Fairy Tale Spotlight: Batman Doom [Video Game Review]

"Batman Doom" is a video game released in 1999. It was created by ACE Team Software. It is a total conversion of Doom II replacing all the maps, enemies, and weapons to now have a batman theme.

I was originally looking for Star Wars Doom mods when I found this. I did find one, but all it did was change the looks of the maps, but all the maps were basically the same. "Batman Doom" is actually a fully made campaign, and possibly the only Batman first person shooter that I can think of. It is a 32 map set that do include two secret levels which are sadly very hard to access. (I still found them though.)

The development team went through a lot of trouble to turn Doom II into Gotham. They made everything look like a cityscape, and I think they did really good. I am pleasantly happy with how nice everything looked for a game made in '99. The only really odd thing was that the doors, which clearly had doorknobs on them, still moved up like the original Doom doors. You get used to it, but it was still silly. To be fair, there was no way to actually get a door to swing open in Doom... although they still somehow do it in the final level. I... I don't actually know how... but... they did... just that one time.

During the long campaign you go up against the likes of Killer Croc, Tally Man, Penguin, Scarecrow, Two-Face, the Joker, and finally there is a showdown with Bane after having to refight all the former bosses in quick succession. Oh, yes. And I know you are all asking, "Who the heck is Tally Man?!" Tally Man is a DC villain, but not really a Batman one. I think they got him mixed up with Victor Zsasz, who is basically the same type of villain. You can do your own research into it, but it did give me a giggle.

As far as character design, the enemies look like they were barrowing from the Animated Series, but Batman's design reminds me a bit too much of the Hanna-Barbara version. It all works through.

The weapons were all changed to be non-lethal types, although I personally feel that the tern "less lethal" should be used. Some of the weapons I got felt really overpowered. I certainly don't want to be shot by any of them. Some were a bit more obvious such as the taser which replaced the chainsaw. Oh, and I would be silly not to mention the most overpowered shotgun I have ever used in any game ever: The Blastgun. It fires a whopping 20 pellets with a huge radius. It takes a long time to reload, but if you get up close to someone and fire this, they are probably going down. I used this more than any other weapon.

In case you are wondering if Batman gets to do any fist fighting, you really don't do very much of it unless you wanna get hurt. Personally, I would have preferred the game drop you on a berserk item at the beginning of each level (and maybe remove the red filter) to give Batman a realistic melee prowess throughout the entire mission, but I guess this was a lost opportunity.

Each mission had you go back to the Batcave to see who the next villain was going to be. These maps were always small and had no enemies, but there was always a special secret hidden in each one that was fun to look for. It also gave you a chance to unwind a little between missions.

These missions are very well crafted and actually feel like you are in Batman situations. They captured the spirit of Batman extremely well. They do get better as the game goes on. I was not enjoying the first few maps as much, but that was mainly because I didn't have a very good arsenal yet. Once you get better weapons, the game all around picks up. Getting stuck with a limited supply of Batarangs kind of sucks.

All the enemy types were appropriate. They even gave the Penguin wind-up exploding penguins to fight. Cute! That said, I think the enemy list could have been a little better. The developers did simple enemy replacement, but they had to use entire enemy slots to replace with the bosses. That's too bad.

The two secret levels were based around the Scarecrow. You find the first one by finishing him off extremely quickly, which is not super intuitive, but it pales in comparison to the second secret map which has you trying to lead an enemy to walk to a certain spot to get a door to open. Without a guide, I would have just killed him. Once you get to that last secret level though, you won't be disappointed.

I think I've said enough. I do recommend "Batman Doom." It's well worth your time. You can find it in the regular mod list of the Doom+DoomII Remaster. And despite the weapons being non-lethal, it doesn't actually feel like it. In fact, one of them was an actual flamethrower. How is a flamethrower non-lethal? See what I'm getting at?

This blog was written on February 14, 2025. Happy Valentine's Day!

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Shoddy Lands [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main thrust of the story.]

"The Shoddy Lands" is a short story written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1956. This one might be interesting to the modern crowd, especially those who get very heavy into video game technology.

That first paragraph might be a bit misleading, because this story is not about computers, video games, or any technology whatsoever. Let me explain. The story is about a man who is getting a visit from an old friend. This friend brings over his fiancé, although he sort of did it without announcing he would. The protagonist is not the type who likes having those sort of encounters forced upon him.

Strangely, while they are talking, he slips into a different reality. Now, this new world he is in has what is commonly called in video games "a low-poly environment." Everything around him is just barely recognizable as grass, flowers, and trees, but they are simply lacking the detail to appreciate up close. You may notice things like this in older games from the 90's, such as on the N64 and PS1. "Doom" is another great example of low-poly. You might see a tree that could have been drawn by a child, and even then you might only see just one side of that tree no matter where you look at it from. This is the sort of experience the protagonist of the story appeared to be going through.

Since the story was written in an era before this sort of technology, it is quite interesting that it is so relatable in the modern day. What he is actually trying to describe are things that have little detail because the "mind" that he is inside does not really care for those things. When that "mind" does care about something, they tend to have better detail. In this case, those things are specific flowers, women's dresses, and jewelry.

The truth was that the man had somehow slipped into an alternate dimension that was the embodiment of that woman his friend had brought over. There was even a giant version of her that was far more beautiful than the real thing present in this strange world.

What was it all about? Answer: feminine narcissism. Although this doesn't apply to all women, Lewis was making a point. He was also making the point that this woman was not really a great pick by his friend, as she seemed more obsessed with herself or perhaps what she could get from her soon-to-be husband.

But feminine narcissism is a thing, and it isn't good. It is sadly one of the reasons why so many unborn babies are killed every single day. Lewis strikes a good cord with me in this story, and I am very pleased that he bothered to write this. I recommend this story. It is politically incorrect, and thank goodness for that.

This blog was written on February 12, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Man Born Blind [Short Story Review]

[I entirely spoil this story.]

"The Man Born Blind" is a short story written by C. S. Lewis. I actually had a lot of trouble figuring out when it was published. I'm gonna just say 1977 since it was bundled along with "The Dark Tower," which I recently reviewed, but it is possible that it may have been published sometime before then.

The title of this story is very self-describing. It is about a man who was born blind, although he has been given his sight back. Throughout his blind period, he was always told about light, and he was very curious about it. Once he could finally see, he still could not really understand the concept of light. The author does a decent job at explaining why this is. It is a psychology issue.

Basically, it has less to do with him not understanding what light is and more to do with people doing a terrible job explaining it to him. Light gives him the ability to see things, but he sees the things and not the light itself. He just wants to see light, not just reflections of light. I know it sounds silly... and to be fair... it kind of is.

The story wraps up with him running into a painter who tries to explain what light is, since he has to sort of create the concept of light on a painting he is making of some sort of cliffside. This sadly convinces the man to jump in to his death in his final search for light. Yeah, he dies.

I'll be honest... I thought this story had some really interesting concepts about how formerly blind men might perceive the world, but I did not really like it all that much. The ending just felt shocking but in a silly way. I don't really recommend it.

This blog was written on February 12, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: North Carolina State Constitution [Document Review]

The "North Carolina State Constitution" was first written in 1776. It's current form was ratified in 1971 and has 14 articles.

I am here more to talk about reading your state's constitution more than I am to talk about what I read in mine. The only thing I want to mention about the NC version that I thought was really cool happened in Article VI Sec. 8 where is clearly states that anybody running for public office will be disqualified for the position if they "deny the being of Almighty God." Hell yeah.

Anyways, I just read this because I think if you live in a state you should be familiar with its constitution. You should also read the US Constitution too obviously. Either way, be sure you know what your actual state believes in. It is very easy to get ahold of. I may have ordered a paperback copy, but your state constitution can be easily viewed online for free. It's one of those things that you certainly don't have to do, but you probably should do it anyways.

Do I recommend the "North Carolina State Constitution?" Well... do you live in North Carolina? If so, then yes. It is a boring read though! The US Constitution is a much easier read and seems to be in a plainer language. But there was enough there to teach me a thing or two about my state, and I feel a lot better having pushed through it. That's all.

This blog was written on February 10, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Dark Tower [Book Review]

[I spoil quite a lot of this story. I don't really spoil the ending because there isn't one anyhow.]

"The Dark Tower" is a novel written by C. S. Lewis. It is unfinished and also fragmented. What remains of the novel was published posthumously in 1977. Apart from the fact that Lewis never finished this book, parts of it are actually missing, likely burned by someone who did not know exactly what they were throwing into the fire. But what remains is a fascinating piece of literature, so don't let that bug you too much.

The story of "The Dark Tower" has to do with some people at Cambridge who were experimenting with a device called the chronoscope. It is a device that can peer into either the far past or far future. It has no way of actually setting it though, so there is no way to know exactly which period is actually being viewed.

However, what these gents actually see through the window is so incredibly surreal that it brings to question what is actually being seen. One of these odd visions takes the form of a man with a stinging horn coming out of his forehead, who they dubbed the "stingingman." If he uses this sting on someone, they become emotionless drone-like beings.

Things get even crazier when one of the people watching this "Othertime" ends up materializing on the other side and even turns into one of the stingingmen. It is here that the men begin to wonder if they are even seeing another time at all. Things are just too strange, and it is hard to fathom how this sort of world could exist on earth at any point in the future or the past.

The titular dark tower seen through the chronoscope is the same as the tower at the Cambridge library. How could it exist there when things are so weird? And lastly, one of the men watching ends up getting his soul switched with his double on the other side, trapping him in Othertime. This makes up the second major half of the story where you actually get to explore the other side of the chronoscope.

I say that he has a soul swap, because he actually does become the stingingman in the Othertime universe. He thinks like him, has the same urges, has the same language, but he is not the same man. That means that the stingingman is still the stingingman, but someone else is pulling the strings. This goes well with what I call the "meat puppet" theory for how the soul works. A soul controls the body, but the body still is what it is regardless. The mind, all of its knowledge, and memory, have nothing at all to do with the soul. A person's actual identity seems to come from the soul, however, that has very little if anything to do with the body and it's brain. You are who you are regardless of what your brain thinks it is. This actually lines right up with my own personal beliefs.

There was also one other incident before the book abruptly ends that, although subtlety presented, gave me a very pleasant shock. In one scene, the transferred stingingman was reading from a book in that world's own language, and he read about a genuinely evil man that was doing experiments on children. When he read that the man was later assassinated, it seemed to me that he tried to say "Thank God," but couldn't actually say "God." Although it isn't completely clear who he was trying to thank, the point was that there was no word in the stingingman's head that could reference the one being thanked.

The latter paragraph suggests that the world on the other side of the chronoscope might actually be Godless. This could be true considering one of the men watching it called the place Hell. Now, I'm not saying that this place really was Hell. It is more suggested that it was a parallel dimension that was running alongside our own timeline. However, if this place truly was Godless then it certainly comes close to being like Hell, insomuch as it is a place separated from God.

I am very sorry if this review is confusing. The story itself can be confusing at times. It does not help that entire swaths of content is missing from it, and also that it simply stops before there is any real conclusion. It is a bit frustrating, to say the least. However, what is there has enough to make it all so very interesting, and I do recommend that you read this one through. Just take it for what it is. Don't worry so much about what is missing, and focus on what is there to read. What you will get from it is an extremely surreal fever dream that came out of the mind of the man who gave us Narnia. It is very much worth the journey.

This blog was written on February 10, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Arrival [Video Game Review]

"Arrival" is a video game released in 2021. It is a map pack made for classic Doom II. It was created by Walker Wright also known as Pavera. I found it in the Featured Mods on the excellent Doom+DoomII Remaster put out by NightDive Studios.

"Arrival" does not really have a story. It is just a map set that proposes a set of challenges for the player. There is nothing wrong with that, since Doom has always been about the gameplay. That said, there is no better story than "guy with big guns kills demons a lot."

The theme here has to do with very... VERY large maps with a lot of enemies everywhere and constantly. They are not slaughter maps. Most of the enemies you face are the weaker sort, but intermixed with Arch-viles and Revenants. This combination often puts you in a situation where you have to make extremely hard pushes through a crowd in order to get to the key you need.

And you will be looking for those keys. All the maps need those keys for you to escape. You will be spending most of your time exhausting yourself trying to get the keys, usually all three of them, just to get yourself to the ending. These maps are intended to really tire you out by just constantly giving you a lot of fights.

The fights are not always really difficult per se, but they happen so much and so constantly that you might find yourself psychologically losing it a little. I had to keep taking breaks just to wind myself down. The Arch-viles were a constant problem since they were always reviving enemies you had worked so hard to kill. I pretty much made it a rule to use the BFG whenever I saw them.

These maps also give you an absolute ton of ammo and health. You'll pretty much see the stuff lying all over the ground. It looks like a lot, but I found myself spending the time to gather it all up when I could. All that ammo gets used.  It never ever seems like enough. If you play this one, just be aware of what you have. Don't let the abundance of ammo lead you into a false sense of security. You will run out if you are not careful.

I was unable to find a secret exit in this map set, even though there is an extra mission called "Dad Bod" or in the case of the remaster it's called "Father Figure." If you play the game through regularly, you end up with an actual bad ending where you get lost in Hell forever. They accomplish this by placing you in a map with no exit. The true ending comes from playing "Father Figure" which you have to access from the level select menu. And this, sadly, means you have to "pistol start" it.

Well, I did it. I pistol started it and was able to finish it... just barely. It was about as exhausting as all of them, but I'd say that it was a tad easier than most of them. But, Lord, these maps were just so very tiring to play. I loved how everything looked though. They are well made maps with some interesting challenges.

Do I recommend "Arrival" though? I actually do, but you need to be ready to fight and fight hard. You'll be white-knuckled from beginning to end. There's no way around it. Lock and load, space marine! It's gonna be a long one!

This blog was written on February 9, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Word of Mouse [Book Review]

"Word of Mouse" is a children's book written by James Patterson and Chis Grabenstein. (Although probably mainly the latter in this case.) It was published in 2016. I actually started reading this book many years ago but stopped because... frankly it was boring me. But I decided to give it another shot recently, and things seemed to go a little better. I think it had more to do with where my frame of mind was at the time, rather than the subject matter.

"Word of Mouse" is like a children's version of "Miss Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." It's protagonist, a mouse named Isaiah, escapes from a lab that does tests on animals, but those same tests have made him extremely intelligent, even to the point of being able to speak and read English. He makes friends with other mice and one human girl who he has to communicate with by jumping around on a laptop keyboard. Very cute.

Most of the book has to do with him trying to survive outside of the lab but with the constant sadness that he left his entire family in such a terrible situation. The story picks up when he concocts a plan to rescue his family from the lab.

Now, you may be wondering if this book makes lab scientists look like vicious, evil animal torturers... and yes. It does. It absolutely does to a cartoonish degree. I'm not joking. These scientists absolutely love torturing animals and are always fearful that the ASPCA is going to find out what they're doing. Yeah, I didn't really care for this plot point. It felt very manufactured.

To be honest, I found much of the last quarter of the book to be somewhat surreal. The authors went through a lot of trouble to factor so many things in for the mice to deal with to make it seem realistic in the way that they interact with the human world. I did a similar thing back when I wrote "God and the Squirrels," where I had a team of squirrels attempting to "pilot" a car. But I was never trying to push any weird lab animal abuse conspiracies at anybody.

Like my "God and the Squirrels," this book has a lot of religious stuff in it as well, but mostly towards the end. A lot of the agendas get dropped near the end so you have plenty of time to fall in love with the characters up to that point. Yeah, it kind of sucks, I know. I'm not saying religion in books are bad, but the Christianity represented in this one was more progressive in nature. It had me scratching my head a little.

You need to understand something. I don't hate this book. It plays out like a children's movie almost to the letter. It's very entertaining, cute, and fun. It just ends on an unrealistic and surreal note. It's not a bad ending. You just have to accept it for what it is. And what it is... is just not as good as what came before it. This book gets a solid 75%. That's right. This book is 75% good. And the ending doesn't kill it; it just comes across as a bit forced and stupid.

But do I recommend it? Well, I do, but I don't think you should if the stuff at the end is going to bother you. It is wildly entertaining and well-written. All the characters are very interesting... except for the evil lab scientist. It's a mixed bag. Read at your own risk. (But let's be honest... "God and the Squirrels" is probably a better book.)

This blog was written on January 28, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Deathless [Video Game Review]

"Deathless" is a video game released in 2018. It is a full map pack for original Doom, created by James Paddock.

I keep running into these wonderful Doom map packs that continue to surprise and entertain me. "Deathless" is a four episode map pack that replaces the campaign from original Doom. It contains no weapons or enemies from Doom II. It also takes the plot from the original game too. All that's different here are the maps themselves.

The name of the game here is small maps. Every map in "Deathless" are very small, compact, and have usually an enemy count from about 6 to 40. Although the maps are small, they are still a lot of fun to explore. They don't take a whole lot of smarts to unravel them, and that was the idea. It's like playing the entire original campaign in bite-sized chunks.

As I said, there are four episodes like the original game had. In this version, they are called respectively "Lifeless", "Ruthless", "Deathless", and "Griefless." Each episode has one secret level which usually are smaller compact versions of famous levels from both Doom and Doom II. The designs of each map are very good. They all feel like small facilities being guarded by a realistic number of sentries. All the enemies are organically placed, making everything feel like it is supposed to be that way.

Another thing that is very notable about "Deathless" is just how accessible it is to anybody. For new gamers, this is an easy map pack to start out with. And if it gets too easy, the difficulty setting will help up the enemy count. Everything about this game is very satisfying. Just keep in mind that if you prefer the huge sprawling maps from the original games, you will not find them here. All these maps are small and wonderfully tight. Some of the best design I have ever encountered in Doom history.

I do recommend "Deathless" especially to people who are interested in a change of pace. Doom is known for their huge and complicated missions. It's good to change things up once in a while. This map set is available as a Featured Mod in the excellent "Doom+Doom II Remastered" put out by NightDive Studios. Give it a try!

This blog was written on January 27, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Beware of the Mouse [Book Review]

"Beware of the Mouse" is a novel written by Leaonard Wibberley. It is the fifth and final book of the Grand Fenwick series. It is also my favorite. The book was published in 1958, making it the second book released, but it seems to be the suggestion of the author that it be read last.

"Beware of the Mouse" actually takes place in the Middle Ages and goes into more of a history tale of the world's smallest fictional country. What's interesting about setting the story so far back in time is that very little has even changed. Even in the modern era, Grand Fenwick still lived as if they were in the Middle Ages. They even used the long bow, which is their weapon of choice.

The plot of this one has to do with a serious threat from France after the rival country begins deploying a new weapon called the cannon. It is a terrifying weapon that threatens to destroy anybody who has to content with it. France hates Grand Fenwick and wants to claim them for themselves. The issue is that Grand Fenwick knows nothing of gunpowder and cannons and worries that their mastery of the long bow will fail under such a frightening new weapon.

As usual in this series, it is up to Grand Fenwick to act as the underdog while dealing with overwhelming forces going against them. In this case, the forces coming outnumber them 40 to 1. I don't want to spoil how it goes, but it was wonderfully told.

All the characters in this book are charming an wonderful. The knight known as Sir Dermot, an Irishman, steals the show by being both the bravest and the most cowardly all at the same time. His duality is hilarious, and I loved every single scene with him in it. Much of the story is about him trying to determine his destiny, not only as a knight, but as a man.

This story also is a great way to learn about how people lived in the Middle Ages. It all seemed very accurate to the era, which actually helped sell some of the more humorous moments. Nothing here is sensationalized. If something was awkward, then the author gives us the truth.

I think the best part of this book was that you don't need to read any of the other ones to get into it. It is entirely not dependent on the modern stories. I love this because it really ended up being, not only my favorite in the series, but just such a damn fine Middle Ages book in general. I'll even go so far as to say that, if you only read one, read "Beware the Mouse." It's really that good!

All in all, I loved this series. I am so happy they exist and are now apart of my imagination. Thank you, Leonard Wibberley, for these wonderful stories. I will always have a special place in my heart for the tiny country of Grand Fenwick.

This blog was written on January 26, 2025.

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