Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      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 dunkelschwamm | April 13, 2023 | 4157 characters      Bomberman 64 is a recreation of two levels from Bomberman 64 in Sven Co-op. It accomplishes this with what I presume to be a near straight-brush remake of the maps, with various standard Sven enemies and weapons filling in for Bomberman foes and items.      Both maps share similar objectives: activate interactive elements of the map by finding gold cards, then use those interactive elements to reach gems. Then, fight one high-HP monster as the boss. It's very stra...

      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...

      Fight a tiny city, then fight robots in the tiny city. The map is small, practically a box, and sized to make players feel huge. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Gundam City (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 18, 2023 | 2394 characters      Gundam is a map for Sven Co-op which takes place in a destructible "city" made of gridded boxes in a big rockwall-surrounded area. A UFO drops infinite baby headcrabs, and after some time a squad of robogrunts attack and need some killing. Destroying one of the buildings yields a shotgun and MP5, which are crucial for surviving the robogrunts. Another building reveals some snarks, which are also extremely useful in dealing with the issue. As the robogrunts spawn in, players can find themselves spawnkilled to oblivion by a half-dozen robogrunts just sauntering around an outdoor area where the players spawn, but with some grit ...

      Fight a tiny city, then fight robots in the tiny city. The map is small, practically a box, and sized to make players feel huge. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Gundam City (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 29, 2021 | 2276 characters      This is a short and simple map with a fun gimmick. I love maps with a single focused gimmick and I think this one does it pretty well. I originally reviewed this map at the listed date, but have since edited it on 3/18/2023.      So you are in a map with a small city and enemies spawn in to attack you. The map description says 'you may choose to destroy the city' but let me tell you, if you are not destroying the city you are playing this map wrong. It's incredible fun blowing skyscrapers up and smashing things. Whenever an enemy would destroy a building I would get offended because that is what I am there to...

    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 dunkelschwamm | March 18, 2023 | 2671 characters      Very simple setup here: Godzilla is a set of 4 toy maps wherein you can destroy a tiny city. These are tiny cities as conceived of by children- just stretches of grass with giant blocks of grid pattern. But, each of those blocks can be destroyed with enough whacks of a crowbar!      The first map is as simple as can be: destroy all of the buildings. There are some other destructibles like trees and roads, but you just destroy everything. There is nothing else. Not even a map end.      The second verse is very much same as the first: second map is the...

      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 ...

       Ambush 2 is a fun little map based on a GI Joe toy set. There isn't really anything ambush related here, clear the map of enemies, there is no end level trigger. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ambush 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 26, 2022 | 2846 characters      Despite being an unfinished map with grating combat and unclear objectives, Ambush 2 is a marked improvement on Ambush 1. First of all: kudos to the massive upgrade in mapping skill. The brushwork evoked a very interesting architecture which I would instantly recognize as this map's if I were to see it again. There is also working lighting, which does wonders for a map's aesthetic (the first Ambush was fullbright).      The first thing to understand going into Ambush 2 is that there are no rules and the map ends when it ends. Progression is less about where the right place to go is, and ...

      Ambush 2 is a fun little map based on a GI Joe toy set. There isn't really anything ambush related here, clear the map of enemies, there is no end level trigger. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ambush 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 26, 2022 | 2903 characters      I played this map right after playing the first Ambush, which I thought was pretty bad. The sequel is much better but still has much room for improvement. The map description says this is a beta, and it shows. The level end is behind a wall that looks like it is rigged to explode but does not seem able to do so. There are underbarrel grenades here that spawn in fours and they got me through the level.      Right out of spawn there is a respawning swarm of houndeyes. My teammate and I were killing them and with no end to them in sight he decided to use wonky level geometry to hop a fence and tri...

       In this map player's get attacked right away by a wave of enemies, I guess players get ambushed. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ambush (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 26, 2022 | 7843 characters      Ambush is a walkthrough map for Sven Co-op that is really interesting to me from beginning to end. There are a lot of "bad" Sven Co-op maps which fail on basic technical concepts, but what intrigues me about Ambush is that every rookie mistake features a kind of jerry-rigged compensation- the problem is never "solved", it's only rendered inert by a workaround.      Here's an example: The players spawn in a truck in a tunnel. The truck takes up a lot of the tunnel, but overall both are pretty cramped- the tunnel's size not helped by having a truck wedged in it. The player's weapons are all supplied as items around the truck. Now, any sane person might th...

      In this map player's get attacked right away by a wave of enemies, I guess players get ambushed. SCMapDB page Author: Lymphoid Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ambush (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 26, 2022 | 5244 characters      To quote my teammate, "there was an ambush."      Right off the bat the spawn area was hit by a squad of HECU and a heavy weapons grunt. The spawn area is a tunnel with a truck parked in it, players can spawn to the side of the truck with the ammo or inside with the some guns. A wonky jump over the car leads to two batteries and a climb to the top and back of the truck has snarks. Under the truck is a revolver. This sounds like a nice selection of guns but with the waves of enemies hitting spawn meant I had to basically navigate an obstacle course while under fire just to have a chance of fighting back. I opted to jump over the truck hood to get some cover, th...

       USS Darkstar is not a Star Trek themed map, let me get that out of the way now. It is an original setting with a massive space ship filled with a bunch of biological specimens that closely resembles a zoo. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: Neil Manke Conversion authors: Lymphoid first and later Lossy Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package: 18 Map review of USS Darkstar (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | December 29, 2021 | 4044 characters      USS Darkstar is a classic Half-Life mod made by Neil Manke and Black Widow Games, famous for the They Hunger horror conversion. Instead of pulpy horror cliches, USS Darkstar harps on sci-fi tropes, while forging a very unique identity of its own. At times it reminds me a bit of System Shock, at other times it reminds me a bit of Star Trek: TNG.      This conversion to Sven Co-op is brilliantly executed. Balancing is in pr...

      USS Darkstar is not a Star Trek themed map, let me get that out of the way now. It is an original setting with a massive space ship filled with a bunch of biological specimens that closely resembles a zoo. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: Neil Manke Conversion authors: Lymphoid first and later Lossy Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2017 Maps in package: 18 Map review of USS Darkstar (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | December 29, 2021 | 3259 characters      This map is one of the oldest maps on scmapdb that are not official releases. It's actually a conversion of a single player mod from way back when that I never played. It's got a lot of maps in the campaign but the first section is a lot of nice scenery, practically showing off the areas you will be fighting in later. I don't think you even see enemies or weapons until map 5 (out of around 16). The last map itself is just a cutscene and credit...