The rest of the level is that sweet blend of the two themes, and it's hilarious to think of the combined elements like wood crushers. I guess the concrete areas would look wide open if you theoretically shipped all the crates out, but it serves well to show the difference between 'techbase' and 'hell' architecture. The fact that the green brick area serves as a sort of 'hub' is a nice contrast to the concrete tech crate maze you come from. I've always found the ceiling/floor textures in the crate area really interesting, giantВ sectors filled with light ceilings can look bad if not segmentedВ right, but given the overall linearity and shape of the place it's notВ distracting like it can be in other situations. The 'crate maze' that's not actually a true maze is interesting because I guess the geometry assets were in place, what else do you texture that kind of thing with, given the original idea? The crates are confusing enough to contain mazelike elements but the outside border is never far away, and in a 'labyrinth' you can't really tell exactly where you are once you get farВ in. This brings me deep regret and sadness, my custom maps were not good enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Д®2m2 is cool because, like Spawning Vats, large portions of it are incorporated between two designers, and that's always interesting to see. I did play Wolf3D and I keep enjoying it nevertheless :P

i think E3M7 is almost as brilliant of a moody puzzle-style map with its own very distinct sense of placeВ that i've still seen very few maps ever touch,В though it may not wow like E2M2 does. i'm glad this map, and Tom Hall as a designer, is finally getting the love it deserves from the Doom community. the fact that the crate maze is a central feature of the levelВ but you can largely bypassВ it because the map points you to the critical path by the berserk pakВ is also really brilliant. it's like the level tells an entire story as you go through it (another thing you can feel very much in particular with episode 2 map 4 of Doom 1).В it also feels labyrinthineВ but in a way that is exciting and interesting to unpack, and not as complicated as it might look. the whole idea of a base overtaken by otherworldly and hellish elements is felt stronglyВ the map - no ingame storytelling is needed.В so many ideas are contained in what might initially seem to be a flat and boxy layout. it actually feels like a functioning base of some kind ofВ while also being an engaging experience that introduce strange elements into the mixВ - no small feat. he doesn't make the self-containedВ aesthetic contributions that Romero does but i feel like he's the more brilliant and versatile designer, especially at his best.В his maps tell stories that are really captivating and multi-layered.Д®2M2 is abstract in the way the best Doom levels are, butВ it has a fully realized sense of place. even though 4 isВ my favorite for how truly bizarre it is, i think Wolf 3D Episodes 2 and 5 are the ones most worth playing overall.В in spite of the fact that he can be inconsistent, Tom Hall was and is one of my favorite game designers, and i even felt that from playing some of his Mario Maker levels back a couple of years ago. though,В all have a lot of classic moments in them, even though theyВ can be scattered.

Episode 1 is these lost, long hallways that do genuinely feel like a prison but aren't entirely captivating from a gameplay perspective.В Episodes 2-6. I think people forget about Wolf3DВ 1) because it's so flat and 2) because Episode 1 mostly sucks and that's what people mostly played. i will say i've never cared for Spear of Destiny as much as other people because it's less brilliantly unpredictable i its design, but it does also have that strong sense of place that his best maps do.

probably the best examples of this are in Episode 4 floorВ 5 (which is genuinely disturbing and plays absurdist 4th wall tricks) and Episode 3 floorВ 8 (which isВ incredibly suspenseful and unpredictable)В which are among my favorite videogame levels.В both are designed by Tom Hall, of course. the design is way better on so many different fronts.В there are so many more ideas and distinct moments in Wolfenstein 3D levels, and so much playing with expectation. if you compare it to a lot of the raycast engine style games that came after (like, say, Blake Stone), there's no real comparison. Wolf3D had some really underrated and honestly great level design. I actually kinda prefer Tom Hall's more structured andВ maze-likeВ design as well as his strong attention to detail.ДЄs primitive as Wolf 3D is, I like it more than Doom in some ways.

Wolfenstein 3d episode 4 floor 5