What is your favourite episode 4 level?

[eulo]

We have a thread for E3 and E5, why not E4 as well?

 

IMHO, it was a rather pointless episode with many authors involved who weren't part of the original trilogy or Doom II, and the result was a weird hodgepodge of no real consistency or progression (not to mention the screwed difficulty curve). The highlights are IMHO Romero's two levels, they are the most memorable, and the hardest as well (M1's difficulty come from annoying stuff like shotgunners shooting through invisible walls, and the complete removal of medikits).

 

My vote goes to E4M6. It's hard and all, but very puzzly, you need your brains as well as your skills to find the way out. It also looks gorgeous for a 1994 map.

[TheMightyHeracross]

Used to despise Perfect Hatred when I was a bit newer but it's probably my favorite now. 

[ReaperAA]

E4M6

[seed]

E4M1.

[Maser]

Gotta go with E4M2.  It's pretty much the only map in E4 that I have the least complaints about.  Not meaning to sound like an asshole elitist here, but my only complaint is I feel the map is a little too easy due to all the item pickups.  How anyone can actually run out of ammo on that map is beyond me.  Also, I like how the exit to the secret map is so early on in the episode.

[eulo]

E4M2 is too easy. Now I've seen everything.

[Spectre01]

I find e4m9 to be the most enjoyable, or the least offensive. e4m3 is good too.

[ASD]

I like both E4M2 and E4M6. Chose E4M6 for the thing placement and variety.

[dr_st]

Romero's levels lead the poll. How surprising.

[Maximum Matt]

E4M6.  So epic, they had to create a tag 666 for it.

[HAK3180]

Order for me, with horizontal space being relevant, from favorite to least favorite, is this:

 

2    3  6       1 95    7   8  4

[Maximum Matt]

Yeah, I'll do that too - 

6 2 9 3 8 5 7 1 4 

...and I just got my next credit card PIN. Sweet.

[Test Tickle]

Nobody voted for And Hell Followed? Come on, I thought yall were better than this.

[Maximum Matt]

Thought wrong.  You only need one of the three keys to complete it (just like M5), and can only get 50% secrets. 

[amackert]

Perfect Hatred for me!

[Job]

E4M7 has so many memorable moments and a fantastic environment with great architecture. An easy choice from Dr. Sleep. 

 

E4M4 as a runner-up, like the unloved kid brother. It's a cute, compact map. 

[joepallai]

Sever the Wicked does it for me, not entirely sure why other than the atmosphere and the outdoor combat setup.   It's just one of those maps that grab me.

[Scorpius]

That's a hard question since they are all good levels, but I'm going with E4M1. It's atmospheric, full of action, challenging and fun to play. It also uses my favourite DOOM track, Sign of Evil. The cramped level design, somber music and high difficulty combined made me feel hopeless when I first played it.

 

E4M6 is a very close second as well, looks beautiful for DOOM and is quite tough on UV. :)

[CorianderCastor]

It's no suprise that McGee is my favorite of the id team when it comes to level design, but I have to give it to E4M6. It might be nostalgia, but when I first played through episode four on PS3, it's the one that stuck out the most. I actually like most of E4. I don't like Green's maps as much as others though, but I'd rather play these than "Bloodfalls." "Fear" is a close second though. And I actually like M4 more than M1, but like both less than other McGee maps. I think that is what E4 is to me, some good maps by various authors, but not as good as their other work. I like the Willits and Anderson maps of the Master Levels more. So Romero really did bring the best here, and it makes sense that his levels are at the forefront of this poll. But he had great Doom II levels too.

 

So are we going to do this with E1, E2 and D2? I'd suggest splitting D2 into its three episodes. Although we already know that E2M2 would win it's poll, heh.

[DuckReconMajor]

I actually had to agree with the majority here: E4M2 is a classic.

 

I still have fond memories of the whole episode though, since it was the most painful to get through on my xbox controller. I need to play through it again.

 

E4M3 - Sever the Wicked and E4M4 - Unruly Evil are my other favorites.

E4M4 though mostly because when I finally found a multiplayer lobby on XBLA Doom it was a deathmatch on E4M4 with no max frags that went on for hours.

[Andromeda]

My top 3 from Episode 4 is:

1. E4M1: Hell Beneath

2. E4M4: Unruly Evil

3. E4M2: Perfect Hatred

[eulo]

15 hours ago, dr_st said:

Romero's levels lead the poll. How surprising.

 

Actually I'm a bit surprised there are so many votes for E4M3 (not really for E4M1, as it's difficulty might appeal hardcore players).

 

Romero's maps feel like they are from a different league. They look like legit handcrafted levels with actual style and thought behind them. The rest all felt like maps made by a random map generator. I couldn't even tell the difference between Shawn's or Willit's or even American's style. While Sandy's work on Doom was very controversial, and many of his maps were ugly, they all have their own distinct style you can't see anywhere else.

[Magicana]

Very hard to pick between E4M1, E4M2 and E4M6... I eventually went with E4M2, because it's not quite as unfair as E4M1 and it is a pretty neat map with a few cool tricks you can do.

[RichardDS90]

Against Thee Wickedly, I had an absolute soft spot for how it starts rocky and then next thing, you come across a fortress of sorts. Really amazed me.

[Kyoh1]

I think my fav would be E4M5, for music and map design, following this blood stream down to the exit. The second most favorite would be E4M6

E4M1 is probably the one I dislike most because it is hard to max it on UV.

[Maximum Matt]

So let's talk about rearranging the order of the maps so that the difficulty curve makes more sense. M4 seems like a good 'intro' map if nothing else, gives you the rocket launcher, then you 'drop' through the roof into M1, maybe swap M6 and 7, whaddaya think?

[HAK3180]

On 6/18/2019 at 2:32 AM, eulo said:

Actually I'm a bit surprised there are so many votes for E4M3.

 

Sever the Wicked may not be much to look at, but it's got so much outdoor fun. Also, if years ago someone had asked me, I'd have probably said, "Sure, room over room is possible in vanilla Doom", and used this map as the evidence. And cheeky secrets are the cherry on top.

[Nymbus_Hustle]

E4M1, I love very difficult maps that restrict your resources. I love how Mcgee punishes you for trying to get the rocket in the secret.

[Gerardo194]

E4M6

[Mk7_Centipede]

E4M6 for me as well. I think I only played through this episode once, but "Against Thee Wickedly" is still embedded in my mind. Puzzle solving layout that makes you think (maybe a little too much for those outdoor square rooms) but is vastly more interesting than the rest of the maps iirc.  It had a great sense of place and pace.