Air Master Burst wrote:Doom 2 has some seriously questionable level design, though. Every time I try to play through it again it feels like such a slog compared to Doom 1 or Doom 64. The super shotgun and the extra enemies are nice (although the arch-vile is kinda lame), but very few of the stock Doom 2 maps are anywhere near as polished as what the first one offers. Id's never made a finer collection of maps than the first Doom (although 64 came close).
I'd also put Dark Forces and Blood above Doom 2, and maybe even Rise of the Triad.
Duke 3D has always sucked, and is really a shining example of some of the worst aspects of mid 90s game design.
FEAR is another beast entirely, one that I also dearly love but that belongs to a completely different era and subgenre. Shame all the sequels were trash.
DOOM 1 has the best level design, but I don't think the DOOM II levels are all that terrible. I prefer DOOM, but DOOM II made sufficient advances to the formula, and I think the more you play the two games, the more it becomes clear how much strategy was added with DOOM II's changes.
Liking Blood isn't exactly a controversial opinion. It's a well-loved Build engine FPS.
I disagree about Duke 3D. The really shitty levels are fairly late in the campaigns. The first episode of Duke 3d is pretty much perfect imo. Music, atmosphere and stage design are top-notch in episode 1. Not to mention all the secrets and interactive elements.
With regards to QUAKE, it isn't flawless. I think it's very hard to design a 3d game that is. QUAKE's enemies are a little too spongy and its visuals can be hit-or-miss. But the dlc is absolutely fantastic and really demonstrates the flexibility of the engine. The more recent QUAKE DLC from Machinegames (I think it's called Heart of the Machine?) is better than the nu-wolfenstein shit they sell for money.
Overall, I still love QUAKE because of its consistent vision. Its visuals, fantastic score and thoughtful weapon design (no useless pistol) make it a very consistent game, even if the highs aren't quite as high as other classic shooters I enjoy.
I like FEAR 2 despite it being, y'know, not nearly as good as FEAR 1. I won't defend how it ruined the shotgun, but the base gameplay is still fun for me. FEAR 3 was shit though.
I keep meaning to play the modern """boomer shooters""" (classic fps) like Dusk, Amid Evil and Ion Fury, but I haven't gotten around to them yet.