Both DOOM and DOOM II occupy a shared space in my head, so my thoughts on the original - a watershed release that unbelievably still kicks ass and occupies a valid and unique space in the modern FPS landscape - remain true for DOOM II. Honestly, I tend to rank the two games in a shared spot whenever I'm putting together a list of favorite games, so complete do the two games feel together. A bit like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, just without lock-on.
But let's go ahead and talk up DOOM II specifically. The game runs on the same engine as its predecessor - why mess with perfection, honestly - but a few things have been added to shake up gameplay. On your side, you have the Super Shotgun, which basically outpaces every other weapon in the game. And they know what you're here for, so the game doesn't waste time before chucking it your way. On the bad guy side, you have a lot of new demons to round out the legions of the damned - honestly a welcome addition, given how prevalent Imps and Pinkies were throughout the entirety of the original game. Most of them are instant favorites, and "Mancubus" and "Arch-Vile" join "Cacodemon" and "Cyberdemon" in the pantheon of Greatest Video Game Enemy Names (bonus points if you imagine "MANCUBUS!!!" as being shouted by Laura Bailey every time the name comes up - thank you, Critical Role).
The other major change after the weapon/enemy shake ups is the design ethos behind the levels themselves. If I had to put a word to it, DOOM's levels are designed around "place", while DOOM II's levels are more "high-concept". This isn't to say that one precludes the other, and in DOOM II's case, there's a clear progression through an Earth city to another citadel of the Underworld - but the specifics of where you are tend to be informed by the type of high-concept design that comes from being there. Progress through settings is broken up with levels like 'Dead Simple', 'Tricks and Traps', and "Barrels o' Fun". All fun levels, but different from the first DOOM, which had little in the way of gimmick levels.
As I said before, I tend to think of DOOM and DOOM II as parts of a whole experience, so I tend to rank them together. As for which one is better - man, I dunno. Probably DOOM II, since it's just DOOM with more stuff. Certainly, I'd expect most fan-made level packs to pull from DOOM II's toolkit for that reason. But I also cherish how unique and groundbreaking the original DOOM was, too. Besides, there's no moment in DOOM II as effective a challenge as 'Tower of Babel'. Yeah, it's fun seeing the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind duke it out in 'Gotcha!', and yeah, the Icon of Sin is a funny clusterbomb of a fight, but there's just no comparison. Usually I give the first game the edge, but I could hear an argument for the second just as easily. Both are very much worth playing, either way.
But let's go ahead and talk up DOOM II specifically. The game runs on the same engine as its predecessor - why mess with perfection, honestly - but a few things have been added to shake up gameplay. On your side, you have the Super Shotgun, which basically outpaces every other weapon in the game. And they know what you're here for, so the game doesn't waste time before chucking it your way. On the bad guy side, you have a lot of new demons to round out the legions of the damned - honestly a welcome addition, given how prevalent Imps and Pinkies were throughout the entirety of the original game. Most of them are instant favorites, and "Mancubus" and "Arch-Vile" join "Cacodemon" and "Cyberdemon" in the pantheon of Greatest Video Game Enemy Names (bonus points if you imagine "MANCUBUS!!!" as being shouted by Laura Bailey every time the name comes up - thank you, Critical Role).
The other major change after the weapon/enemy shake ups is the design ethos behind the levels themselves. If I had to put a word to it, DOOM's levels are designed around "place", while DOOM II's levels are more "high-concept". This isn't to say that one precludes the other, and in DOOM II's case, there's a clear progression through an Earth city to another citadel of the Underworld - but the specifics of where you are tend to be informed by the type of high-concept design that comes from being there. Progress through settings is broken up with levels like 'Dead Simple', 'Tricks and Traps', and "Barrels o' Fun". All fun levels, but different from the first DOOM, which had little in the way of gimmick levels.
As I said before, I tend to think of DOOM and DOOM II as parts of a whole experience, so I tend to rank them together. As for which one is better - man, I dunno. Probably DOOM II, since it's just DOOM with more stuff. Certainly, I'd expect most fan-made level packs to pull from DOOM II's toolkit for that reason. But I also cherish how unique and groundbreaking the original DOOM was, too. Besides, there's no moment in DOOM II as effective a challenge as 'Tower of Babel'. Yeah, it's fun seeing the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind duke it out in 'Gotcha!', and yeah, the Icon of Sin is a funny clusterbomb of a fight, but there's just no comparison. Usually I give the first game the edge, but I could hear an argument for the second just as easily. Both are very much worth playing, either way.