Mayan Temple

Neat classic map, nice custom textures. A little too many lost souls.

Mayan Temple feels like one of those 1994 classics that remain in our memories as an exemplar of a good concept that is, technically, poorly executed, either due to a limit of tools and creativity, but at least you can say that the presentation here is that of a clear, fantastic idea that personally appeals to me.

As the name indicates, what we have here is a map that tries to recreate, in a somewhat arbritrary way, a Mayan architecture or at least visuals that give some idea of Mesoamerican culture. While it fails miserably in the architectural/geometric aspect, the map still possesses a certain charisma thanks to its simplicity and directness. We start on what appears to be a ball field (ancient Mayan game) with a few secret paths on either side of the map. The architecture is quite simple, even if the ''pyramids'' are not surprising, I think their very design is so cute that I can't help but smile. Considering it's 1994, I've seen worse examples out there.

Perhaps most surprising is the use of photorealistic textures, something that would be popularized by Trinity College. In fact, between Trinity and Mayan Temple there is only 4 months difference.

While its design is somewhat simple at first glance, it is creative and entertaining enough to offer about 10 minutes of clear nostalgic fun. The layout is simple, uncomplicated and follows a clear line of combat that gives us some sweet surprises for each encounter. From the awakening in the structure to the final fight in the middle of the field. It's fun, solid for what it is and something really worth trying just for its appealing concept.

Interesting piece of doom history and an alright 1994 map.

Mayan temple is a small 1994 map, another one which attempts to create a realistic setting. It's made by Paul Turnbull, who would go on to make Map23: Lunar Mining Project for TNT: Evilution.

Mayan Temple comes with a surprising amount of custom textures, which are pretty interesting. Turnbull's approach to aid his realistic setting was to use photographs of real life locations and props to make textures. If you remember TNT's Map23, you'll notice the same thing, with cave textures which are photographs of actual caves. Those are originally from here. Similarly, other textures are converted photographs of Mayan Murals, which are quite similar to the egyptian murals in TNT Map31. 

Some of the new textures look fine, but other simply do not fit well with Doom's original ones.

The visual are alright, certainly unique for the time, but they aren't as good as the best of 1994, like Galaxia. 

Layout is pretty simple, but thankfully much more open than most maps of the time. There are no boring mazes, which is welcome and the architecture is good for it's time. 

Gameplay is very basic, but the map is short so it doesn't hinder it very much.  

Overall, Mayan Temple has some interesting ideas and lot of effort obviously went in, especially considering all the new textures, but it's simply too short and the gameplay too basic to be comparable to the best maps from 1994. Still, worth a look. Also, it's in E1M1 slot which means At Doom's Gate is the music, which doesn't really fit. My advice is idmus18.