Ovladatelnost je divná, můžete používat jen myš, ale čemu se vůbec divím když jsem to jako dítě nehrál a jsem zvyklý na novější hry.
Dobrá FPS pařba.

This is big hell.

Tak jsem si pustil dalšího Dooma. S příslibem pravé a nefalšované Doom hratelnosti ho nainstaloval podle Crashova návodu. Možná jsem to měl dělat, možná ne (díky za něj). Každopádně ve Steam verzi nejde nastavit ovládání. Čert vem grafiku. GZDoom je tam potřeba hlavně kvůli možnosti nastavit si ovládání. WSAD jde nastavit i ve starém Wolfovi, tak proč by to nemohlo jít tady.

Díky specifickému návodu na spuštění jsem jel mise tak, že se mi zachovávaly zbraně a zdraví z té předchozí mise. Trochu to ulehčilo jinak docela těžkou hru. V původní verzi totiž začínáte každou misi jen s pistolkou. Master Level for Doom II přináší jen pár nových nápadů. Ty jsou bohužel dost kontraproduktivní. Díky nim jsem pořád zdlouhavě hledal postup. Často to byl vopruz a asi ve dvou případech musel pomoci Youtube.

V jednom levelu se třeba dveře otevírají výstřelem. Zjistil jsem to asi po dvaceti minutách, když jsem ze zoufalství do nich vystřelil zblízka raketometem. V jiném levelu zase musíte střelit do jinak nedostupného spínače. Jak mě to má ♥♥♥♥♥ napadnout? Tohle nikdy v Doomu nebylo. Vrcholem všeho byl level, kdy musíte vzduchem dolevitovat pro klíč. Jako, že u zdi se zapnutým během to jde. Na skryté spínače nebo tajné dveře nutné k dalšímu postupu jsem si zvykl už z jiných béčkových her. Proč je to ale proboha tady?

Na nějaké hledání secretů jsem v tomhle šíleném designu rezignoval. Jinak je to stará dobrá akce. Svižná, adrenalinová, uspokojující. Pár levelů je opravdu dobrých. Hlavně ty, kde je hodně prostoru. Pokud zkousnete 2,5D omezení grafiky, tak to snad nikdy nezestárne. Skvělá atmosféra a nadčasový drive. Občas se holt některé designové experimenty neuchytí. V tomhle případě opravdu platí, že méně je někdy více. Na kulervoucí design z původní hry to nemá a často jen recykluje do složitějších a stísněnějších tvarů.

Crashův návod na spuštění: https://www.databaze-her.cz/hry/master-levels-for-doom-ii/diskuze/?stranka=1#p_226178

Pro: Doom drive, Doom atmosféra, Doom akce, některé prostornější levely
Proti: časté nudné záseky, někdy zbytečná složitost a stísněnost

⠀

A map pack for Doom 2. Great, as expected. I mean most maps as usually. Just finished my second playthrough of it.
Though there is some work to do to get this thing properly started. But you should use a proper source port for it, like GZDoom or ZDoom.
EDIT: some people are saying this is now included in the steam version of Doom 2 however I couldn't find it. So I can't confirm nor deny that.

shoutout to everyone who got this before it got de-listed

tl;dr a 21 map expansion for DOOM II with exclusive levels created by renowned mappers in the community, they're pretty fun and it's worth picking up.

Tired of companies releasing shovelware CDs full of random WADs straight off idgames without giving iD a share of the revenue, iD contracted some of the best and most well known mappers in the DOOM community to make maps for iD's own official map pack.
This resulted in the 1995 release Master Levels for DOOM II.

The pack contains 20 single level wads (TEETH.WAD has a secret level, bringing the map count up to 21), almost an entire campaign worth of new levels.
Master Levels comes with a text mode frontend called Doom-It for launching individual wads in the collection.

Some parts of the original release were not included with the Digital version, such as Maximum Doom, which was a collection of 3201 random amateur maps downloaded off idgames. As you might expect these generally suffered in quality and had problems like some maps being DOOM 1 maps that were hastily ported to DOOM 2, which tended to break balance and cause additional problems. Some of the maps weren't even for DOOM but rather Heretic. However some of the maps were originally intended for Master Levels but didn't make it into the collection.
Other parts that weren't included were a poster, and id STUFF, a bunch of encrypted software that could be unlocked via phone order.

My thoughts on DOOM itself and the quality of the release here are the same as my other DOOM review.

Overall the quality of the map pack is great. The extra levels are a lot of fun and freshen up the DOOM experience.

A quick note, if you plan to play these using a modern ZDoom-compatible source port, check out Master Levels Menu Interface for ZDoom[zdoom.org] by Zippy, which is a replacement for Doom-It and allows you to launch the levels directly from the game.

sice sem si to jenom viskoušel ale je to vážně těžkí a užil jsem si to

---

This really isn't and won't be easy (for me) and I still haven't made a decision while writing whether it will be a thumbs up or a thumbs down and I'm leaving the rating at 5/10 so that you can, regardless of the thumb that there will be at the end can be viewed as neutral

A thumbs up would be that the Master Levels for Doom 2 on Steam are now included in the Doom 2 Edition and therefore do not require an additional purchase.

For me, the choice of levels, for example, would be a thumbs down, but this is a subjective matter and leads to the actual topic surrounding the master levels.

So what exactly are these master levels for Doom 2 and why is there such a discrepancy in opinions online.

There is no clear explanation for the different opinions to me, but I have the feeling that if you look deeper into it, those who aren't really convinced by the collection are simply the "older generation" who are into Doom and grew up or witnessed the beginnings of the Internet. But of course I could also be wrong.

Apart from the somewhat complicated handling of the master levels, if you don't know them from the DOS times, it is probably more due to the fact that "Maximum Doom" was released in 1995, which contained additional bonus content in addition to the master levels for Doom 2. And that wasn't exactly a small number because, as far as I remember, it consisted of over 1000 custom files downloaded from the Internet, a few of which were for Doom and most of which were for Doom 2.
In the end, Maximum Doom contained thousands of levels with a wide variety of quality levels, of which there were also some levels from the designers who were “commissioned” for the Master Level of Doom 2, but which did not make it into the Master Level edition.

There was quite a lot of criticism of Maximum Doom because, like many similar Doom compilations, it contained some levels that were not designed to be played with Doom 2 and there were always problems.
There was also criticism that many levels were simply of inferior quality, which was also due to the fact that many levels were created by people who had little or no experience with level design or game mechanics in general at the time.

But back to the master levels for Doom 2

Since the Internet wasn't as widespread in the late 90s as it is today, some people took advantage of this and sold low-quality CD-ROMs full of WADs, which you could download tons of for free.

That's why id Software has decided to counteract this with its own extensions.
One of them was Final Doom and the other was Master Levels for Doom 2.
The whole thing with the master levels was started by Shawn Green because he also downloaded a few hundred levels from the Internet at the time and then commissioned some of these authors based on that.
There were some less well-known names among them, but also those like Tim Willtis, who became studio director, level designer and even, I think, co-owner of id Software and was co-responsible for games like the Quake and Rage parts, as well as Doom 3 and 2016.

But the whole project was a bit, let's just say, mysterious from the start, because many authors were of the opinion that everything belonged to a single and coherent "Mega-WAD (WAD stands for "Where's All the Data" which is the file format was used for the Doom and Doom 2 engine) will contribute to Doom 2. Others believed that the project was more of an exhibition of the authors' skills.

But Shawn Green and John Romero insisted from the start that the project would only be a collection of 20 PAWDs because the community was exploding with the release of working level editors.
If all the statements are to be believed, there was no further instruction to the authors other than maintaining design standards and the final product should simply be a high-quality selection of individual levels from the brightest and best Doom architects.
For this reason, the levels vary greatly in terms of size and difficulty and this is probably where the opinion that the collection is a worthy addition comes from.

Of course, that's why the original master levels for Doom 2 were released with id Software's own version of the Shovelware compilation Maximum Doom, but I don't think the whole thing was really thought through and it's not surprising that each of the authors who worked on the master levels, is represented with even more levels at Maximum Doom.
In addition, id Software probably “shot itself in the foot” with Maximum Doom, as this “bonus” contained additional WADs from the Internet and was actually what id Software wanted to combat with the Maser Levels.
Basically, the Master Levels are just another level package that already existed in abundance, which they tried to make more unique and justify that it was worth the money.

And the “master” in the whole project does not refer to the skills required to play the WADs, but rather refers to the skills that are necessary to create professional levels.
It is therefore not surprising that most of these authors have found a place in the games industry.

And all of these are also the reasons why I find it difficult to make a recommendation.

Because basically they are levels that replace other levels in the game and of the thousands of WADs there are still many that you can download today.
Anyone who owns the master levels for Doom 2 and enjoys the game should definitely take a look at the collection and form their own opinion about the quality, playability and difficulty of the levels.
Subjectively speaking, these aren't really bad because they are all completely different and depending on your "preference", one is more fun than the other, or you like it much more or not. But in my opinion it's not a big loss if you don't do it.

When you start the Master Levels for the first time, don't let the look scare you.
It looks worse than it is and you can start the level simply by pressing the enter key.
If you want to get a little more involved with the master levels or make it more comfortable, you can also do that with a source port.
There are good guides for this here on Steam and it looks more complicated than it is. However, I cannot say whether and to what extent these guides still work, especially the links to the other programs you need.

Oh yes, as you saw, I decided to give it the thumbs down because in my opinion it's not a "I have to see or play that" thing, it has nothing (anymore) to do with the Maximus Doom thing and because, if you're interested, there's a lot more to choose from than just these 20 levels

Revised and reposted: November 27, 2023

---

PLAYED WITH: ⌨️ 🖱 🎧

---

⮩ VISIT ME IN MY LITTLE WORLD

---

“Master Levels” is an official expansion pack for Doom 2 that comes with twenty maps made by some of the best and well known independent mappers from the Doom community of the 90s!

They are collected into four sort of anthology arcs that tell the stories of different figures from the Doom universe.
The arcs are:

Titan:
By: Jim Flynn
Consisting of two maps.
The mysterious mansion belonging to a UAC Weapons Engineer located on the “Titan” moon of Saturn has become infested with demons due to the Mars Incident. The manor was full of unfinished weapons that would be vital in helping the UAC stop the demonic invasion. It is your mission to recover these prototypes and check for survivors.


Doctor Sleep’s Inferno Series:
By: John W. Anderson (aka Dr. Sleep)
Consisting of five maps.
A fun reimagining of the first canto of The Devine Comedy to fit the Doom universe
You are a UAC scientist named Dante who got separated from his girlfriend Beatrice during the Mars Incident. Your friend Virgil says he last saw her being chased by a demon before she ran into a malfunctioning portal gateway that opened to Hell. Vergil agrees to accompany you on your journey through all of Hell to reunite with her. Maybe he could write a decent poem about the whole situation.

The Cabal:
By: Sverre André Kvernmo (aka Cranium)
Consisting of five maps.
You are a former Head Cyberdemon who was betrayed by the head council of Hell, The Cabal, for your opposition of Hell’s invasion of the human world. Betrayed by your own council, you are kicked out and humiliated by being forced to be morphed into the shape of one of Hell’s most hated figures of all time: the infamous Doomguy! While on the way to one of hell’s most brutal island prisons, floating on the ocean of blood, you broke out and swam all the way to a port where one of the Cabel member’s base is located. You decide to seek revenge on every single member of The Cabal that wronged you. Every level go up against a member of the Cabal and their lackeys, it’s pretty awesome.

There are also some unsorted levels by Christen David Klie, Tom Mustaine and Tim Willits where you just play as Doomguy suvivin’ and stuff.

The Titan arc is just amazing, it’s only two maps but you are in a genius’s mansion so it’s full of secrets and differently themed rooms like bedrooms, horse stables, libraries etc. You will often find yourself trapped in a new room while it gets flooded with demons and you'll have to figure out some hidden way out like through the stables or by solving some puzzle. The manor is absolutely flooded with demons outside to you may want to get around to taking them out soon, so they can’t take potshots at you from the outside the windows. The second map takes place in the backyard, so you really get a sense of progression.

The Cabal is probably my favorite as the levels are really creative and change as you play them, for example, there is one map where go through hell’s graveyard and they tease you by making you go through The Icon of Sin’s tomb (after Doomguy took him down in Doom 2), opening new rooms and entrances so you can open a way into the lair of one of the Cabal members while waves of different demons teleport in. Eventually you actually do wake up The Icon of Sin and have to fight him. Great stuff.

The inferno series is probably the weakest, that’s not to say it’s terrible. The levels are well designed visually and play alright but they’re bland compared to the ones found in the other arcs. Also, not that it really matters too much but the arc was never finished so the story goes nowhere.

The Doomguy levels are pretty great though too all in all, it’s very fun, if you aren’t a fan of Doom’s gameplay then it probably won’t win you over but if you are, then I’d say you should pick it up.

It basically just a dump of .wad files though so I recommend you use the Master Levels Menu mod for it.
You can use this guide to set it up:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=267116862

You can find a level order guide here![doom.wikia.com]