Doom 2 the Way id Did

A little better than vanilla doom 2, final 5 maps are fucking terrible and somehow, they made the icon of sin worse. I prefer the reinterpretations of iwad levels compared to the first DTWID, were i felt the levels were samie and not so different to your typical E1 knock off. Probably i would play it again, maybe not, if you didn't had enough of iwad fix, play this.

Did you like doom2.wad? This is like doom2.wad, only harder. In that respect, D2TWID succeeds quite handily.

That said, I find the maps are good in pretty much inverse proportion to how "experimental" they are, "experimental" being a euphemism for "forget everything the community has learned since 1994 on what makes maps fun to play" or "relive Sandy Petersen's worst ideas". There are many great maps like 3, 6, 11, 13, 15, 18, 23, and 29 that have either fast, fluid combat, rewarding exploration, or both, interspersed with "experimental" maps like 5, 9, 10, 19, 24, and 28 that "experiment" with every possible way to annoy and frustrate the player--mandatory treks across damaging floors sans radsuit, health-tax teleports into crowds of enemies at close range, irritating teleport puzzles, heinous Pain Elemental spam encounters (the entire wad could be treated as a course in how not to use Pain Elementals), awkward platforming, hideous texture combinations. Overall this map has more highs than lows but the lows can get really, really low.

Despite that mimicking the style of Michael Bukowski (the Xbox Doom II Map33 guy), American McGee, John Romero and Sandy Petersen (especially Petersen and Romero) was done well here, most of its maps are not as memorable as Doom II's or D1TWID's.

Most of the memorable moments in this megawad came from the least favourable maps, like Crushed Spirits, Abyss and The Mortal Coil for example. I guess it captures the annoying parts of Doom II perfectly? Which is why I think it deserves 4 stars rather than 3 (also, there are some big names here, and Tarnsman is there who made most of the maps in this megawad).

I think this megawad has one of my favourite two secret maps, I kinda wished Map31 had less confusing progression, and no, I didn't finish Map33 :/

Not the worst,not the best,kind of a meh. The doppelganger part is a lie,ID had to put in effort with limited tech,there on the other hand was full potential but subpar execution. Classic level designer imitation isn't really an accomplishment,especially when you fail at it.

After clearing out DTWiD you already know I had to cap it off by going after it's lil bro, D2TWiD. To sum it up: this is a solid 7/10, it's an alright megawad that improves upon DTWiD. Less mazey and confusing, more open areas ripe for exploring and a good sense of progression. I never felt like I got lost a lot or levels tended to drag on and overstay their welcome. Coupled with the fact that I paired it up w/ Mid the way id did (honestly for those who haven't checked it out I highly recommend it) b/c it lacks a proper midi soundtrack, it was a fun time. Just like I said about DTWiD, this won't go on my "must play" recommendation list b/c it didn't really blow my mind, but it was nice little time killer. It's essentially, "hey you liked DOOM II's maps? Well here's some more of where that came from" and I feel like it got the job done right.

Map 28 sucked tho, did not like that map. Regardless, the whole megawad is neat if you're curious about playing it :).

It got me so bored. And I'm trying to understand why. I played a lot of 94 to 96 wads and these maps feel souless.
Like the mappers trying to be a parody of themselves. I got nothing to remember but lots of big rooms full of monsters and uninteresting geometry. There's so few cute moments. The monster count is so off like streching too much sauce on a flat sandwich.

If the original authors had taken 2 years to create the d2 maps.

And thinking that the Casali brothers created Plutonia in a couple of months.

Reason for edit: The Secret Levels :/

Another great installment of "The Way ID Did" megawads, this is a really good classic maps where the style of original mappers is been mimicked very well, for having the really good stuff you have to wait, but when you get it, you'll enjoy it a lot! Also congratulations for finally giving "The Chasm" justice (don't worry, since MAP24 is again the "lower" point of wad, but the gimmick aren't that weird like in the original Doom 2, trust me) with it's MAP28 "The Abyss". Lots of cool maps and some shining gems. The Coomander Keen secret maps are a fancy surprise.

It misses that "something extra" that id maps had. Something that you remember those maps for. But maybe it's not fair to compare because the original always has the advantage of nostalgia.

"The way id did" is exactly what it is, feels like something id would make for an addon perfectly, someone said the secret maps are bad which I don't get, they're the funniest I have ever seen in a pwad.

Sadly, it also carries the "sometimes the gimmicks are a drag" from Doom 2, and the IoS level can be annoying, but I can't take too many points away from it for that, can I? After all, id did.

What truly postive things can be said about D2TWID, beyond the respect that must be paid for the designers adhering closely to ID's design philosophies for all of the maps involved? Great names were involved in this project; these maps all show evidence of thought and commitment, surely. I can at least agree that the secret level of Map 31 here is, in fact, quite incredible and well-worth playing, but I just can't bring myself to feel the same way about the rest of the maps herein. I can't and won't claim that they're bad levels- indeed, each one contains engaging secrets to find, traps to avoid, generally engaging encounters- but none of them stand out as having any sense of genuine identity as individual maps, despite my having played through the set twice. When I think of Doom 2, I immediately remember Dead Simple and Nirvana, and perhaps The Crusher. We have their imitations here, but they seem to lack a spark that makes them exciting and really as memorable as their original counterparts. And perhaps that's the fault of the extreme adherence to the design philosophy of the original levels- there was such a focus on making things feel authentically "Doom 2" that there wasn't enough room left for great creations to come into their own. That must be it, certainly. I just don't have a great impression of any moments that really "wowed" me here. Instead of level memories, I find myself agrieved by the small moments of frustration instead- the abusive Crushed Spirits with its cruel and frustrating traps, the confusion of navigating Abyss with its yellow-key teleporter/lift puzzles, the up/down confusion and onslaught that is The Causeway (which does succeed in evoking my dislike of Downtown and Doom 2's original Map 15), and culminating in one of the worst Icon of Sin fights I have played, one I was frankly unable to finish because my rockets simply wouldn't fly correctly despite endless attempts. If you showed me screens from many of the rest of the maps, I admit I might have trouble differentiating them.

I like the original DTWID, I'm replaying that happily for a second time; I liked the original Doom 2 quite a bit; I replay those maps regularly. And of course I'm sure you could show me several other maps by all who were involved on this project and I'd find quite a few I'd be happy to play more than once. But the joy just isn't there for me with D2TWID; I don't see why so many others love it. There's nothing inherently wrong with it (IOS and Map 24 aside), but, for me, there's nothing truly remarkable about it either.

I love it, feels a lot like something ID would make.

Pros: Good effort, good representation of the original game, good design. 

Cons: Irritating puzzle on map 30, irritating map 31, some level progressions are stupid. 

Cacoward well deserved, solely for the idea if not anything else. Interesting on and on. I consider my skills above this level, thus I preferred on my rerun to do maps from pistol start if I die. I wasn't disappointed at all. Some monster placements were very effective. In fact after playing Alien Vendetta this wad was a nice relaxing walk. I did reload saves on some maps though. Particularly 30 because of the stupid puzzle. Creative is one thing, but over the top is another. 

And my favorite map is... (drum roll) MAP 24 CRUSHED SPIRITS!!! Seriously! I like the 24th map? After disliking it in every other wad? Well, I do. It's a map totally worth playing and is simply outstanding! Just great. The only problem is the hassle until you get the SSG, but in a continuous run it doesn't matter. All you need is to be careful. Other of my favorite maps are 29, 15, 26 and 32. Least favorite map is 31, other maps I downright hate are 9, somewhat 19 and 30. 27 is enjoyable in a continuous run, but I didn't like it from pistol start. 28 - vice versa. Another level that shows you may not need cyberdemons or spiderdemons to make a difficult map. Well, maybe not in the long run and I kinda missed having arch-viles there. 26 requires some very quick BFG shots, which is another highlight. 

3 stars, because I can't rate it as high as Scythe and Memento Mori and not even close to Alien Vendetta which I promoted to 5 stars. Even if not, giving Hell Revealed 5 stars and 4 to D2TWID at the same time alone is unfair to HR. 

Disclaimer: This is an SDA, not an FDA. I played the wad first in 2014, so I played it once again to rate it properly. 

Very cool secret levels. Otherwise - meh. Kinda managed to capture Doom 2 levels' annoyingness.

Does a fantastic job at mimicking Doom II, but as a result doesn't deliver as tight of an experience (through no fault of the mappers, that's just the Doom II style). Really recommended if you enjoyed the first one.

A faithful replica of the original Doom II, but I did not enjoy it as much as I did the first. On top of that I have no favorite levels either this time around, or, well, apart from MAP31 which is something else entirely from actual Doom, but brilliant nonetheless, as if I played some NES game in first person, with great music, enemies and textures. What I did not like at all is that there aren't too many resources in the last couple of maps. I ran out of ammo very often on MAP27, 28, and 29. As for maps I hated, that's going to be MAP19, no particular reason but I could not enjoy this one, as for another one, which is MAP28, it confused with its yellow key and platforming in some areas, if there is a gameplay style that I don't enjoy much, it's something close to what's presented in this map. 

MAP30 was a very interesting idea for an Icon of Sin level, possibly the map I liked the most from the entire PWAD, firing rockets and then outrunning then to raise a platform that blocks their way, but for this reason it's very tricky, I think I died like 10 times until I figured out what needed to be done, and a couple more afterwards. I didn't seem to be able to get more than one rocket reach the brain of the Icon so it did take some time and it got a bit tedious, but for a wad which aims to be faithful to the original, well, it's still vastly superior to whatever happened with MAP30 in Doom II from my POV.

It's a good wad that's well worth one's time, but not on par with the original and not as enjoyable. This is the sole reason it's getting only 3 stars, not because it's only "decent" or "average" .

Most of the maps are better than the original Doom 2. The gameplay and level design are really similar (success!), wad is smoothly changing theme from tech to hell, cool puzzles and tricks here and there. Some of the maps can be called rip-offs of some of the original Doom 2 maps for their obvious similarity, for example Map07 (Dead Simple) - a small fortress filled with mancubi and arachnotrons (another one would be Map29, also there is one that really resembles Gotcha!). But that could be expected of this wad.
The secret levels are very well done. The boss fight in Map32 is excellent and unique in Doom.

An incredible classic, fun in every way with a simple idea that manages to complete successfully and exciting, truly, I feel that ID did it.

Decent WAD, enjoyable, had a nice time playing it

Not as good as the original but at least some effort was made for the levels.