Doom II: Hell on Earth

Da Vinci might have been a genius, but he didn't think of giving the Mona Lisa a double shotgun to fight archviles in the sequel.

I really prefer Doom 1 over Doom 2 for a couple of reason. Here's a simple explanation for Doom 2:

Pros:

-Super Shotgun
-Most new enemy types are fun
-The final boss is pretty cool

Cons:

-Some of the levels are very bad and in general I prefer the level design in Doom 1
-Archviles and chaingunners can go to hell

To me the game is almost just an expansion pack that doesn't significantly improve over the first game. It's still a great game though.

I'm reminded of the infamous old Facebook motto - "move fast and break things". With Doom II id Software had set out to overdrive everything about Doom, and trampled over anything measured or nuanced about the original game in the process. This move has served them well in driving word-of-mouth hype, cementing the franchise's legacy and satisfying fans that had grown bored of the original after playing through it countless times, but has also resulted in a game that I had little fun playing.

The lack of an episodic structure means Doom II constantly maintains exhausting forward momentum, culminating in it throwing boss-tier monsters at you just for kicks. The new super shotgun and heavily increased availability of the rocket launcher, plasma rifle and BFG dictate the addition of powerful damage sponge enemies that are an eternal chore to deal with, and the levels trip over themselves to trap you in monster closets or throw annoying gimmicks at you. That's not to say there aren't any clever ideas here - in fact there are plenty - but I'd say that they work more in theory and less in practice.

While Doom exuded confidence on its own, Doom II goes out of its way to announce its presence and assert dominance. Such behavior usually betrays insecurities about one's standing, and I think id sensed that their time in the spotlight wouldn't last forever. Is it better to burn out than to fade away? Maybe not always, especially with how big of a statement Quake would turn out to be.

I know it might be heresy to rate Doom 2 so low, but while I quite liked Doom 1 and rated it a very solid 7/10, and Doom 2's combat is just as good (because it's the same but with a strictly better shotgun and 3 new enemies added to mixed degrees of success), the map design I find to be a lot worse. It's much more experimental than Doom 1, but it's also less cohesive, slower and more confusing to navigate, and much less consistent than Doom 1's map design; there are few levels that I think reach the same heights as Doom 1.

You would think that such a small content update really shouldn't impact the quality of the game too much, right? Ha-ha-ha, mere mortal, thou art wrong.

More enemy variety and a double shotgun elevate DOOM II to the best classic doom game. But the levels definitely leave something to be desired. 4/5 with a half point added for the modding community. Vanilla DOOM II has almost 20 years of mods, so really the true potential of this game is sky high.