DOOMATHON entry #3/20
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
It's no surprise that people generally seem to prefer the previous game given that Doom 2 is unequivocally in the "glorified expansion" category of sequel, but as someone whose favorite game was Super Mario Galaxy 2 for over half my life, I'm here to report that this is a very successful example of the more-of-the-same approach.
Doom 2 is, in every way imaginable, more Doom - the core gameplay is basically untouched but bigger and better, featuring an expanded roster of enemies and arguably the most iconic double-barrel shotgun in gaming history. Some may see this as a redundant, but this approach results in what I'd consider to be an overall stronger set of levels that were clearly made by a team that had honed their craft on the previous game. Even if Doom 2 as a whole may be inherently less ambitious than its predecessor, the scale and complexity of some of these maps never would have been attempted in the previous game, for better and for worse.
This increased map complexity combined with the deadliness of the new enemies, particularly the Pain Elemental and Archvile, does result in more certified BS than the previous game, with the trade off of some delightfully creative levels and even some big arena/boss fights that I really enjoyed. Doom 2 may not match the mechanical purity of the original game, but the ways in which it expands upon its design philosophies gives it a distinct flavor that I slightly prefer.
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
It's no surprise that people generally seem to prefer the previous game given that Doom 2 is unequivocally in the "glorified expansion" category of sequel, but as someone whose favorite game was Super Mario Galaxy 2 for over half my life, I'm here to report that this is a very successful example of the more-of-the-same approach.
Doom 2 is, in every way imaginable, more Doom - the core gameplay is basically untouched but bigger and better, featuring an expanded roster of enemies and arguably the most iconic double-barrel shotgun in gaming history. Some may see this as a redundant, but this approach results in what I'd consider to be an overall stronger set of levels that were clearly made by a team that had honed their craft on the previous game. Even if Doom 2 as a whole may be inherently less ambitious than its predecessor, the scale and complexity of some of these maps never would have been attempted in the previous game, for better and for worse.
This increased map complexity combined with the deadliness of the new enemies, particularly the Pain Elemental and Archvile, does result in more certified BS than the previous game, with the trade off of some delightfully creative levels and even some big arena/boss fights that I really enjoyed. Doom 2 may not match the mechanical purity of the original game, but the ways in which it expands upon its design philosophies gives it a distinct flavor that I slightly prefer.