Review by Colin Phipps

Sector 666 is an 11 level episode for Doom 2. In fact it is not far from being a total conversion, since there are lots of new textures, and new sounds and music too.

The new textures are very important to this episode. There are quite a variety; many I recognised from other games, and some were completely new. There is a good new night sky texture too.

The first half of the episode is in the high-tech style, and the architecture is awesome. There is lots of detail throughout; in particular the new textures are used all over the place. Every area has a real feel to it, like it could be real - there are crates, signs, coke machines, telephones, garage doors, computer consoles, and of course great lighting too.

The early level of the episode are rather easy though; in fact the episode as a whole is on the easy side. The author gave far too many cells for my liking (though I never use cells much) which gives the player an easy option out of many of the fights. One thing which I really noticed was that each level was not large, but most used all 3 keys - each key was just quite quick to get. I prefer to think that I've earned a keycard, instead of just fighting a couple of baddies for it.

The later half of the episode moves the the hellish style. This is usually my least favourite style, but I liked these levels. There are fewer new textures, but still lots of impressive arhitecture. You'll probably need a good source port to cope with the many arches and other details - the author recommends ZDoom or Boom.

As you may have guessed by now, I really enjoyed this episode, but not every level was perfect:

1. Landing Site - A fairly short, straightforward level, but quite fun to play. The architecture is very nice, with good attention to detail and lighting,although it looks a bit artificial in places. The outdoor area is pretty boring though. Some nice tricky fights, but nothing too bad, as one would expect from an entry level.
2. Infested Base - Nice level. Good detailed architecture throughout: there is good lighting, lots of crates, computer consoles etc, and new textures which add a lot to the style of the level. There are plenty of interesting fights too, though probably only one difficult fight. With the megasphere at the start this level is too easy.
3. Storage - Another level with lots of new textures. Storage might sound like a load of dull box rooms, but in fact there is lots of detail and plenty worth seeing. The lighting was particularly well done. There are a great variety of fights at this level, from tricky chaingunners right up to a cyberdemon (which you don't have to kill). This level is still a bit straighforward; you need all 3 keys, but each is only a few minutes work to get.
4. Teleport base - Another stylish level, probably the only level I've seen which makes good use for that TEKGREN texture (as in MAP01 of Doom ][) without it looking out of place. The main part of the level is highly symmetrical, but there are good features and details which make it very distinctive. From this area you teleport to other areas, where you collect the keycards. Make sure you're holding a good weapon when you teleport, those are tricky fights. In fact there are good fights throughout this level, except at the end, where there is a horde-of-troopers fight, which looks pathetic when faced with a SSGun.
5. Nothing - A strange mix of styles at this level. Part is high-tech, part is all done in marble, and another area was all wooden. The different areas connect to the start room via long staircases, which look very strange, but actually do affect the gameplay once or twice. There are some great fights at this level; you are forced to fight entering a large area from a small corridor in several places, forcing you to take risks which make it all the more exciting. Boom users would be well advised to disable weapon recoil at this level, it can prove fatal on those awkward ledges - there are several places at this level where you can get completely stuck.
6. This level should have been called nothing, because it is a single room with an exit switch. Does this author have something against the number 6 :-) ?
7. Warzone - As you'd expect from the name, this level is quite a fight in places. The rooms are all very well detailed, and the lighting is good, but the style isn't as varied as at some of the earlier levels. There are plenty of good fights, but also a lot of straightforward SSGunning & rocket fights.
8. Mansion - The style changes for this level - it's more like Monster Condo, since it is decorated with plaster, wood and stone textures. The style of the episode is still here though, with nicely contained high-tech areas from time to time. There are some good fights, but there are a lot of routine fights which aren't as interesting, like fighting individual mancubi, or shutgunning spectres through cage bars - there is not much pressure on the player. The main difficulty is ammo, which is pretty scarce throughout the level. There are also some bugs, at least playing with Boom - floor leakage in one room, and the red key is accessible before it should be.
9. Hell - The mansion style continues. It's a short level, with areas linked by teleports each of which holds a short fight and then a keycard. There is a good fight against a spiderdemon, where you have to use a blur artefact and some cacodemons to cut down the odds. However there were some poor fights - e.g. why trap the player in a room and release 3 archvilles if you give him an invulnerability and hundreds of cells? The architecture is quite good, with good lighting and impresive areas, but was either too bright or too thinly populated to worry the player.
10. More Hell - The style gets really hellish now, with great marble halls and arches, and lots of flickering torches and other details - there are lots of good and impressive areas at this level. However, this level makes a basic mistake that so many episodes make - giving the player BFG, plasma rifle, unlimited cells and making him fight barons, cyberdemos and archvilles does not make the fights harder, it only makes the easy fights seem even easier. There are tons of real nasties at this level, but with no limit to cells you can hardly go wrong. There is one excellent fight at this level, with lots of monsters teleporting in to cut you off and surround you, but the rest are largely a waste of time given the BFG.
11. Demonic - The final showdown of this episode, and what a showdown! The level is well designed to build up to a great final fight - the main area is a giant arena, with Romero's head initially shielded at one end, filling the arena with monsters. You have to clean out some side areas, and hit a switch to expose the head to your shots - but by the time you get back the arena is choked with monsters. Good luck!

Like the new textures, I recognised many of the sounds were like other games. The shotgun and pistol sounds are good, and the monsters were good too, but the rocket and plamsa rifle sounded very silly to me. Still, normally I don't like any new sounds, but these are quite sensible. There is new music for every level too, and they were quite good.

There are lots of things above that I mention which might improve this episode, but those don't change the basic fact: I really enjoyed this one. It may be a bit easy, but it is great fun to play through, so I can highly recommend it!