DeadAstronaut

For players who enjoyed the original Doom, this wad set would appeal to them more than anything. The design is dedicated around the original game and in the styles of John Romero and Sandy Petersen. If there is one thing this wad truly does accomplish more so than anything, it is that the maps could pass for official id releases. For players who are new to trying custom wads, this is a decent one to begin with. There are a number of maps that truly feel like you're playing a sequel to the original Doom. E1 follows the tech base style of Romero's level design from the original game with faithful renditions. The maps are mixed up, so they don't come off as copies to the original game's levels. Reactor Core feels like a legitimate sequel to Computer Station from the original game. Each level contains tons of secrets that are well hidden and some have hidden keys leading to doors, much like the original E1 had. The boss map with the barons is a faithful rendition that turns up the challenge a bit for expert players of the original game. I personally found E2 to be more interesting than the Romero style maps. The textures offer a blend of tech base and the hellish look but it's more fluid in this wad as the levels progress. As the player progresses, the levels begin to look more and more hell-like leading up to the boss map with the cyberdemon The intermission screen fades into darkness the closer you get to the last level. The E2 levels do not so much feel like sequels and faithful renditions of E2 from the original game, but more in a way of carrying that torch to design levels that are similar. There's a couple moments where the influence can be felt back to the original game, but not every level will remind the player of a specific level. The cyberdemon fight itself is made more challenging with the use of teleporters. E2's secret level is the best in this wad offering fast paced combat. E3 is where things begin to really change compared to the original game. The hell levels have a lot more going on to them and overall, feel much bigger than that of the original game. Chapel of Scorn is the one map in the whole game that sums up Sandy Petersen's level design style more than anything. It has an outside area resembling Sough Of Despair while the inside is similar to Unholy Cathedral (and contains a new secret puzzle that is something he would've done in the original game). Towards the end, Depths could be considered a weak level compared to the original game's level in it's slot (Mt. Erebus) but by this point, that's more of a nitpick than a criticism (my only real complaint is that the Mt. Erebus style level is a secret and not in the level order). The textures for E3 have never looked better than what you get here in this wad. Unlike the original game, the Spidermastermind boss fight is a legitimate challenge here since you can't just run up and BFG blast her. The boss stage involves crushing ceilings and a moving platform making for what feels like a grand boss battle. Overall, I would rank this map set a 5 out of 5. The love is felt back to the original game as the team involved for this wad pay tribute to id's style of level making. For Doom players first venturing away from official levels and trying community projects for the first time, this is most definitely a good place to begin with custom wads.