When DOOM 2016 released here, I decided I really should play through all the Doom games we have here, in order, to get proper context. I only ever played the first one, and that was a long time ago. Today I finished Doom 2, and so far my thoughts are:

Doom 1 is a way, waaaay better game, right? I don't know what the "Doom community" consensus is, but I feel like that can't be a controversial take. I mean, Doom 2 is still a lot of fun, the new shotgun is great and having all the new enemies is a real improvement, but the levels... so many levels feel gimmicky and kinda tedious. And there's no logic to them, to how they go one after the other. One of the great things about Doom 1 is that while sure, the story barely exists, the levels actually do have a sort of narrative logic to them. It really does feel like we start from a space base that's being overtaken by hell, and then we slowly go deeper and deeper into the demon realm. It's actually a very immersive game. Doom 2 barely ever feels like that. I feel like the levels could be rearranged in almost any random order, and goofy stuff like Barrels of Fun are basically a huge neon sign screaming "the devs are getting bored and/or high".

Also, the Icon of Sin boss level is so lame. One of the wors bosses I think I've ever seen. A wall. After two games the last grand monster you fight is a wall. It actually reminded me of Spoony years ago making fun of fighting the floor and then grass in Ultima 3. Not to mention I have no idea how anyone would figure out how to actually beat it, except for on accident after lots of trial and error. I mean sure, the giant "shoot here" hole is obvious, but I actually thought the game was bugged, because the vertical auto aim didn't work. I don't think it would ever occur to me that's on purpose and I only learned how to do it by accident when googling the "bug". I know the boss in Doom 1 was way too easy, but come on. It still felt way more satisfying than riding an elevator up and down to shoot a wall... and once you do know what to do, it's actully just as easy the Doom 1 boss.

I also recently tried replaying Painkiller, a game I was a huge fan of back in the day, much more so than Doom, and I’m really surprised how badly it aged. Before these replays I would have Said I like Painkiller much more than Doom, but now I have to say especially Doom 1 absolutely blows Painkiller out of the water. Painkiller’s levels feel so linear and boring, the guns aren’t nearly as fun to shoot as I remembered, and enemies feel bullet-spongy… I couldn’t even bring myself to finish it, I got so bored about half way through. It’s really amazing how well Doom 1 holds up.

Have you ever played Serious Sam? How does that game compare? (for the record I have not.)
Painkiller does have a killer soundtrack though. Atleast... that's how I remember it. And the slow-mo Demonic power thingie was cool. Painkiller also had an, IMHO, really really good story. All entries of the series actually. The level design though... yeah... don't recall anything remarkable in that regard.

Also - side-topic - what you said about story/levels can also be applied to Thief.
Thief 1 had a good story.
Thief 2 is good levels/maps with a disjointed story thrown in. Quite decent lore-wise actually, but completely and utterly disjointed from level progression.

Oh man... not a hell themed game, but a cursed one for me for sure. I'll get to that in a second.

As to how it compares... well, it's basically nothing like Doom. It's more like Painkiller in that the level design is mostly "clear out an area of enemies - door opens -clear next area and so on", unlike Doom's mazes and key cards. But unlike Painkiller it's a very bright, goofy game. It's quite good, definitely has its own personality.

As to my personal experience, well... look here. At the final boss.

https://youtu.be/SN-ixB2SP48?feature=shared&t=744

What I did was I didn't realise you're supposed to get to the pyramid, and I tried to fight the boss out in the desert. I mean, his health bar is right there, so apparently I should shoot him, right? Seemed impossible because of all the monsters, but I found that if you go off far enough from that main road, they start to ignore you. So I went way off, and there I kept shooting the boss. Since that's not how you're suppsoed to fight him at all, I'd use up all my ammo on the boss, and that's still not enough to kill him. I'd be down to the basic infinite ammo pistol. And then it would turn out when he's low on health, it starts to regenerate. I was totally stuck. I don't know why, but it took me ages of trying it that way before I figured out I should go to the pyramid. You wouldn't believe the time and effort wasted.

Anyway, when I finally beat him like I should have... that was basically the last thing my PC did, before breaking like the car in Blues Brothers. It was like the game first mocked my idiocy and then took final revenge. I know it's impossibly silly, but I'm genuinely superstitious about Serious Sam games now, half-convinced my PC will spontaneously combust if I ever play and finish another one.