Sven Co-op Map Reviews

       Azure Sheep is a Half-Life mod made a long time ago in 2001 with an 8.5 on moddb. It introduces new characters while also showing us old favorites with Gordon Freeman, Adrian Shepard, and the original Barney which is a bit hard to tell since pretty much every other NPC in the mod/map set is Barney. SCMapDB page Original map author: DAVLevels Conversion author: Chocolate IceCream Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2020 Maps in package: 45 Map review of Azure Sheep (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | September 8, 2022 | 5343 characters      Azure Sheep is a prolific Half-Life modification known for having a shitload of maps, decent visual quality, a few new actors, and a very fanficy alternative take on the Black Mesa incident from Barney's eyes.      Before Episode 1 introduced players to leading your NPC handgun toting wisecracking waifu through alien and military infested industrial and urban ruins, Azure Sheep introduced playe

      Azure Sheep is a Half-Life mod made a long time ago in 2001 with an 8.5 on moddb. It introduces new characters while also showing us old favorites with Gordon Freeman, Adrian Shepard, and the original Barney which is a bit hard to tell since pretty much every other NPC in the mod/map set is Barney. SCMapDB page Original map author: DAVLevels Conversion author: Chocolate IceCream Date of original mod release: 2001 Date of final Sven Map release: 2020 Maps in package: 45 Map review of Azure Sheep (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | September 8, 2022 | 5918 characters      Azure Sheep is a long mod converted for Sven Co-op. I did not expect it to be this bad. The almighty Hallway is a staple of any video game, but I feel like lately I've been playing a spate of Sven maps that are comprised mainly of hallways. Hallways are not interesting. Azure Sheep is about 90% hallways.      Azure Sheep has 45 maps in it. That's a lot of game for so little to actually see. T

       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

       The follow up to Svencoop 1, the sequel continues showing off things that can be done with Sven maps. Be warned, the map can be rendered unwinnable if you aren't paying attention. SCMapDB page Author: Sven Viking Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Svencoop 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | July 17, 2022 | 9968 characters      200 map special wooooo      Sven Coop 2 is the continuation of Sven Coop. It's a mostly linear walkthrough map with a couple puzzles, some combat, a crazy action setpiece at the end, and some wacky design decisions. Here I'll discuss them.      So, what is Sven Coop 2 trying to do with its design? I think it's trying to experiment- show interesting things that can be done in Sven Coop and spur creativity. Design is problem solving, and Sven Coop seeks very much to solve the problem of "How do we broaden what coop gameplay can be when applied to Half-Life's sensibilities?" Sven Coop 2

      The follow up to Svencoop 1, the sequel continues showing off things that can be done with Sven maps. Be warned, the map can be rendered unwinnable if you aren't paying attention. SCMapDB page Author: Sven Viking Date of final release: 2008 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Svencoop 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | July 17, 2022 | 7913 characters      I couldn't really give an honest review of the first map in this series. It was really a demonstration and a bar setter for the rest of the maps for Sven Co-op. To be honest, I didn't much like it, but I'm spoiled with over 20 years of not only improved mapping resources but also fewer limits and more functionality of the engine. Svencoop2 comes right on the heels of the first map, just one year later. It keeps on demonstrating gameplay mechanics and has very fun cutscenes but it definitely wears on me a lot more than the first game.      The map starts off where the last one ended, a flooded room. T

       This is yet another Black Mesa map, taking place in the facility with parts of Xen merged in places. The map set is fairly difficult but short. SCMapDB page Author: The Fox Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Area Zero (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | June 12, 2022 | 6357 characters      Area Zero is an old pair of maps by The fox. The first is Black Mesa themed, the second Xen themed. The genre is straight-forward run-n-gun action and the brushwork is mediocre. Let's go over it.      First off, the presentation. Players will be struck right away by the flat, boring lighting, the bland brushwork and blocky architecture. Some rooms are outclassed by Wolfenstein 3D in atmosphere. The environment feels unbelievable, a series of Doom-like corridors which vaguely imply function. Effects are lazily and haphazardly thrown around with little fanfare. Some environments, especially in the first map, do manage to be effective- some corridors ev

      This is yet another Black Mesa map, taking place in the facility with parts of Xen merged in places. The map set is fairly difficult but short. SCMapDB page Author: The Fox Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Area Zero (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | June 12, 2022 | 3911 characters      Area Zero is a simple Black Mesa themed walkthrough map from 17 years ago at the time this was written. I didn't expect much from it and so I was surprised at some of the tricks it pulled on me, like hitting us with baby headcrabs out of nowhere. Overall the map did look blocky and rough but there were some features that showed real promise.      Players start out with no weapons and no medkits. I died a lot on this series, there is no ammo and there is no health in the first map. Players find a wrench in spawn area and fight through some minor enemies and then a shock trooper. We pick up a shotgun around the same time.      Players go up an elevator a

          Arctic Incident is a conversion of a single player mod of the same name. Some conversions are just singleplayer experiences dropped into Sven Co-op, but this map has been updated to be more co-op friendly. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: XF-Alien Conversion authors: AlexCorruptor, Outerbeast, and Tunac Date of original mod release: 2015 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Arctic Incident (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | June 5, 2022 | 4278 characters      There is an incident in the arctic, strange arctic creatures have invaded an arctic scientific research base, the arctic military is there to kill both the arctic creatures and the arctic scientists, and you have to escape. It's arctic Black Mesa. This two map set is a conversion of a mod by the same name, so it definitely sits on the easy side even if my teammate and I did die a couple of times each. Despite being a conversion of a single player experience, the conve

          Arctic Incident is a conversion of a single player mod of the same name. Some conversions are just singleplayer experiences dropped into Sven Co-op, but this map has been updated to be more co-op friendly. SCMapDB page Original mod authors: XF-Alien Conversion authors: AlexCorruptor, Outerbeast, and Tunac Date of original mod release: 2015 Date of final Sven Map release: 2021 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Arctic Incident (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | June 5, 2022 | 4448 characters      Arctic Incident is a Half-Life mod which this mapset aims to port to Sven Co-op. Does it do this faithfully? I don't know, as I haven't played the original. However, my understanding is that some maps were consolidated and the weapons have been changed. If that's the case, then this is a very solid port which made some good decisions, as both the maps and weapons work great.      The maps are arctic themed, and mostly revolve around a research base in the

       I'm always happy to see a map take place other than Black Mesa, arctic areas and the middle east seem like popular thematic alternative. This arctic map is a simple and quick walkthrough map series in three parts. SCMapDB page Author: Hunter Alpha Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Arctic Base (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 29, 2022 | 3856 characters      Arctic Base is an interesting 3-map set which explores an arctic base, an arctic cave, and the first map again but with a couple enemies and an ending. You spend this map using shotgun shells to put down zombies and gonomes, in what is briefly touted as a mystery in the MOTD. I think that's a bit of a misnomer- there's not much mystery, as much as an open-style map where players can gain some atmosphere by looking at silly arctic base stuff before getting into the linear zombie shooting. There's no shame in that, but don't be fooled into thinking this'll b

      I'm always happy to see a map take place other than Black Mesa, arctic areas and the middle east seem like popular thematic alternative. This arctic map is a simple and quick walkthrough map series in three parts. SCMapDB page Author: Hunter Alpha Date of final release: 2003 Maps in package: 3 Map review of Arctic Base (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 28, 2022 | 4835 characters      There are a few 'arctic' themed maps on the database, and this one is one of the earliest. It definitely feels like an early Sven Co-op map, a lot of simple and blocky level design. There are three maps in this series but they fly by real fast, there really isn't all that much going on here.      The first map starts off with us in a big room and a patch of slippery ice. At first I was wary of the ice because I thought this map was going to lean heavily on slippery floor gimmicks. I was wrong, that is the only slippery patch of ice in these maps (we do come back her

       Let me just say right off the bat that this map has nothing to do with arcades. It's really just another Black Mesa map style-wise and a scavenger hunt gameplay-wise.  SCMapDB page Authors: Streamfox and RNG Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Arcad (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | May 14, 2022 | 2976 characters      Arcad is a couple of maps by Streamfox and RNG. The first sees players fight their way through a military base lightly peppered with alien invaders, followed up by a pretty straightforward romp through an alien-infested bunker/engineering facility.      The first map struggles to form much of an identity outside of cargo holds and hallways. Most of the map felt samey, but featured fun (if easy) combat with lots of ammo and an ever-expanding arsenal. I think its most memorable bits are point-and-click reminiscent puzzles featuring finding parts to build explosives, repairing broken door engines, and driving forklifts thro

      Let me just say right off the bat that this map has nothing to do with arcades. It's really just another Black Mesa map style-wise and a scavenger hunt gameplay-wise.  SCMapDB page Authors: Streamfox and RNG Date of final release: 2010 Maps in package: 2 Map review of Arcad (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | May 14, 2022 | 4824 characters      On the surface Arcad looks like a very generic map that looks like Black Mesa. For the most part, that aesthetic pervades the whole first map but the second map is much more visually interesting. This leads to making the rooms all look the same, but objectives are well marked for the most part so players always know where to go, for the most part. There were definitely times where the means of progression was hard to find and led to a lot of jumping around and poking heads into dark corners.      The first map starts off looking pretty bland and stays that way the whole time. At first players will just plow forward but the

           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