damage from players, and enemies don't target him. We were careful about him at first but near the end we would bury him under satchel charges and blow him up.      The f

      Libraries are good settings for video games. There's just something about blowing off the head of an alien onto a shelf packed with books. Library is all about being in a library. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of final release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Library (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | December 5, 2021 | 1679 characters      Library is a walkthrough map which takes the player through some environments which expand on Half-Life's default look enough to have a lot of its own personality. Interesting brushwork mixes with fun lighting.      The stated goal of the map is to kill off a bunch of monsters from Xen in a big library. To this end the map employs plenty of vortigaunts, alien controllers, and pit drones in battle conditions which interact very interestingly with their strengths in different combinations. The map also gives the players new respawn points as they make progress so the action never has to slow down.      In additio

      Libraries are good settings for video games. There's just something about blowing off the head of an alien onto a shelf packed with books. Library is all about being in a library. SCMapDB page Author: Ice Box Date of final release: 2012 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Library (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | December 5, 2021 | 2091 characters      This map is really well done. It's a little short and the cutscenes run a little long, but I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed all the production value put into this.      The map starts out in a long cutscene. It's a very nice cutscene but it ran a little bit too long. The spawn area has plenty of HEV and ammo with the starting weapons, and then has a teleporter that will update to whatever area the players are at. I always really appreciate a checkpoint system, this wins big points with me. This is all very smooth, intuitive, and convenient.      Right after the teleport you end up in a nice looking library t