Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      The map is Doom, the classic first person shooter is Doom. The map design and layout is very reminiscent of Doom, there are some pretty good new models and others that are not so good. SCMapDB page Author: BlueFeena Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Classic Arcade First Person Shooter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | November 3, 2022 | 4472 characters      This map is fast. This is the very first thing that grabs my attention because trying to walk forward slingshots me into the far wall. I'm going to tell you right now this is my biggest problem with the map, the uncontrolled speed. Everything else is pretty good looking Doom inspired stuff.      There are a couple ways to do Doom in a 3D engine like goldsrc, this map opted to make recolors of standard Sven Co-op enemies and renamed them. Vortigaunts stand in for imps and human grunts take the role of the zombies. Headcrab zombies and bullsquids also show up, I think the bullsquids

       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

       I don't know why the author thought it was necessary to make this map some weird fanfiction about Barney's family. But I will say none of that matters, simply kill aliens in the map and you win. SCMapDB page Author: Tigan Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney The Great (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 1, 2022 | 2208 characters      Barney The Great is a baffling map for how straight forward it is. Navigate 3 poorly brushed, blocky floors in a self-contained building, fighting annoying enemies in cramped spaces with the bare minimum weaponry to do so.      In the first floor you fight zombies and baby headcrabs in cramped living quarters. According to the story, these are Barney The Great's family members trying to avenge him. This makes absolutely zero sense to me. I don't get this angle at all. It's an annoying battle in an ugly, mostly dark area that you must navigate with only the crowbar and the pisto

      I don't know why the author thought it was necessary to make this map some weird fanfiction about Barney's family. But I will say none of that matters, simply kill aliens in the map and you win. SCMapDB page Author: Tigan Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney The Great (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 1, 2022 | 1274 characters      There is a rather fanciful interpretation of what happens in this map in the map description. I guess Barney's family is a bunch of aliens. The map is very straightforward, players spawn in a room with some pistol ammo, walk through a hallway full of zombies, go up some stairs and get a shotgun. There is one fork in the map here, players can go up to fight a gargantua and die or go around to fight alien slaves and grunts to get an rpg to kill the gargantua. The map ends when the garg dies. That is the whole map.      The whole thing was over so fast. The story might as well be for a diff

      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

       This is the second and probably final Resident Evil map made by James Smith, following his previous map, Aftermath. The map is very similar to the first, keeping with a recreation of the Resident Evil mansion, but it is very much improved. SCMapDB page Author: James Smith Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: Directors Cut (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 3, 2022 | 6027 characters      Resident Evil: Director's Cut is a map for Sven Co-op map which replicates, at a very base level, the cheap outermost layers of a Resident Evil game, much like its predecessor Resident Evil: Aftermath does. However, unlike Resident Evil: Aftermath, this map is competently produced.      First of all, I think the presentation of this map is a large improvement from Resident Evil: Aftermath. The furniture is all lovely, and there's a few nice atmospheric touches like rain outside the windows and some lovely candelabras. The hal

      This is the second and probably final Resident Evil map made by James Smith, following his previous map, Aftermath. The map is very similar to the first, keeping with a recreation of the Resident Evil mansion, but it is very much improved. SCMapDB page Author: James Smith Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: Directors Cut (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 3, 2022 | 3173 characters      The second map available in the series of Resident Evil maps made by the author, James Smith. it is unclear if this series has anything to do with the other Resident Evil maps made by a different author but it is definitely an improvement over the first one. It still leans heavily on the long and twisty hallway element though.      The map still only loosely resembles the layout of any Resident Evil game but it looks much better. The main hall treats players to some nice looking windows with rain effects behind them, it set the mood ri

       There are a lot of Resident Evil maps for Sven Co-op and they mostly follow the same formula of exploring a mansion. The 'Aftermath' part of the title implies this map is a sequel but it is unclear what the previous map could be. SCMapDB page Author: James Smith Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: The Aftermath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 1, 2022 | 3777 characters      Resident Evil: The Aftermath is an attempt at a Resident Evil map that barely replicates the broad strokes of what one might think Resident Evil is from vague memories of having played up to the the first zombie in the first Resident Evil, not figuring out what to do, turning the game off, and then later seeing art of Nemesis and looked up some Resident Evil art and thought it was cool. I know that's oddly specific, but it just really gives me that impression.      The spawn area requires players choose a class. The classes are kni

      There are a lot of Resident Evil maps for Sven Co-op and they mostly follow the same formula of exploring a mansion. The 'Aftermath' part of the title implies this map is a sequel but it is unclear what the previous map could be. SCMapDB page Author: James Smith Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Resident Evil: The Aftermath (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 1, 2022 | 5740 characters      I've been playing the first Resident Evil lately so my teammate and I decided to try out a Resident Evil map. He remembers the Resident Evil maps being pretty bad and I only remember vague impressions of them. So I thought I would start with the one with the lowest STARS rating.      The map starts off in a red chamber with a locked door and a hole high up in the wall. I think this is supposed to force at least two players to play but with the climbing mechanic that was added into Sven Co-op later you don't need two players to ge

      Play a Sven Co-op map while it is being generated! This is a strange marriage of Roguelike and Co-op FPS that is really cool to experience, but unfortunately has been abandoned. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Automap (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 21, 2022 | 3763 characters      Automap is an abandoned map project for Sven Co-op that I think was really novel and almost works. Unfortunately, it doesn't. So, if you're looking for a recommendation, I recommend only trying this map out with friends if you're looking to run multiple iterations on the map before you get something nearly playable. But, when it does work, it's really quite neat.      The generator places players in a starting room and generates a map out of various possible pieces. When it works, it creates these funny tunnels full of a hodge podge of enemies that you're given a random strange loadout that you need

    Play a Sven Co-op map while it is being generated! This is a strange marriage of Roguelike and Co-op FPS  that is really cool to experience, but unfortunately has been abandoned. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2011 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Automap (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 21, 2022 | 3132 characters      What an amazing concept, Automap turns Sven Co-op into a roguelike. Every part of this is really interesting and executed really well. Maybe not perfectly, in fact, my teammate and I only got one run in before the map totally broke and we couldn't play it anymore. But when it sort of worked that first and only time we had a lot of fun.      So to reiterate the map description, player start off in a room and then have to go through a randomly chosen hallway layout with random enemies and a random weapon loadout. After going upwards of 50 meters (which is five hallways if I remember correctly) a boss chamber with a bos

      Auspice (ôspəs), noun, a divine or prophetic token. This is an officially released map for Sven Co-op 3.0 taking place somewhere in Black Mesa with good variety of combat, puzzles, and exploration. Author: Seraph Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Auspices (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 18, 2022 | 5266 characters      Auspices is a map that I always dread playing but everybody else seems excited to play. I never protest, because I can never remember why I dread playing Auspices. I usually don't remember much of this map at all.      I was excited, this time, to explore why that may be, as I played to review this map. I think I've figured some things out along the way. Let's cover basics.      First of all, Auspices is not necessarily a map anybody should dread- it's full of fun ideas, a great arsenal, some really action-packed combat, very well brushed and textured, and has some great checkpoints. Before I delve

    Auspice (ôspəs), noun, a divine or prophetic token.  This is an officially released map for Sven Co-op 3.0 taking place somewhere in Black Mesa with good variety of combat, puzzles, and exploration. Author: Seraph Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Auspices (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 18, 2022 | 5249 characters      This is yet another Black Mesa map. At this point I'm kind of over Black Mesa themed maps, but the difference with this one is that it is done extremely well and offers pretty good variety.      The map starts players off outside at night, in a military themed area with bunkers, tanks, snipers, and soldiers. The map goes through some Black Mesa themed areas pretty quick, starting with the military exterior, moving to a lab complex of tight hallways, gonomes, alien grunts, and shock troopers, ending in a big fight in a wide open room with soldiers storming in from above. It moves on to some pipes and vents (this m

      Attack aliens in the courtyard, behind the building, and sometimes in spawn if they can manage to walk through the front door. This is a small map with plenty of combat. SCMapDB page Author: Hterag Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 11, 2022 | 3851 characters      Attack is a short garg map with vortigaunts, zombies, and shock troopers respawning in endlessly to add variety and spice. Given that this is post-the shockroach update, I ended up abusing the shockroaches to do some damage to the gargs.      The map takes place in a building surrounded by fences. Players spawn in the building, and running out and to the back makes the first garg spawn in front of the building. There's a side area that can be broken into to retrieve a crossbow, and in the back there are grenades. Once players obtain explosives they can blow up a door in the spawn area to reveal a shelf full of the boiler plate

      Attack aliens in the courtyard, behind the building, and sometimes in spawn if they can manage to walk through the front door. This is a small map with plenty of combat. SCMapDB page Author: Hterag Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | August 11, 2022 | 2741 characters      Aliens are attacking, this map plays more like a defense map. Players start in a room looking out some windows in a second story room in a building. There is a door here that shows a message stating we'll need explosives to get through it. The other door leads down stairs to outside the building. The courtyard is filled with zombies, vortigaunts, and shock troopers. These all respawn endlessly the entire map.      From here I went forward and leapt over a small gate to examine a waterfall that eventually led to snarks, both the weapon and the enemy, on a ledge that was frustratingly hard to climb up onto. My teammate went around

       Despite the presence of a '2' in the title this map is not a sequel. It consists mostly of vaguely Black Mesa themed areas filled with enemies and long walks. SCMapDB page Author: Penguin Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Assault On Black Mesa 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | August 7, 2022 | 5579 characters      Assault on Black Mesa 2 is a confusingly named two-part slog of a walkthrough series wherein players wade through snarks, turrets, snipers, and grunts while forced most of the time to rely on equipment which does the job half-well. Shoot at great distances with a pistol and some uzis, or drop down on huge clusters of enemies without any crowd-control weapons on-hand. Eventually the map gives you weapons, though sometimes those weapons become dilemmas when checkpoints open a ways past their pickup. Do I return to battle faster to aid my comrade, or do I restock? It would be easier with more people, but the pittance of

      Despite the presence of a '2' in the title this map is not a sequel. It consists mostly of vaguely Black Mesa themed areas filled with enemies and long walks. SCMapDB page Author: Penguin Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Assault On Black Mesa 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 7, 2022 | 7830 characters      Assault on Black Mesa 2 (apparently there never was a 1) is an old school Sven map from back in the 2.0 days that definitely plays like an old school map. It also has the problem that plagued many older maps with respawning players walking long distances back to where all the action is happening.      The map set has two maps in it. The first map puts players in a canyon with a truck trailer behind the players and some ammo and green military crates. There are teleporters in the truck trailer and weapons do spawn in the crates as the map progresses. These are good features that show the mapper cares about players, but un