Maximum Matt

An old-school classic.  The part where (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!) the lake drains to reveal a bunch of monster closets is genius.  

At least E3M3 was a cool outside one.  Other than that, pure turdery.  

Decent-looking maps with realistic areas (like a harbour with a boat, a shooting range, theater etc) marred by some absolutely hideously obscure progression.  This is the wad that made Kes get Slade so he could work out how the hell to get through it

A glorified deathmatch map with baddies and an exit.  I played it from Maximum Doom ages ago, but just realised it was made by the same douche who made the classic map25 "Baron's Den" from TNT.  There's even one part in there with like those lowering/raising square pillars like in that level too, you know the ones...

Very nice episode replacement, incredible lighting and architecture and general Romero worship - I especially loved the more blatant homages to Episode 1... sure, it's way too easy and could've benefitted with the occasional cyberdemon in an outside area, and the last level needed a few dozen more barons, but otherwise, very nice...

HELL NO.

Luckout? More like.. SUCKOUT!!

Man, screw that maze with the moving walls

Aw HELL no.

THE MAP LOOKS LIKE A FLY THE MAP LOOKS LIKE A FLY

Well, I didn't realize it was an E3M1 remake until way later.  So i guess that counts for something

Awesome map.  It's a very impressive 'town' map, with a saloon, barracks, bathroom, armory, swimming pool, a church, a hospital (!!!), and of course, three cyberdemons at the end.  Spoiler alert.

Exquisite.  

I got a goddamn bone to pick with this wad (or at least the D2 conversion)... the exit of level 3 (the sewer one) just takes you back to the first level, and I can't find no other exit in this bitch.  I know that in D2 conversions exits to secret levels do this, but the exit to this one seems to be the legit one, and so I have to IDCLEV to level four to continue.  So whatever the screw up was, I don't like it.  Also I can't play the secret level on my crusty-ass version of Chocolate Doom without it crashing, and it's the most well known level in this wad.  So it sucks. 

This be my review here.  Absolute classic.

Finally played this one today, pretty good for an old-school level, hub layout, so not so linear, varied locations (including a huge canyon area and an underground cavern), LOADS of monster traps triggered by linedefs, including traps WITHIN traps (very nice).  Not too much of a challenge, but quite fun. 

The most beautifully shite map ever created.  

Hell no.

N.B. this is a review of GATHR2.WAD from Maximum Doom, which excludes the fifth and final map, and doesn't include the custom music

Classic minisode, map one is like a prelude to the main meat (a long road with trees and troopers either side, a tunnel, and then like a 'manhole' into the sewers) - nothing offensive, cool opener.

Map two is a classic sewer map with cool switch tricks, tolerable slime tunnels, a barrel trap, cool looking marble zone and a cool final tech area.

Map the third starts off the same way map two ended (always love that detail), a fight in a huge water basin, and then around the periphery of, very cool looking, with a semi-secret area that is simply iconic. (Curiously, these last two levels were merged together as GATHER2.WAD, also available on Maximum Doom.)

And of course the forth map, a huge complex building surrounded by an outside courtyard guarded by plenty of beasts, nonlinear, varied, filled with memorable traps/scenarios/rooms (love that room with the bunch of thin pole crushers), loads of secrets (although only one 'official' secret), central hub room that transforms when you return to it, every enemy type except the ol' cyberdemon, there's even an outdoor 'balcony bar'.  Yeah, there's way too many megaspheres, whatever.  A classic '95 map pack. 

If you're gonna play just one level from the Maximum Doom collection, it's got to be this one.  Massive, varied, unique, incredible 

Love the atmosphere in this one.  Very dark, very evil

One reviewer described this as 'Doom on acid', and yep that's right on the money.  Excellent episode replacement, maps 6 and 7 still haunt my nightmares

Way too many damn rooms. 

Beautifully crap level. 

One of the first Max Doom maps I ever played.  Pretty damn good.