Sven Co-op Map Reviews

    This is an early version of another map called Holodeck. I recommend skipping this and going straight to that map. But it does have a separate entry on the map database so here is a separate review. SCMapDB page Author: Shnuh Date of release:2002 Maps in package:1 Map review of Biodome (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | March 4, 2023 | 3380 characters      Biodome is a sandbox map for Sven Co-op, wherein an arena comprised of a flat square area adored with turret towers with bridges between them set the stage for players to toy with the tools of Sven Co-op.      This map is split up into two parts. The first is the arena. The arena is where players spawn, and it's where the action is focused. Players can use a ladder to exit the arena, but until they do that they are IN the arena. Depending on the whims of the players who climbed the ladder, the arena may be peaceful, populated with allies, full of weapons, full of enemies, raining missiles, underwater

      This is an early version of another map called Holodeck. I recommend skipping this and going straight to that map. But it does have a separate entry on the map database so here is a separate review. SCMapDB page Author: Shnuh Date of release:2002 Maps in package:1 Map review of Biodome (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | March 4, 2023 | 2264 characters      The screenshots of the map look fullbright, and indeed the map is fullbright. It also appears to be the beta of another map called Holodeck. That one has lighting and everything.      The map is a stadium type of map, there is a combat zone with some raised walkways around and buttons up top that players can press to spawn NPCs. The buttons are labelled but can still be vague. Most of the enemy spawners had two buttons, one is green and that indicates friendly. There are some unlabelled buttons and one caused rockets to rain down on both myself and my teammate who was above pressing the buttons. Maybe wit

      This map is a series of battlefields, some more annoying than others, that players must fight through. The big 'CK' in the above picture indicates the author's clan. SCMapDB page Author: Havok Date of final release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battlefield (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | November 13, 2022 | 4334 characters      Battlefield is a creative sequence of battles for Sven Co-op. Each battle gives you a different set of weapons to overcome overwhelming odds.      The rundown is simple: players respawn in a hallway with doors to teleporters to each arena. The first arena is the letters "CK" floating in xen-space where players must battle aliens using alien weapons to reach a button and continue. The second arena is a darkened cargo hold where players must fire on respawning soldiers and assassins until they find the button. The third is a big reservoir full of ichthyosaurs which players must navigate through to find a bu

      This map is a series of battlefields, some more annoying than others, that players must fight through. The big 'CK' in the above picture indicates the author's clan. SCMapDB page Author: Havok Date of final release: 2001 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battlefield (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 13, 2022 | 3699 characters      The map is very straightforward, players go to various themed battlefields and fight limited respawning enemies and pressing a button at the end to open up the next battlefield. The final battlefield involves a big spinning platform with a crystal that we have to destroy.      Spawn area is a long hallway with five doors on one side and a long window overlooking the first battlefield. At the far end are some mundane Black Mesa prefabs and NPCs milling about. There is a button for a mission briefing, a button for anti-blocking measures, and a button that I think unlocked a door in the hallway to another button that does

       A never-ending stream of screaming Barneys fights a never-ending stream of soldiers on the other side of a moat. Walls and towers act as fortifications and a small shack at the far end of the map serves as an objective of sorts. SCMapDB page Author: Terminator Date of final release: 1999 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battle Zone (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | November 6, 2022 | 2036 characters      Battlezone is a Sven Co-op arena map. A fort with respawning Barneys (and players) sits across a moat from a similar fort with respawning HECU grunts. The moat has leeches in it. There are ladders in the walls of the forts which lead up to elevated guard towers with bridges between them. In each fort there are strange brick kiosks within which HEV and weapons respawn. At the far end of the enemy fort is a house full of weapons and respawning enemies.      The main gameplay loop of this map is endlessly fighting grunts while maintaining MP5, M16, underbarrel grena

      A never-ending stream of screaming Barneys fights a never-ending stream of soldiers on the other side of a moat. Walls and towers act as fortifications and a small shack at the far end of the map serves as an objective of sorts. SCMapDB page Author: Terminator Date of final release: 1999 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battle Zone (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 6, 2022 | 2301 characters      This is a pretty common map design, an arena with some respawning enemies. The map is laid out as two sides of a river or canal or moat or whatever you want to call it with a bridge across it. Two walls with ramparts on the top are on either end. The player side has some friendly Barneys who do not stop yelling with underbarrel grenades (and by extension, M16s), shotguns, grenades, satchel charges, HEV, and the MP5. On the far ramparts and bank human soldiers spawn in endlessly.      Falling into the water is pretty annoying but players can climb back on the bridge

    There are a lot of maps out there where players have to deal with infinitely spawning enemies. This map is yet another one of those but it has a pretty good layout. There is no end to this map. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Canal (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 27, 2022 | 2728 characters      Canal is an arena map for Sven Co-op. In it, you can expect to battle headcrabs, houndeyes, vortigaunts, bullsquids, and occasional grunts as they endlessly respawn. To this end, players are armed with a simple but satisfying boilerplate arsenal of an MP5, shotgun, and magnum. During gameplay we never found ourselves running out of ammo, despite being crafty enough to stay alive quite often.      There is a modest moat which surrounds a central arena platform- I presume this is the titular "canal". Falling into this water presents the player with the threat of many leeches, as well as the headcrabs

      There are a lot of maps out there where players have to deal with infinitely spawning enemies. This map is yet another one of those but it has a pretty good layout. There is no end to this map. SCMapDB page Author: Socrates Date of final release: 2000 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Canal (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 22, 2022 | 1741 characters      Canal is a simple arena horde map where players spawn in an arena and enemies never stop spawning in. We're well equipped with just a shotgun, mp5, and revolver to take down the headcrabs, houndeyes, and vortigaunts that spawn in the middle of the arena, and the bullsquid and HECU grunt that spawn on the side. There is a small amount of ammo in the corner but players spawn in with quite a bit of ammo to begin with.      The map is real small and consists of a canal with a small island in the middle that is connected to the sides with bridges. One one side of the map is a ladder that leads to a catwalk t

       Imagine a large expanse of white and black tiles floating in the void. Fight enemies in one big leak. There is a secret area and the entrance there is invisible and out of the way. SCMapDB page Author: Pastacake Date of final release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battle Mania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 22, 2022 | 1673 characters      Battle Mania is an arena map where you battle waves of enemies on a checkerboard brush in the void. Not a void, *the* void. There is no lighting, as the entire map is a leak.      Press a button, open a door, battle alongside a gorilla against zombies, a robot with too much health, two invincible headcrabs, a xenomorph (with too much health), and Richard Boderman (with an amount of health I think might be excessive). Players are equipped to deal with this via a shotgun, mp5, handgun, 357, crowbar, and medkit with nowhere near enough ammo. As the gonome enemies began appearing my teammate and I would hop off th

      Imagine a large expanse of white and black tiles floating in the void. Fight enemies in one big leak. There is a secret area and the entrance there is invisible and out of the way. SCMapDB page Author: Pastacake Date of final release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battle Mania (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 22, 2022 | 1774 characters      Battle Mania is a big checkerboard flat plane filled with zombies. A large friendly Ape spins around in an invisible breakable enclosure. As the game goes on and we kill enemies, more and more powerful enemies appear. It culminates in a fight against Richard Boderman and the map ends as soon as he is dead. The map is fullbright and my teammate surmised it was because there is nothing between players and the void. Falling off the side of the checkerboard will result in falling forever without death. That's kind of a cool feature.      Except there is also extra stuff below the map that we can see as we fall f

       Take a break from the other Resident Evil maps where you explore a mansion maze. Fight never ending enemies on the streets and explore to find new areas and secrets. SCMapDB page Author: mrfranswa Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil 2 Mini Game (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 16, 2022 | 5354 characters      Resident Evil 2 Mini Game is a zombie sandbox map which endlessly drops zombies and some other random foes on you, mostly in the theme of Resident Evil. The setting is a city block beside a farmhouse parked in a small patch of forest.      Most of the map takes place on a city block beside a patch of forest, connected two tunnels, creating a big ring. The city block area includes a garage, a park, a sandbag-fortified position with a friendly soldier, and some buildings which can be variously levels of entered. Boosting atop one building grants a crowbar (key item, not weapon) which opens a door to an NPC who swe

      Take a break from the other Resident Evil maps where you explore a mansion maze. Fight never ending enemies on the streets and explore to find new areas and secrets. SCMapDB page Author: mrfranswa Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil 2 Mini Game (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 16, 2022 | 3193 characters      I'm a big fan of Resident Evil, but I've been a bit down on Resident Evil Sven maps. I'm doing my best to like them I really am. Unlike the others, this map is not a linear walkthrough map but instead a never ending horde map with some fun objectives scattered around the map. It's probably my favorite Resident Evil themed Sven Co-op map so far.      Players spawn in a tiny room with a lady named "Kill me to end the map", a nearby hole drops players into a three way choice of spawn points around the main map. There is also the wrench here which is reskinned to be a chainsaw, that's fun

      Players start in a grey boxy building and outside are tons of enemies. The boxy grey building is the bank, you are the robbery, and the enemies are the cops. SCMapDB page Author: halfliferyan Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bank Robbery (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 24, 2022 | 3734 characters      Bank Robbery is a funny little action map where the players start in a big box within a huge box and must fight the enemies who are within the huge box but not within the big box (unless they run inside). The huge box may be called the "exterior" to some, but let's be real it's just a huge box.      The big box has a few hostages, a bunch of weapons and HEV and some medkits and a scant bit of ammo for 9mm and the sniper. This is where you spawn. There's a barricade that provides excellent cover from which you can easily decimate enemy forces, but the barricade does shatter after some punishment.      The hu

      Players start in a grey boxy building and outside are tons of enemies. The boxy grey building is the bank, you are the robbery, and the enemies are the cops. SCMapDB page Author: halfliferyan Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Bank Robbery (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 24, 2022 | 2601 characters      The map is very straightforward, players spawn in a building with a barricade on the front door, the outside is a wide open area hemmed in by very tall walls (with snipers on top) and loads of enemies spawning in on the ground. At a certain point the enemies thinned out and we killed a female assassin with 5000 health named something like "must kill target" that instantly ended the map when we killed her.      That is the entire map, the map itself was very ugly, blocky buildings with bad proportions, flat texturing, and the exterior area was so big and empty that the draw distance cut the far end of the map off. The gr

      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

    This is a short map that puts players in a very defensible building with respawning monsters outside. Players who can get past the enemies can explore a short walkthrough portion until hitting the map end. SCMapDB page Author: Yaxez Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Azac (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 10, 2022 | 3040 characters      Azac is a map from 2005 which features lots of action, some cute moments, and overall clunky presentation.      Players at first begin in a very clunky spawn area: a tower which is traversed via narrow elevator (great for co-op /s), enough equipment for approximately one player until the equipment respawns, and an attic which players must clunkily slide down a cliff face 3 stories down to a fighting pen surrounded by laser gates warding off respawning zombies and gonomes. The laser gates can be toggled on and off from within the spawn area, I'm presuming for the express purpose of trolling othe

      This is a short map that puts players in a very defensible building with respawning monsters outside. Players who can get past the enemies can explore a short walkthrough portion until hitting the map end. SCMapDB page Author: Yaxez Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Azac (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 10, 2022 | 3297 characters      This map started off looking like a defense map with never-ending zombies and gonomes. But it turned out to be a mix of a couple gameplay elements. It's very short and my teammate and I beat it in less than ten minutes.      The map starts off with a cutscene of a courtyard with a fence, full of zombies. The camera follows a baby garg around and eventually the fence shatters. I was surprised at first because I was not expecting this map to have production value like this, but it was a fairly simple cutscene.      Players spawn in a room with a big window and four buttons. These buttons control

      Ayakashi is the collective name for Yokai (the Japanese term for supernatural beings) that appear over bodies of water. There isn't any water in this map but there are plenty of Yokai with custom models to shoot with fancy new gun models. SCMapDB page Author: nekomata, GAMESABA Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ayakashi Banquet (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 4, 2022 | 3662 characters      Ayakashi Banquet is a megamonster style map for Sven Co-op with lots of (I'm presuming comical) cutscenes inbetween. I cannot judge the cutscenes as I do not speak Japanese, the language they are written in, but I can speak to the gameplay and presentation.      I'm going to talk about presentation first. The map's a real mixed bag: it has some really fun enemy models and weapon models. There are zombies with the skeleton model from They Hunger, there's an anime chick assassin boss, and cat houndeyes. There's even a

      Ayakashi is the collective name for Yokai (the Japanese term for supernatural beings) that appear over bodies of water. There isn't any water in this map but there are plenty of Yokai with custom models to shoot with fancy new gun models. SCMapDB page Author: nekomata, GAMESABA Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Ayakashi Banquet (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 4, 2022 | 4037 characters      The screenshot for this map is a giant skeleton guy and I was pretty excited to take down a big skeleton guy with dual machine guns. Unfortunately that is all this map is, fighting enemies with lots of health with cool weapon reskins.      The map is very one note, the walls are stretched out hedges with large arenas separated by big ramps with torii looming over them. At spawn there are two pickup trucks holding a bunch of weapons and there are well structures in each of the three arenas that heal players and provide ammo. The arenas ge