DOOM II isn't exactly what I'd call a massive overhaul of DOOM (the original). It doesn't change up the graphics in a major way, nor add anything that could be seen as a major upgrade to the gameplay. They didn't even change the hud for the game. However, what DOOM II lacks in technological advancements it more than makes up for in level design. The devs took everything they had learned from assembling the first DOOM and took it to make a game more focused on open-field combat with large amounts of enemies. Even the earliest levels, which seem to tap into the spirit of the original DOOM with cramped hallways and interior levels feel far different from the previous game. Interiors feel more winding with space to open up into smaller arenas- a staple of later shooters. While the middle of the game does sag quite a bit, the scope of the levels cannot be ignored. The all-star addition of a super shotgun is awesome and rounds out the weapon spread nicely enough, although I wish there was more the devs could've added to the arsenal to further expand upon it- but that's wishful thinking for more content that may have impacted the game negatively. The enemies go a long way to spice up the variety in the combat, I only wish the Archvile got a little more screentime, but I'll call it forgiven because the Revenant is a somewhat common enemy; however half a star gets taken off because of the Pain Elementals. (I'm that petty.) Regardless, it goes without saying, but Id outdid themselves in making an expansion truly worthy of being the original's sequel. No overhauls or fancy new engine were required to the make this game great. It supports of the age old adage: "if it isn't broken then don't fix it."

Doom 1 took me about 5 hours to complete but this game was a little longer. Doom II is a more difficult game than the first, both because of new enemies like the Revenants, and because of the increase of puzzles, parkour and backtracking throughout the levels. I honestly like this change, and it helps Doom II be just different enough from the first game while still feeling like a true sequel.

I don't have a lot of flaws, but there are 2 that come to mind. I feel like the ost is a bit of a step down, often sounding like elevator music. And the second is that I don't think the level design is as appealing. One thing that I loved about the first one was that the levels got more and more surreal the further into the game you got. Doom II has progression throughout its level designs, but not as cool or memorable as the first game.

Overall, really fun game. If you liked the first game you'll probably enjoy this one too!

Gameplay itself is nice, clean fun. Super Shotgun is OP, I love it, and I liked the new enemies that were introduced as well (hearing an idle Archvile (or even worse, an alert one) definitely had me going "!!!!"). I went back to Doom 1 to trawl through the secret levels, which I'd missed on my first playthrough, and found myself missing the Super Shotty and the monster variety. Doom 2's worth it for that alone.

My favourite vanilla levels were probably MAP08 (Tricks and Traps) and MAP23 (Barrels O' Fun), oh and MAP31+MAP32, the Wolfenstein easter egg secret levels. But for the most part I actually do agree with a lot of gripes expressed in other reviews regarding the level design, which is where it loses half a star for me compared to Doom 1. As most of us know the development of this game was a little rushed - and it shows in places. I felt myself getting a little burnt out towards the end - not that I wanted to stop playing the game necessarily, more that I was wanting Doom 2's vanilla campaign specifically to just end soon. I think the lack of actual episodes like there were in Doom 1, rather just one big protracted thing with small intermissions but no explicit delineation between "episodes", also didn't help.

I like a good modding scene, and Classic Doom (1 and 2)'s is still going strong 30+ years on. I'm probably still gonna play Doom 2 to delve into some mods I have lined up and am excited to explore.

My favourite game ever for a long time, only competing with Dark Souls.
It has everything that made the original Doom great but with a new weapon (the double barreled shotgun, the greatest invention of mankind) new enemies, and new levels based on innovative themes, like the city levels (even if they're not my favourite type of levels, i appreciate the variety).
There's not much to say about this game, it's just great and paved the way for many actual games. Must play.

Oh, and the music is great.

Doom II is just more Doom I which is great! It has all the great things from the original game, like the buttery smooth movement, and fun combat. I felt that the level design improved a tad from the original, except for the levels after "The Chasm" (I honestly liked the Chasm) those levels weren't very great in my opinion, since they either had an annoying gimmick like darkness or confusing areas in them.

The new enemies were alright other than the pain elemental and the archvile, they were TERRIBLE. The pain elemental just spawns endless amounts of lost souls which were a very annoying enemy in the original Doom, and don't get me started on how terrible the archvile is.

I think I liked Doom II more than the og doom, but not by much.

I was having so much fun playing mods for Doom that when my dad said he could get me Doom 2, I didn't care much since at the time, it had few mods. Eventually, I did get it, and I continued playing it, by playing the mods and mostly ignoring the base game.
When I did play the base game, though, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise: vastly improved level design. I didn't care much for the base game of Doom 1, but Doom 2's levels showed such a huge leap in creativity and design that I was really surprised. So I give it a lot of credit for that. Still, I predominantly played mods, and this and Doom 1 defined my middle school gaming experience (while I still played SNES games).