Maximum Doom

Master Levels for Doom II CD from the Depths of Doom Trilogy collection, which also contains Maximum Doom.

Maximum Doom is the name given to the bonus content distributed with the Master Levels for Doom II expansion pack on December 26, 1995. It consists of 1,830 amateur PWAD files of varying quality downloaded from the Internet (191 for Doom, 1,629 for Doom II, and 10 for Heretic). Many of the files are still available, for example on the idgames archive. Some contain copyrighted material, such as audio from television programs like The Simpsons and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Some levels that were created by the contracted designers for the Master Levels did not make it into the add-on, though they were included in Maximum Doom.

In total, Maximum Doom had close to 3,000 levels.

Criticism

Like many similar commercial Doom compilations, Maximum Doom has had its share of criticism. Although the package advertised over 3,000 levels, the actual figure is somewhat lower. Many of the levels for Doom II were originally Doom levels that were converted. Since the levels were not originally designed for Doom II, they suffered occasional problems.

Like many shovelware Doom collections, Maximum Doom has been criticized for containing levels that are of poor quality, as many contain entry-level errors, even for their time (for example, unintentional HOM effects were abundant in many of the Maximum Doom maps). This is somewhat understandable considering the fact that these maps were mostly made by people who had had little to no experience with level design, the engine, and overall game mechanics in general at the time they were probably downloaded.

External links

• Maximum Doom download link from archive.org
• ClassicDoom.com has an entire list of these WADs.
• The Unofficial Master Levels for Doom II FAQ has a section on Maximum Doom
• Template:Idgames provides authoring, title, play info, and download information on most of these WADs.