Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      Are you ready to barbecue with the bear? There is a story about a zoo being closed due to Covid but the gameplay is all about shopping in the supermarket down the road. The map is very British and has a lot of jokes and references about being British. SCMapDB page Author: Captain Scarlet Date of final release: 2021 Maps in package: 1 Map review of BBQWITTEHBEAR (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 6, 2022 | 6874 characters      Well that certainly was something. This map contains no combat and instead focuses on running errands at a supermarket. There is a whole story about a zoo and some anime girls that have voice acting and large illustrations that float in mid-air. I don't get any of that, it all feels like a bunch of in jokes from a forum or group of friends. It's still a great experience even if I don't understand everything.      Players start off in a room with three doors. One could almost believe this is a ...

       There are two castles in separate rooms joined by a catwalk at the very tops of the castles' towers. Cramped and slow elevators allow access to the tops of the towers, enemies pack the corridors below. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Robo's Castle Wars (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 2, 2022 | 2567 characters      Robo's Castle Wars is a map by robootto. Like many maps by robootto, it defies classification both by pure unique spirit and because its hostile presentation is enough to dissuade any from trying.      Castle wars starts by plummeting players down through two vertical shafts that teleport the player forward before they impact the ground. It's annoying and it happens every time the player respawns. It's a very robootto move, and I think I've seen it more than one of his other maps.      The main body of the map is a kind of...

      There are two castles in separate rooms joined by a catwalk at the very tops of the castles' towers. Cramped and slow elevators allow access to the tops of the towers, enemies pack the corridors below. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Robo's Castle Wars (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 2, 2022 | 2543 characters      This map has some colored lighting that gives the whole thing a surreal feeling. The texturing is pretty bad and very flat but that adds to the somewhat disorienting experience of playing this map. Half the time I was playing I was intrigued by the level design and aesthetic but the other half I was annoyed at the elevators and respawning headcrabs.      Players spawn in a long shaft headed down. Players of Nuclear Poison by the same author will recognize this shaft as being the entire map of Nuclear Poison pasted right in. At the bottom of the...

       This map has three rooms and two combat encounters, it is insanely short. After fighting through generic Half-Life hallways players enter a vent and end the map, that is it. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of final release: Unknown Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 2, 2022 | 2107 characters      Battle (or 2battle) is a very, very brief walkthrough map wherein players must face two ambushes with heavy resistance. It's somewhat noobish in brushwork design, evoking a blocky and janky Black Mesa lab corridor with uneven and unnaturally thin surfaces. Hgrunts break in through a skylight in a paper-thin ceiling. It's ambitious for what the quality of map would suggest the mapper is capable of.      As mentioned, the first ambush involves rappelling HECU, but it also includes about four turrets. This is a heavy battle with lots of resistance for two players, but it is pos...

      This map has three rooms and two combat encounters, it is insanely short. After fighting through generic Half-Life hallways players enter a vent and end the map, that is it. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of final release: Unknown Maps in package: 1 Map review of Battle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 2, 2022 | 1188 characters     T he map description said the map was short and I can confirm the map is very short. It is essentially three rooms, spawn, a room full of human soldiers, and then a room full of aliens. Players get access to a shotgun with very limited ammo, and an mp5 with a couple boxes of ammo. In the last room, with the aliens, is a vent that changed the map to svencoop1 when I climbed into it.      That's the whole map, I have described everything that happens in it. The map is your standard Black Mesa paint job and the enemies just spawn in big clumps. The action was fast paced enough that I died b...

       This is a symmetrical map where players have to take out four identical towers in the same way to win the map. The spawn gives players plenty of supplies and there are only a few enemy locations, although they do respawn. SCMapDB page Author: tdw Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Under Fire (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 2, 2022 | 3544 characters      Base Under Fire is the type of game for people who like prepackaged cracker sandwiches. Players face off with an apache, then systematically take down 4 identical towers with identical defenses using the same set of weapons each time. Once every tower is destroyed, an apache appears, but don't worry- the map ends immediately.      The visuals of the map are that of an appealing, if spartan, Mos-Eisely-esque desert and stone fortress, with the players in the very center. The only interior area of the map is in the central hub,...

      This is a symmetrical map where players have to take out four identical towers in the same way to win the map. The spawn gives players plenty of supplies and there are only a few enemy locations, although they do respawn. SCMapDB page Author: tdw Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Under Fire (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 2, 2022 | 1985 characters      From the screenshots and the unimaginative name I had the impression that this map was going to be pretty bad. But the spawn room has health, armor, and ammo in abundance and it respawns all very quickly so we don't have to wait around for everybody to be supplied. It starts off really well.      The gameplay loop is as follows, leave spawn, run around and go up some ladders to fight an apache with a rocket launcher, then unlock a couple of gates to a tower filled with snipers and a robo grunt underneath it. There are two buttons at...

       Converted from a standalone mod of the same name, this map series takes players to an underground base that looks suspiciously like Black Mesa to liquidate some obsolete personnel. There is only one map here and it has its ups and downs. SCMapDB page Original map author: DAVLevels Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | October 1, 2022 | 2451 characters      Base Attack is a pretty well made walkthrough action military map with lots of gunplay, some really interesting architecture I haven't seen since, and a lot of content for one map.      Players assume the role of some infiltrating force making their way into a military base and blowing up their coolant system. To do that, you must shoot everybody many times. The map starts with some cramped entrance areas. There's so...

      Converted from a standalone mod of the same name, this map series takes players to an underground base that looks suspiciously like Black Mesa to liquidate some obsolete personnel. There is only one map here and it has its ups and downs. SCMapDB page Original map author: DAVLevels Conversion author: Outerbeast Date of original mod release: 1999 Date of final Sven Map release: 2019 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Base Attack (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | October 1, 2022 | 5749 characters      The story behind this map is invading a top secret research facility in the very classy Area 69 and killing everybody inside due to some vague clandestine reasons. Since it was originally a singleplayer mod ported over to Sven Co-op it has survival mode on by default, like all mod ports seem to have.      The map starts off and its looking a little blocky. This is to be expected, the original mod was released in 1999, there...

       A big room with columns arranged in a grid, between each group of columns is a breakable barrel. Each barrel is worth one point and a door is supposed to open exposing the map end. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of final release: Unknown Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barrels (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | October 1, 2022 | 1323 characters      Barrels is a fun little map where it spawns a whole bunch of barrels in a grid and gives you ever weapon to deal with them. It's fun to try to compete with your teammates to destroy the most barrels. Since they're in a grid, it's pretty easy to line a bunch up and take out a whole bunch with a fast-firing accurate weapon like the gauss gun or the egon gun, or even the SAW. The map is done up in antique brick, and it looks really nice.      Unfortunately, when we completed the map the exit door did not open. Using noclip, we were able to inside of the wall we were abl...

      A big room with columns arranged in a grid, between each group of columns is a breakable barrel. Each barrel is worth one point and a door is supposed to open exposing the map end. SCMapDB page Author: Unknown Date of final release: Unknown Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barrels (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | October 1, 2022 | 1886 characters      I thought this map was going to be a Mario Party esque minigame where we break a bunch of barrels and I was not disappointed. Players spawn in individual cells that all open at the same time, unleashing players on a large pillared room with tons of barrels in it with some intense music in the background. We had every weapon with full ammo so no worries about firepower. Each barrel awards players one point, at the end my teammate and I both had 54 points, so I guess that means there are 108 barrels in the map.      I noticed the map has a changelog where supposedly the door ...

       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 o...

      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 s...

       This small slice of map is a recreation of the World War 2 beach landings at Normandy. It was converted from the 'War in Europe' and renamed to 'Barney Beach' for some reason, there are no Barneys here at all. SCMapDB page Original map author: Rob Lutz Conversion author: Unknown Date of original mod release: 2000 (estimated) Date of final Sven Map release: 2000 (estimated) Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Beach (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by dunkelschwamm | September 25, 2022 | 2798 characters      Barney Beach is a map where players endlessly throw themselves at a beachhead where enemies spawn in over and over over again. I'm not sure what the goal is, or if there is one. It really seems like the goal is to endlessly throw yourself at respawning soldiers.      It's cute. It's a little beachhead map with boats players spawn in before hopping into the water and storming the beachhead.      Players are...

      This small slice of map is a recreation of the World War 2 beach landings at Normandy. It was converted from the 'War in Europe' and renamed to 'Barney Beach' for some reason, there are no Barneys here at all. SCMapDB page Original map author: Rob Lutz Conversion author: Unknown Date of original mod release: 2000 (estimated) Date of final Sven Map release: 2000 (estimated) Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barney Beach (originally posted on SCMapDB)  by GrandmasterJ | September 25, 2022 | 2150 characters      This is a conversion of a World War II map, specifically the Normandy beach landings, I don't know why it is called Barney Beach since there are no Barneys in the map. Are players supposed to be the Barneys? I have questions.      Players spawn in landing boats, the water here is really choppy, it has been put together in chunks and each block's waves don't match up with the waves of the adjacent blocks, it just looks incredibl...

       Barnacle Flight 2 is a map based around a quirk of barnacle grappling your fellow player, causing everybody to fly (glitch around) in the air. This is a sequel to a map that doesn't exist, the other Barnacle Flight map was made after this one and is unrelated even though it is the same concept. SCMapDB page Author: Naigel Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barnacle Flight 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 24, 2022 | 2251 characters      Barnacle Flight 2 is a map that shows off a silly Barnacle Glitch that makes players fly around. It's hard to do with a few players, and can't speak much to how well the glitch works with a bunch of players. But, I'm not really here to review the glitch, I'm here to review the map itself.      The map is a huge rectangular prism where players can fall a great distance to the bottom, without fall damage, then take a central teleporter back to whe...

      Barnacle Flight 2 is a map based around a quirk of barnacle grappling your fellow player, causing everybody to fly (glitch around) in the air. This is a sequel to a map that doesn't exist, the other Barnacle Flight map was made after this one and is unrelated even though it is the same concept. SCMapDB page Author: Naigel Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barnacle Flight 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | September 24, 2022 | 2461 characters      So I tried this map after I tried "Barnacle Flight". Funny story, according to map descriptions when Barnacle Flight 2 came out there was no Barnacle Flight 1, then Barnacle Flight came out a couple years later inspired by the original map. Anyway, the map started up and I looked around, we were in a big grey box with big blocky instruction signs around us. "Oh," I say to my teammate "this is just worse Barnacle Flight." Then I fall down the long shaft to the bo...

      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 p...

      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 ...

       Barnacle Flight is a map based on a quirk of barnacle grappling your fellow player, causing everybody to fly (glitch around) in the air. On the map database it lists the author as g1l but in the map the author is listed as Venomys. Also, there is a map titled 'Barnacle Flight 2' that preceded this map, this map comes after number 2, it's all very confusing. SCMapDB page Author: g1l Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Barnacle Flight (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | September 22, 2022 | 2144 characters      Barnacle Flight is a gimmick map where players use the barnacle on one another to zip around in the sky above an island. The sky is full of bubbly cloud sprites and some silly looking giant squares of scrolling cloud textures. The island itself is a nice jagged chunk of island in the water (the water does not extend far beyond the coast before hitting skybox) and features both a teleporter to the spawn...