G-Man. He's been one of the most mysterious, unknown men in all of the Half-Life universe. The nature behind the character makes him an obvious choice to base a map on. In Dan200's G-Man Towers, he finally gets some of the SvenCo-op fame that he deserves.

Dan200's architecture is very eye pleasing, and the textures keep to the map's theme very well. For example, initially the map has a very 'corporate' look. There are special poster textures Dan200 created himself decorating the walls, which appear curvy and neatly textured. The rooms are very well-lit, and there are things like candy machines and other decorative items. But in the the military controlled area past the elevator shaft, the rooms are textured with a fittingly bland concrete and lit a moody red. The nicest effect in his map is in the beginning, after G-Man leaves his room and the play really begins. It's one of those things that you just have to see, so I won't spoil it here.

The map is pretty easy in the beginning, because most of your enemy resistance is composed of very unfriendly security personnel. While they do pack a punch, its not too difficult to annihilate them all in an instant with a good collection of AR grenades. The challenge gets much tougher towards the end, and includes all manner of turret ambush, grunt positions, and interesting scripted traps. One of the roughest areas in the map is the helipad near the end. The sniper towers can make quick work of you if you do not silence them before venturing forward, and the team also needs to down an opposing helicopter in a battle reminiscent of the Helebat maps of old.

There are a few buttons to find and one simple puzzle involving the elevator control room which must solved in order to progress, which makes for less linearity since players must side-track to find the button they need to open the door, for instance. There is as much importance placed on exploration as on combat. A teleporter which initially overloads and destroys a part of the floor that the players can jump through can also be used, later in the mission, as a shortcut to an area of the military section of the map. Any good time-saving shortcut is always welcome. There is also a door in one area which is originally locked but can be opened from the inside to further quicken the players' return trips.

An unfortunate but pretty rare bug which I've only seen maybe once or twice of all the times I've played this map, is a complete game ruiner when it occurs. What happens is the secure red door out of the elevator shaft comes down as if it had been torched open, and when the actual torching sequence plays the door shuts, permanently, forcing you need to restart the map. For all I know, it may even be fixed in the 2.0 Final release, but it is a real downer nonetheless. One thing Dan200 put in which is quite annoying to anyone playing the map for the first time, is the conveyor belt. If you try to ride it, you'll die, which isn't a very user-friendly or purposeful addition to the map. However, you'll at least know to avoid it the next time.

All around though, this is a very fun map to play. It has only one really problematic bug, which is thankfully a rare occurance. There are plenty of puzzles to solve and enemies to kill, so venture forth and join your friends to escape from G-Mans's Towers, you'll enjoy every second of it. Just watch out for the conveyor belt.

Reviewed version included with Sven Co-op 2.0 Final

Pros:

• Attractive visuals which fit the theme perfectly!
• Increasingly challenging as the map progresses!
• Logical problems to solve!
• An E for effort on creating some new textures!

Cons:

• Quite easy for the first 1/4 of the map.
• Rare, game-ruining bug.
• That cruel conveyor belt, heh.

This review was recovered from CreepsWorld.