Review by Colin Phipps

I was a little woried by the name of this level when I first downloaded it. It is pretty obvious what WTC911 could be referring to. So I was relieved to discover that the level is actually named Waste Treatment Center #911. I wonder if the 911 was appended to mislead people into thinking it was about, well, 9/11, or whether it was renamed from WTC on taste grounds?

Anyway, the level itself is a small, tech/industrial themed level. The level is dark and slightly sinister, particularly with the imported music from Doom 1 E1M5. There is some nice attention to lighting and other details, like metal support pillars and computer panels. Architecturally it is well constructed, with lots of windows between areas and outdoor views included, so the small size of the level doesn't cause it to be uninteresting.

The gameplay varies in quality. Firstly, I should say that the level is easy; even at Ultra-Violent an experienced player will walk through most of the fights with few scratches. But I try not to mark down a level just for being easy. There are some good fights in this level that will make you think, even if they don't ultimately pose much danger: e.g. the first part of the level gives the player very little shotgun ammo, so you have to switch back and forth between the shotgun and pistol depending on the situation, grab at ammo from fallen enemies, and get them fighting amongst themselves if possible. This phase doesn't last long, though. Once you have plenty of shells the enemy are too thinly spread to be a threat, and the fights can be a bit linear. There are some clever traps, but only one is strong enough to put the player under any pressure.

So this is a nice little level. But for a Doom level, calling it nice is damning with faint praise :-). It would make a good first level of an episode, but it looks a bit weak on its own.