Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       Zombie Pit is one of those maps where the name really says it all. Maybe the name left out the lava and the fact that there is a teleporter out of the pit but that's about all that the name leaves out. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Pit (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 14, 2022 | 1001 characters      Zombie Pit is an early map out of Keen, and it shows. As is the soft, early prodding of what a playable map can look like. Some beveled brushes loosely imitating naturalistic rock formations suspend freshly spawned players over a fractured earthen arena half-sunk in deadly, glowing, one-hit-kill pasta (or lava, idk). In the lower area the player will find headcrabs, zombies, and a teleporter back up. After moments of play, the zombies and headcrabs fall into the pasta/lava and the action grinds to a halt.      This is a clear example of an early jab at mapping. There's no real good reason to

      Zombie Pit is one of those maps where the name really says it all. Maybe the name left out the lava and the fact that there is a teleporter out of the pit but that's about all that the name leaves out. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Zombie Pit (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 14, 2022 | 1263 characters      Zombie pit is a very small map where players start above a pit that does not have zombies until a player jumps down. I don't know if the zombies spawn endlessly from that point on, or if the zombies spawn every time a player jumps down. There is lava in the pit that zombies and headcrabs can fall into and then players can't really see them or go down in there so the monsters just sit in the lava preventing more zombies from spawning in. I think they zombies do respawn when a player jumps down because they respawned right when my teammate jumped down after me. In the pit there is a teleporte

           On first glance Sector E is another bland retread of Black Mesa, but on actually playing it it feels much different. The map looks great, plays well, and includes small details that make it stand out from the plethora of Black Mesa themed maps. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Sector E (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 16, 2022 | 4535 characters      To be perfectly honest when I saw Sector E I groaned, it was yet another Black Mesa themed map. But right on map start it had a different quality about it. I've played a few of this author's, Keen's, other maps and he definitely has a habit of stuffing many details into his maps, Sector E is no exception.      Sector E drops players into Black Mesa with a very vague and uninspired storyline, you are part of a military force going into Black Mesa and extracting Gordon Freeman for some reason. The other military forces do not know about your mis

         On first glance Sector E is another bland retread of Black Mesa, but on actually playing it it feels much different. The map looks great, plays well, and includes small details that make it stand out from the plethora of Black Mesa themed maps. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Sector E (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 16, 2022 | 3642 characters      Sector E is a large walkthrough series of maps by prolific Sven Co-op mapper Keen. It follows the Black Mesa theme, though does interesting things with it throughout. Each map is decently lengthy and packed full of action.      That's first thing I want to talk about: the action. I feel like Sector E manages multi-faction monster battles better than any other Sven map I've played up to this point. Sector E manages battles cinematically, while still making them feel natural and dropping the player into the middle of massive firefights while giving t

       Neptune Labs is a map set in space orbiting Neptune, not under the ocean as the blue tint may imply. The map is unfinished and abandoned but has been updated to end properly and give the full walkthrough map experience, even if it is somewhat short. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Neptune Labs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 15, 2022 | 3602 characters      Neptune Labs is a medium-length walkthrough map by prolific mapper Keen. It showcases a lot of creativity, a decent amount of ingenuity, and an overall enjoyable experience.      The most striking and charming aspect of the map is its art style. Details are brushed in very interesting and uncommon ways, and the textures are made with this semi-abstract cartoony style that's hard to explain but really evokes a certain atmosphere. It passively oozes personality up the wazoo, in technical terms. The brushwork for the outside of the Neptune lap is a

      Neptune Labs is a map set in space orbiting Neptune, not under the ocean as the blue tint may imply. The map is unfinished and abandoned but has been updated to end properly and give the full walkthrough map experience, even if it is somewhat short. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Neptune Labs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 15, 2022 | 4445 characters      According to the notes in the map description this map is unfinished. It definitely feels unfinished, there are so many minor details that have been overlooked it feels like a really well done amateur map. There are so many Black Mesa themed maps that having a map set in space in orbit over Neptune is novel and the custom textures, level design, story bits delivered every now and then really helped sell the setting.      We started out in a small craft heading towards the space station. At first, due to the double meaning of Neptune, we thought the ma

       This is a lobby map made for a specific server. Since the map is made for a group of people who all know each other there are probably a lot of features that my teammate and I won't get. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Anitalink Lobby (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 27, 2022 | 3319 characters      Anitalink Lobby is a meme playground from Sven Co-op memester Keen as well as @nit@ and w00tguy123. Whenever you want to experience 2010's 4chan memes through a 2016 lens, Anitalink has you covered. The mappers comes at us hard and fast with John Cena, Carl Sagan, furry porn, people porn, MLP porn, pepe the frog porn, and a couple disposable joke memes. I don't want to say that the mappers are in it for the porn, but the supposedly safe-for-work version seems to only be able to recover from replacing all its porn by repeating a bunch of Carl Sagan images instead- and there's still MLP porn le

      This is a lobby map made for a specific server. Since the map is made for a group of people who all know each other there are probably a lot of features that my teammate and I won't get. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Anitalink Lobby (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 27, 2022 | 4357 characters      I was really dreading playing this map, I've played the 4chan and 5chan maps by the same author which is a mish mash of random stuff thrown together in a fever dream. This map is less fever dream but still looks like a scrapbooking club threw up. There are two maps here, the map description says one contains some stuff not safe for work, this is somewhat misleading, as both maps contain pornography but the wow map has a lot of it and the arcade map does not. The two maps do not seem to be much different beyond that.      Players start in a big open area with some cubes of varying sizes strewn about. So

       This is the most culturally respectful map on the database. The phrase 'Allahu akbar' literally translates to 'God is great'. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Allahu Ackbar (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 19, 2022 | 3528 characters      My understanding is that this map is "abandoned," so take that as you will. If I were to project my own feelings on the map's author, I would presume he realized the joke got old after two seconds and gave up.      Allahu Ackbar is two unfinished maps by keen where the joke is middle eastern terrorists blowing up things and shouting allahu ackbar. If my explaining that to you didn't make you chuckle, you probably won't like the lethargic attempts at edgy humor which turns real world tragedy into memes in this map- and since they don't treat the subject matter with any respect IS the humor, that these maps are also unfinished and

      This is the most culturally respectful map on the database. The phrase 'Allahu akbar' literally translates to 'God is great'. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Allahu Ackbar (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 19, 2022 | 2396 characters      I did not expect great things from this map. Thankfully, it was short. The map is also broken, right in the map description it says the goal is to get into the white zone, as far as I can tell the door to the white zone does not open and the path is covered by neverending explosions that kill you anyway. So the map is impossible to beat.      There are two maps here. Both maps start out with the player in a rough underground room, there is a wide dark hallways leading down at a slope. Human grunts will attack up through here. Players start off with a nice wide variety of weapons, but not too much ammo. My favorite here is the SAW and I usually burn all my

      5chan is very similar to the maps I used to make (and abandoned halfway through) when I was a younger, smaller version of myself. It's a crazy patchwork of sights and sounds with all sorts of strange things to look at. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 5chan (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | December 5, 2021 | 3143 characters      5chan is a map which evokes imageboard aesthetics and moods from 10 years ago via memes, smut, and uncomfortable level design. If you aren't on board from the beginning with straight-up pornography being present you may find yourself needing a moment of adjustment.      The map sets itself up as a scavenger hunt within a large surreal environment with walls made out of memes and smut. I don't want to be the one to say it, but some of it is so specific that it starts to feel like "Oh, this guy's into something. Alright." I guess that's kind of the peril of

      5chan is very similar to the maps I used to make (and abandoned halfway through) when I was a younger, smaller version of myself. It's a crazy patchwork of sights and sounds with all sorts of strange things to look at. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 5chan (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | December 5, 2021 | 2991 characters      I didn't really know what to expect from this map. I played it after the 4chan gasworks map, and just like that map the strange novelty wears off all too soon. Also, this map is labelled as abandoned, I am going to review it like it is complete because it is on this site listed as a map and if it wasn't fit to be played it wouldn't be here.      I was pleased to see enemies in this map, I thought maybe this would be a map with actual objectives and gameplay. Well, I barely got to interact with the enemies because the numerous allies scattered around the map killed them

       This is a PVP map with a 4chan theme filled with memes. With how fast internet culture moves nowadays this map seems like something that would get old the moment it comes out. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 4chan /pol/ Gasworks (PVP w/ NPCs) (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | December 4, 2021 | 1092 characters      We didn't play this on PVP, so we mostly just checked out what the map's layout was. As a DM map, it seems to have some good killzones, lots of flow between rooms, some big arenas with complicated pathways, but also some weird obvious places to camp and such. I can't say how well it works out though in practice, because we did not have PVP enabled.      The mapping itself ranges from decent brushwork and interesting atmospheres to stubby walls with repeating memes scrawled across them. Really, some of this is pretty nifty looking but most of it looks like whatever the geocities equival

      This is a PVP map with a 4chan theme filled with memes. With how fast internet culture moves nowadays this map seems like something that would get old the moment it comes out. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2017 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 4chan /pol/ Gasworks (PVP w/ NPCs) (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | December 4, 2021 | 1763 characters      So, this map is PVP and I didn't actually play PVP. But I did explore top to bottom with a friend.      This map did not age well. Putting aside how I haven't found 4chan funny or clever since I was 14 I just think most of what this map has to offer is boring and lame. I guess I missed my chance to experience this map when I would have identified with its humor the most. There is this secret door marked with that meme caricature of a Jew and it opens up to a room full of nooses and the egon gun, if you go inside the room hurts you. If you're into cringe edgy stuff then I guess thats cool

      This map was an unusual theme, all features were crowd-sourced suggestions. Despite the name, this map was not made in 24 hours, every 24 hours the author, Keen, would implement a fan suggestion. The result is about as cohesive as you would think. SCMapDB Page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 24 hour map (The Suggestion Map) (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | November 28, 2021 | 2465 characters      I don't know if I got all of the secrets in this. I probably didn't. I played about to a point where I didn't have any desire to continue searching, though.      So, my understanding is that this map was made with a sort of community challenge gimmick in mind where rooms were created in a day using community input to guide the contents. To that end, the chaotic dadaist design of the map makes a bit more sense, often featuring consistent and well-delivered executions of baffling nonsequitur themes.      The players are

    This map was an unusual theme, all features were crowd-sourced suggestions. Despite the name, this map was not made in 24 hours, every 24 hours the author, Keen, would implement a fan suggestion. The result is about as cohesive as you would think. SCMapDB Page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of 24 hour map (The Suggestion Map) (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 28, 2021 | 2922 characters      I didn't really know what to expect from a map made from suggestions in a 24 hour period. After reflection I don't think it was very good.      The front door to exit spawn opens from one side and you have to use a vent to go around it. This would be fine but the button for the door (which needs to be hit to activate) will reset and the door will close. Which means that unless somebody is on the other side of the door you have to keep using the vent to go around. You can push an ally into the door but sometimes they move aro