By the Pricking of My Thumbs ...

this wad is...interesting, to say the least. by no means is it bad, but like previous reviewers have said, it's a strange, remixed version of doom 2's first episode. it feels a bit like playing doom 2 for the first time, but with a fresh coat of paint; it looks better with properly aligned textures and far more detailing, it has far more enemies than the original doom 2, and it's overall a bit more difficult. i'd assume that this is what it felt like to play doom 2 all the way back in '94.

however...it definitely has issues. i think the biggest one is that it's a bit of a hitscanner hell at times, with some levels being primarily filled to the brim by zombiemen, shotgunners, and chaingunners. it can quickly devolve into peeking around corners as at times there's not enough health if rng isn't on your side that day. it's obviously trying to imitate doom 2's first episode, so this is less a problem of the mapper and more a problem of carrying over traits from the episode to something like this.

overall, it's a competent remake of doom 2's starport setting. it has issues that were carried over from doom 2 but it's still an enjoyable wad if you wanna experience doom 2 for the first time again.

*NOTE All levels played on UV starting from a pistol start*

If you took someone who played Doom II 10 years or so go and replaced the levels in this wad set with the ones in the main game I would not be surprised if anyone picked up on the difference given how closely they ape those levels. To be fair they do look a little bit better than the original levels, and arguably play even a little bit better but given how similar they are there is really very little reason to play this level set.

Its hard to give this wadset a rating given that while they are competently made, it is also perhaps one of the most superfluous wads on the idgames archive. Only give it a play if you want to see what the first 11 levels of Doom 2 could have looked like in a parallel universe.

Quoting the description:

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including as much detail as possible

False.

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The first 10 maps pay homage to the first 10 maps of DooM2

It should say "The first 11 maps", which are also all the maps.

This WAD is like a bizarro Doom 2, an alternate universe Doom 2 where the maps are the same, but different at the same time. Like strangely mangled versions of themselves. You will recognize all elements of all maps because the similarities are striking. Up to and including MAP07 the WAD feels like a bootlegged version of Doom 2. Only since MAP08 the WAD begins to feel like it stands on its own, despite still paying homages and still using familiar elements.

However, for what they are, the maps play well, with some difficult moments happening here and there. Looks are barren, but true to Doom 2. In overall, the WAD is not bad, but it's head-scratchy with its bootleggy-weirdness.