I know I'm rating this lower than Wolfenstein 3D, even though it's a better game, but Wolfenstein 3D was groundbreaking for its time, whereas Doom 2 is basically the same game as Doom 1, except with a few new enemies, a double-barreled shotgun, worse level design and larger scale.

I get the desire to make it big and epic, but in the case of Doom: less is more. With this game id Software decided that in fact more is more. Repeatedly the level designer employ the trick of putting like 50 Barons of Hell (or any other tough guy) in one room and placing a green ball somewhere in there. Maybe I'm just stupid but most times I'll clear out the room the regular way and only then find the ball. Sometimes there is no green ball, so you end up just jumping into the room and getting yourself killed. I know quick-saves are a staple of PC gaming that console gamers usually frown upon, but Doom II is literally impossible to beat without quick-saves. I dare you to try.

Part of it is because of the abhorrent level design. I literally had to look up walkthroughs several times throughout. Sometimes the button or key you're looking for is hidden in some unremarkable location or obscured by other objects. Sometimes there is no button, and you have to figure out which wall you have to hump to open a door. A lot of rooms are tricks designed to murder you, but they give you no indication that would allow you to figure it out on your first playthrough. In fact the final boss is a bullet sponge unless you somehow figure out that there's a secret room. And how could I forget the numerous places where you can fall down into lava or acid and have no way of getting out.

This game fucking broke me. I started out with the vanilla version, then moved onto gzDoom, then onto Brutal Doom, then at some point started resorting to cheats because at this point I've invested so much into the game, I didn't want to abandon it.

Despite all the flaws though, the core gameplay is fine because it's still Doom. And for 1994 I imagine this was still some super next-gen gaming. I don't think I've played another old school shooter that could boast this many enemies on the screen at the same time. But this particular aspect doesn't impress anymore, and I just don't think Doom II has aged as well as the original. It is literally worse in almost every way. Shooting up a room full of imps with a double-barreled shotgun is fun for the first few times, but it gets old quick. And then what you're left with is mazes upon mazes of confusing level design and cheap deaths.

P.S. Also, Archviles and Pain Elementals suck! Archvile is basically a guy that can attack you from anywhere without having to hit you with projectiles, that's bullshit. And Pain Elementals spawn lost souls, tiny flying enemies that are hard to hit, and then they explode upon death, fuck these guys!