Sven Co-op Map Reviews

      This map is a remake of the first level of the classic FPS Wolfenstein 3D built as a map in Sven Co-op. The level layout itself is mostly accurate with only tiny details added but the enemy composition and weapons is all standard Half-Life stuff. SCMapDB page Author: $kud Date of final release: 2002 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Wolfenstein 3D Level 1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2022 | 1823 characters      Wolfenstein 3D is an old game, one of the first FPS games ever made. The first level is iconic to many gamers and its done pretty well here. There are some obvious differences like the HECU not acting at all like the standard brown shirts, difference in weapons, and there are some additional rooms added behind the cell door walls, usually with goodies.      Personally I've seen a lot of Wolf3D's first level so I don't have much to say about the level design. I will say I always thought the original Wolf3D's level design was pret

       This is a one room map with infinitely spawning enemies coming down a slope. Really, never has a map screenshot encapsulated an entire gameplay experience more than the above. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Spynzlersplatter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 17, 2022 | 1339 characters      Spynzlersplatter is a robootto map wherein players hunt respawning bullsquids, zombies, and headcrabs in the same sense that bowlers hunt bowling pins. The enemies appear on alcoves above a large inclined plane which they slide down if they leave their alcove (which they often do). Sliding down drops them into a hurt brush that'll kill them (or the player) dead. The players are given grenades to have fun with.      If you're into slaughter maps, maybe this will seem great to you. I think the enemies falling into an invisible hurt box and the player having so few choices for killing them really hurts its ef

      This is a one room map with infinitely spawning enemies coming down a slope. Really, never has a map screenshot encapsulated an entire gameplay experience more than the above. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Spynzlersplatter (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2022 | 1709 characters      This map consists of a spawn area with a couple miniguns and three piles of grenades and on the other side of an instant kill wall is a steep slope with enemy spawners at the top. This is not enough for more than two players to massacre these monsters at once. The monster spawners drop a bullsquid and a zombie along with a ton of headcrabs. It is a little more difficult to hit the headcrabs with the minigun, but the slop stops grenades in their tracks and it is fun and easy to explode all the monsters. The map description says the wall will kill most of the monsters and it does, only one headcrab managed to get thro

       Nuclear Poison is a small map made by the infamous mapper Roboootto. Players spawn at the top of a shaft and fall through a green goo teleport and either hit the tiny patch of water at the bottom or die and explode on impact with the floor. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Nuclear Poison (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 17, 2022 | 1487 characters      Nuclear Poison is a map by Robootto that is very much a map by Robootto. It features large letters made out of brushes which players can awkwardly attempt to navigate around on, a spawn which is immediately hostile to the player, a fall relying on obscure water tricks to survive, and then a battle with two overpowered zombies at the bottom of it all. The rest of the map is just a large shaft lit with brightly colored ambiguous light sources. The intended fun is supposed to be in landing on the zombies to deal enough damage to kill them, or landing in t

      Nuclear Poison is a small map made by the infamous mapper Roboootto. Players spawn at the top of a shaft and fall through a green goo teleport and either hit the tiny patch of water at the bottom or die and explode on impact with the floor. SCMapDB page Author: Robootto Date of final release: 2005 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Nuclear Poison (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2022 | 1817 characters      Players spawn at the top of a tall dark shaft, at the bottom is green goo that teleports players to an adjacent shaft that is green and has the word 'nuclear' spelled out vertically in huge letters. While falling down the green shaft players can angle themselves to land on the letters in 'nuclear', some of parts of some letters have grenades. The bottom of the shaft is a sure death unless you can angle towards a tiny square of water in one corner.      The only real gameplay in this map consists of trying to survive the fall from spawn an

      ApacheCo is a symmetrical map with two sides, a day side and a night side. Each side has its own Apache and the map will end and declare that one side is the winner once one of the Apaches go down. This gimmick would work better if the map had weapons. SCMapDB page Author: Fourth Letter Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of ApacheCo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 17, 2022 | 1846 characters      Apacheco is a Sven Co-op map that's as gimmicky as they come. Players enter the arena through one of two portals, choosing a team- night or day. In each, they meet with friendly Barneys and attempt to push through waves of grunts using only pistols with a clip's worth of ammo. If they manage to push through, they get to an arena that is in either night time or day time, and face an apache helicopter with way too much health for how no weapons everybody has. Eventually one of the helicopters is destroyed and the "day" or &quo

      ApacheCo is a symmetrical map with two sides, a day side and a night side. Each side has its own Apache and the map will end and declare that one side is the winner once one of the Apaches go down. This gimmick would work better if the map had weapons. SCMapDB page Author: Fourth Letter Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of ApacheCo (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 17, 2022 | 4129 characters      ApacheCo is your standard "kill the apache" fare found in most maps with 'apache' in their name, but this one has some twists. The first twist is that the map has two sides to it, a daytime section and a nighttime section. The other twists are that there are no weapons, there are swarms of respawning human grunts, and the outside area has a ton of other enemies running around. It's hard to do much of anything.      When I appeared in the spawn room I first noticed the detail in making the reflective floor (the room copied

       Dock Battle is a very early map with a very common gameplay type of the era, neverending swarms of enemies. Unlike similar maps this one does not have a safe place for players to spawn. SCMapDB page Author: Mad Jonesy Date of final release: 1999 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dock Battle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 16, 2022 | 3363 characters      Dock Battle is a horde style map that is shaped like two boats and a dock, and features an unmanned mounted gun that constantly fires on players. I had wondered if I need to go up and confront it, and felt this suspicion confirmed with the discovery of a gauss gun. The gauss gun jump is disabled, however, so our plan fell short. Indeed, this is a map about being shot by never-ending enemies.      The map, as mentioned previously, is shaped like two boats and a dock, which was likely very novel in 1999 when this map came out. Honestly, even in the year 2022, the concept of battling on multiple boats feels ho

      Dock Battle is a very early map with a very common gameplay type of the era, neverending swarms of enemies. Unlike similar maps this one does not have a safe place for players to spawn. SCMapDB page Author: Mad Jonesy Date of final release: 1999 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Dock Battle (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 16, 2022 | 4601 characters      Dock Battle is a map with a simple blocky dock jam packed full of enemies. Both humans and aliens constantly respawn all over the place fighting each other but also not forgetting to attack the players as well. When the map first started I was standing in full view of an mounted gun which started shredding me with the motd still up. The map description says something like the map could be played with your eyes closed, when the gameplay is neverending chaos and combat then yeah I guess you can totally play with your eyes closed.      The map doesn't start off well, getting immediately attacked before you c

           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

         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 dunkelschwamm | April 16, 2022 | 3642 characters      Sector E is a large walkthrough series of maps by prolific Sven Co-op mapper Keen. It follows the Black Mesa theme, though does interesting things with it throughout. Each map is decently lengthy and packed full of action.      That's first thing I want to talk about: the action. I feel like Sector E manages multi-faction monster battles better than any other Sven map I've played up to this point. Sector E manages battles cinematically, while still making them feel natural and dropping the player into the middle of massive firefights while giving t

       Neptune Labs is a map set in space orbiting Neptune, not under the ocean as the blue tint may imply. The map is unfinished and abandoned but has been updated to end properly and give the full walkthrough map experience, even if it is somewhat short. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Neptune Labs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 15, 2022 | 3602 characters      Neptune Labs is a medium-length walkthrough map by prolific mapper Keen. It showcases a lot of creativity, a decent amount of ingenuity, and an overall enjoyable experience.      The most striking and charming aspect of the map is its art style. Details are brushed in very interesting and uncommon ways, and the textures are made with this semi-abstract cartoony style that's hard to explain but really evokes a certain atmosphere. It passively oozes personality up the wazoo, in technical terms. The brushwork for the outside of the Neptune lap is a

      Neptune Labs is a map set in space orbiting Neptune, not under the ocean as the blue tint may imply. The map is unfinished and abandoned but has been updated to end properly and give the full walkthrough map experience, even if it is somewhat short. SCMapDB page Author: Keen Date of final release: 2007 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Neptune Labs (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 15, 2022 | 4445 characters      According to the notes in the map description this map is unfinished. It definitely feels unfinished, there are so many minor details that have been overlooked it feels like a really well done amateur map. There are so many Black Mesa themed maps that having a map set in space in orbit over Neptune is novel and the custom textures, level design, story bits delivered every now and then really helped sell the setting.      We started out in a small craft heading towards the space station. At first, due to the double meaning of Neptune, we thought the ma

       Arcade feels more like an experiment than a full fledged map, but it recreates classic arcade games in Sven very well. There is also a jumping puzzle for those who get tired of the arcade machines. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Arcade (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 8, 2022 | 3058 characters      Arcade is an incredibly brilliant showcase of map entity magic at work. Play Tron Cycles, Pac-Man, Pong (1p or 2p), Snake, or a lolfunny TF2 meme. These machines sit in a very plain, paneled environment without much else to look at. But, what else do you need? You walk up, press a button, and then use your player input controls to play arcade classics. It's free old games in your free Sven Co-op. What's not to like?      If I had to have any complaint, it would be that when a player starts a game, they are locked in until the game they've initiated ends. This is particularly troublesome wi

      Arcade feels more like an experiment than a full fledged map, but it recreates classic arcade games in Sven very well. There is also a jumping puzzle for those who get tired of the arcade machines. SCMapDB page Author: w00tguy123 Date of final release: 2016 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Arcade (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 8, 2022 | 3318 characters      This map is exactly what it says in the title, an Arcade. The arcade machines include two player tron, pac-man, one or two player pong, and snake. The fact that all of the arcade machines work near perfectly is just amazing. They even have scoreboards that will announce the high score for that machine. The map also has some nice music to go along with the arcade atmosphere. The level is small and half empty, but the arcade machines are the main attraction and they are impressive.      The map description says that some of his arcade machines are in some of Keen's maps, I actually experienced these m

       Deluge is a very atmospheric map made by one of the community's most acclaimed mappers, RNG. This map is very indicative of his style, well detailed moody and oppressive environment, strange monsters, and high levels of interactivity including lots of secrets. SCMapDB page Author: RNG Date of final release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Deluge (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 9, 2022 | 4625 characters      Deluge is a map by RNG, which you can assume means it is a quality map. RNG brings style, high-production, and a confusing sense of eldritch nonsense that glues the experience together in a way that makes it feel like something that was summoned from another plane of existence rather than mapped out.      The map is a classic arcade-style keyhunt level. After choosing a difficulty (I suggest going as hard as possible, as with two players it felt easy) you hop into a gritty world that feels like brutalist, industrial architecture made its way

      Deluge is a very atmospheric map made by one of the community's most acclaimed mappers, RNG. This map is very indicative of his style, well detailed moody and oppressive environment, strange monsters, and high levels of interactivity including lots of secrets. SCMapDB page Author: RNG Date of final release: 2014 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Deluge (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 9, 2022 | 4895 characters      Deluge is a map that like the author's (RNG) other work just drips in style. The story in the map description is phoned in but the map starts off strong with a fake loading screen before putting us in a weird environment with lots of things to explore.      When the level first starts off players are given four buttons to vote for easy, normal, hard, and ultra violence difficulty levels. One weird thing is that each option says "lives system disabled" even easy mode, this led me to speculate that maybe there was a lives system pla

       Another Unit (alternate version) is a remake of the official map Another Unit. Some details have been lost to time, but the authors seem to be different and there is some confusion as to whether it is a remake or a sequel. Personally, it feels like a remake by a player who didn't like the original map. SCMapDB page Author: GAMESABA Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Another Unit (Alternate version) Part 1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 3, 2022 | 4392 characters      Another Unit Remake Part 1 is a remake (sequel?) of the map Another Unit. Another Unit was a map by B-Dama which I also reviewed, giving it a very mild score but overall praising its visuals and interesting use of mostly default material. This remake (sequel?) is an almost complete redesign, starting from scratch after the very first setpiece.      That first setpiece is a pair of dual hallways filled with turrets and barneys, and holographic triggers which spawn

      Another Unit (alternate version) is a remake of the official map Another Unit. Some details have been lost to time, but the authors seem to be different and there is some confusion as to whether it is a remake or a sequel. Personally, it feels like a remake by a player who didn't like the original map. SCMapDB page Author: GAMESABA Date of final release: 2006 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Another Unit (Alternate version) Part 1 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by GrandmasterJ | April 3, 2022 | 3895 characters      I try to judge each map on its own merits, but remakes, sequels, and the like somewhat demand a comparison. To say it outright, this map is better than the original. Where the original was one long corridor this map shortens the hallway and adds a non linear office complex area that players go through instead. It's almost a complete reimagining of the first map.      Players spawn next to a burnt out plane and a few dead soldiers, this area in the original map

       From the maker of the first Apache comes Apache 2, with not one, but two Apaches! There is also a swarm of soldiers present to make things more difficult. SCMapDB page Author: Wildcat Date of final release: 2004 Maps in package: 1 Map review of Apache 2 (originally posted on SCMapDB) by dunkelschwamm | April 4, 2022 | 3080 characters      Apache 2 is exactly what it says on the tin: An apache, too; as in, two apaches.      Apache 2 is a small map consisting of a friendly base full of friendly soldiers, ammo caches, and resupplies. Climbing to the roof from a ladder pitches the players immediately against two apaches, but also gives cover in the form of walled structures atop the roof, and a minigun for a good defense in the form a good offense. You can't spend too much time up there, however, unless you have enough people on the ground level making sure Blackops soldiers don't rush the base, kill your soldiers, and make resupplying a ninja nightmare.      That's real