This expansion pack is kind of a mixed bag for me. My rating is high because the maps I like were good enough to easily outweigh the bad. The number of such maps, however, is almost equal to the number of maps I don't really like. It's the quality that I am talking about. Being a collection of maps designed by several different people, I think that it was inevitable.
My favorite maps would be the maps by Jim Flynn and John Anderson. Titan Manor is a really cool map and has a ton of gameplay. Trapped on Titan is basically Tricks and Traps of Doom 2 on steroids which I really loved because I absolutely love Tricks and Traps. Regarding Anderson's maps, each of them are unique in their own right and the strategic approach that can be brought in those maps is appreciable.
The two maps by Tim Willits are fun to say the least. I would have preferred a BFG in Canyon, but that's okay. Tom Mustaine's Paradox is also a great addition. It's trickiness adds to the gameplay.
Regarding Christen David Klie's maps, I'll say that I don't really care that much. Those maps are absurd and have a blant gameplay. A challenging start and unnecessary power ups in the end. And after the challenging start, picking up a better weapon and/or a power up is the end of the map. You can easily get through the maps after that. Offers nothing much. Cranium's maps are unfair, unnecessarily tough and stupid. They're unfair because mostly you'll have to rely on luck rather your strategy and/or approach. They're unnecessarily tough because they throw a lot of deadly enemies at the moment where no real strategy will work. They're stupid because the creator of the maps thought making it "tough" means making it good. To be honest, Trapped on Titan was actually more tough than Cranium's tedious maps. But it was not unfair at all. The best of his lot is Bloodsea Keep, which is nothing but a B-rated TNT: Evilution reject. In all honesty, I hate Cranium's maps regardless of it being a Master Levels map or not. Those maps are terrible.
Score : 8.2/10
Grade : A
These are overall scores, obviously. If I am to rate each of the maps, every Cranium map will get a 0/10 and Klie's maps will get 6/10 at best. The remaining maps will get at least an 8.5/10. The overall score hasn't been averaged by any means.
An expansion pack for DOOM II: Hell on Earth. 20 new maps, same monsters, same weapons, but definitely a nostalgia trip. If you played and loved DOOM (later The Ultimate DOOM) as well as DOOM II: Hell on Earth back then, this expansion is a must-play.
This is a disjointed smorgasbord of levels. Some are great, but others are disproportionately difficult or excessively cryptic. I eventually made it through but can't say the experience was thoroughly enjoyable. If you want more DOOM 2 action, you might be better off finding some quality wads on the internet than playing these Master Levels. I played with Zandronum and Brutal Doom v21, with instructions provided by the guide "Run Master Levels For Doom II With A Source Port" by Dr. Ambiguous.
SummaryIntroducing the Master Levels for DOOM II. Twenty never-before-seen levels all with the same acid drenched, hell spawned horror of the originals. Each was created by independent designers and supervised by the demented minds of id Software. You might as well forget about seeing the light of day ever again.