Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-26005008-20160407215658/@comment-1496755-20160419093429

I tend to compare design quality with levels from the same year - it seems more fair this way. For me, the only other 1994 game that Doom 2 can directly compare to is... Heretic. It should be obvious which one offers superior map quality. And if we look at the series as a whole, Final Doom is definitely the champion of level design (and difficulty too).

I have seen my fair share of poor level design - but it's usually not because the actual architecture sucks, but because the map is confusing or plays in some weird manner. Xatrix's Redneck Rampage comes to mind - pretty realistic architecture, but pretty confusing and time-consuming to beat. And to make matters worse, all keys look the same, which is a problem if a level has 10 locked doors (each keys opens one specific door). Now add large areas that you have to traverse and nearly-invisible cracks in the walls that you are supposed to blow up... and you get the picture.