Fairy Tale Spotlight: Scientist [Video Game Review]

"Scientist" is a video game developed by Roland van der Velden and Thomas van der Velden. It was originally released back in 2002. This is a heavily modified map pack for Doom II. You might remember the author from my review of "Harmony." This has a very similar feel to it, but it is more based on the Doom universe this time. You actually play as Doom Guy.

Although there is no official story text released for this one, the idea of it is very clear right from the start. You are chasing down a mad scientist who is doing some very terrible things involving hell and demons. He's basically replacing the UAC in this one.

This is a 20-map campaign with no secret levels. Most of the enemies you remember from Doom II are present, but some are edited to look a little different. There is a new enemy that flies around and attacks you, and, if you kill it, it releases a lost soul. Some of the weapons are different too. The chainsaw was replaced with some gloves that can shock enemies when you touch them. The BFG9000 is the same, but now it is thrown like a grenade.

The whole design of "Scientist" is both familiar and unique. The authors used a lot of unique textures to make everything look new and fresh. This is something they excel at. It sometimes feels like a non-Doom game, but the monsters are all clearly familiar.

The thing that I liked about this one was that you really feel like you are chasing the Scientist as you go along. In a number of the missions, you run into him and can briefly fight him. He always teleports away before you can finish him off though. This is cool. In most Doom stories, the antagonists are mentioned in the story, but you never really get to see them. It's all just a story for you to think about as you play. But no... you can see this Scientist as he does his work and continues to flee away from you. Brilliant! This is the only Doom game that did that well!

The game also culminates in a great final boss fight with the Scientist. I loved to finally get to finish him off after all that chasing. That's how you do a chase story!

I do recommend "Scientist." If you are interested in it, it is listed as a featured mod in the excellent Doom+DoomII Remaster released by NightDive Studios. Pick this one up!

This blog was written on March 23, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: reYal [Video Game Review]

"reYal" is a video game developed by xrrawva. It was released in 2019. It is one of the very few examples of a video game played from the extremely rare second person perspective.

The game is a 2D, top-down, retro-looking game. You control a single character who can walk around a small room with buttons on the wall. There is a door, but it's locked. The buttons are labeled up, down, right, left, and action. Interesting enough, those are the same inputs you can give your character with your keyboard or controller. So far, this is a normal game. You are controlling a character and can make him do things.

Now, the moment you tell your character to press one of those buttons, a new character in a separate room will react to that button press in the same way your character reacts to your keyboard or controller inputs. At this point, you might be thinking, "This is an interesting game mechanic." You are playing a game of a character who is playing a game of another character. But here is the problem, this game goes about five layers thick. Or maybe it is six layers if you count yourself. Technically you are one of the characters, but at least you can use a controller without having to press buttons on a wall.

So before long, you will have to move your character and help him control a guy, who is controlling a guy, who is controlling another guy, who is controlling yet another guy. With every new guy you need to control, the amount of inputs you are expected to put in becomes increasingly more complicated, and it can be easy to get lost in the logic.

The problem is not knowing what you need to do. It is more of a matter of keeping track of it all. You have to concentrate really hard while remaining relaxed. If you make even one mistake, it can take a lot of time to unravel it. And remember that it is not enough to just get a guy to the button, you have to also get him to turn towards the button, and finally to actually activate the button. That is a heck of a lot of work to do something so simple.

This is the very definition of a second person perspective video game. You spend the entire game telling characters what to do rather than doing them yourself. Yes, you are technically in control of the first man who is way at the bottom of the stack of rooms, but you are not thinking about him as much as you are the other people in the other rooms. Your brain has to disconnect from the guy you are controlling and extend outward and upwards into realms that it usually doesn't like to go. There is a reason games are not normally second person: it hurts.

"reYal" is a well-made game, and I would even go so far as to say that it is a good game. Despite the latter sentence being true, it is not actually a fun game to play. I don't even think it was meant to be. Anyone can beat this game if they are willing to put in the hour or so to finish it, but it is more of a test of one's willpower to actually bother with the chore of doing it. It's more of a science experiment. It is a game that says, "I am the way that I am, and there is nothing like me." And you can smile and acknowledge that in good faith, but it will never actually be a fun and enjoyable experience.

The game is also $2.00. It is an extremely fair price for what it is. I can't help but recommend it for that price. Even if you have no intent to actually finish it, it is a very interesting and mind-bending experience. "reYal" is a good game that that is no fun to beat, but I actually did do it. I was happy when I finished it. I was happy because it was over, but I was also happy that game existed to prove to us all that a fully fledged second person game was probably never going to be a good idea, and we should just stick with what we have. Cheers.

This blog was written on March 23, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Mutant Alley - Ares [Book Review]

[This review contains no spoilers, but it is a review of an erotic piece of literature. You may not want to read about that, and, if so, feel free to skip this one.]

I don't normally review erotic literature. I have done it before with my review of "Tanuki Tango Overdrive." Since most of my content is pro-Christian, I did consider not reviewing this, but the book actually ends with a call for attention. He is a struggling artist and writer, and he needs these reviews to help him out. My heart cannot abide abandoning someone in need, and so I have chosen to do this review anyways.

"Mutant Alley - Ares" is an erotic science fiction book written by Rex T. Loveshaft. Yes, I know that's probably not his real name. I have to give him credit for the clever wordplay though. It was published in 2024. The author of this book is actually a software engineer and has made a number of video games based on his strange, often dystopian, science fiction worlds. There is also a couple of games based on the book I am reviewing now. This is a guy who has a dream, albeit an erotic one, and he puts all of his talents to use making it a reality. And to also be a writer is no joke. This guy means business.

The story is that there was a war where dinosaur hybrids were used in the fighting. When the war was over, and the hybrids were retired and allowed to enter society with no real rights. These were really big and strong anthropomorphic dinosaurs. They remind me of the huge animal people from the comic book series "Elephantmen."

Because they were forced to live on the outskirts of society, they had to turn to prostitution in order to make a living. Anybody who had the kinks to have sex with a oversized dinosaur hybrid could do so for the right price.

The real drag of the story is that there is a scientist who is trying to revive the hybrid project in order to overthrow the current government and give the hybrids rights in the new order. He hires a guy named Alex to do some work for him, involving a T-Rex Hybrid named Ares, in order to get this done. I don't want to say much more than this, because we will end up getting into most of the erotic notes of this book.

Make no mistake, the story in this book is good dystopian science fiction. The author is very good at keeping a firm grip on the story and not letting the erotica overtake it. In fact, there were a lot of chapters that was just story, and some of it had some infiltration and action involved with it. Good stuff and actually well told.

The erotica itself is handled with a bit of humor. The idea of humans and dinosaur hybrids having sex is treated as a weird thing, and the people involved all sort of acknowledge it. This gives the story a humorous edge. Even if you are not into it, you can see how something like this might be a bit awkward, and that's okay. I loved the humor in this story.

My only real criticism is that the ending felt a bit rushed. The story up until that point felt very well paced, but a conclusion sort of felt as if it was just dropped on me in the last two chapters. It did not bother me too much, as everything is explained, but I would have enjoyed it if the book had just extended itself a few more chapters to go into more detail about what actually occurred.

The erotic elements portray a more hedonistic world. It includes an equal amount of straight and gay content. It does go into romantic elements but from the perspective of mutual lust. It gets kinky at points too. All sex in the book are between humans and dinosaur hybrids.

All literary fiction is valid, but I still expect people to take what they do seriously. The author of "Mutant Alley - Ares" does this, and I recommend it to anyone who might be interested. He has written a sequel, and I will be reading it.

This blog was written on March 23, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Who's Who in Oz [Book Review]

[This blog has spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]

"Who's Who in Oz" is a book written by Jack Snow. My copy was a reprint from 1988, however the original book was published in 1954, placing it in the Oz canon between #39 "The Hidden Valley of Oz" and #40 "Merry Go Round in Oz." It is not included in the canon list because it is not really a story as much as it is a compendium of all the Oz books previous to this one at the time. However, it appears to be canonically written with the assistance of the Wogglebug, which, to me, makes this entire thing seem official. Not to mention that Jack Snow is one of the official Royal Historians of Oz.

The book is broken down into three main parts:

1. An alphabetical listing of every single character found in all of the Oz books up to that point. Each section begins with a letter that signifies some aspect of Oz, and it also allows the reader whose name begins with that letter to sign his initials and thusly become a registered citizen of Oz by doing so. This is the broadest part of the book, and everything is written very well as if by the author or the Wogglebug himself. The first book each character is found in is listed every time as well as the page number where they were initially introduced.

2. An overview of all of the Oz books written up to that point. These are brief summaries that do sometimes spoil some of the story. They also include the book's author and illustrator.

3. An overview of the authors and illustrators of all of the Oz books up to that point. These act as mini biographies to help you understand who these people were.

The entire book was presented like a regular Oz book, even including the "This book belongs to ____" at the beginning. I always liked that, although I never filled any of them out. I don't like marking up my books. Also the book contains an absolute ton of illustrations for most of the characters mentioned. It is really nice to not only read about these characters but to see them as well.

The reason I did not review this book back when I was at this part of my journey was because it was too difficult to get ahold of. Even now it was a whopping $50 just to get a reprint. But I feel that, now that I have read it, my journey around Oz is now complete (for real this time!). As I implied, I do consider this book canon even if it isn't a proper story. It is a book that would exist in the Land of Oz and has oversight by the Wogglebug. What more do I need? If you can get a hold of a copy, I do recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning more about the marvelous land of Oz.

This blog was written on March 17, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Shape of Things to Come [Book Review]

"The Shape of Things to Come" is a very long novel by H. G. Wells. It was published in 1933. Seriously, this is a very long book. It clocks in at 155,000 words. It took me months to read. Let this review help you decide if you want to make the same journey as I did.

This book sort of sells itself as a science fiction, but I question that. The idea of it is that a friend of the narrator was receiving visions or dreams about a possible future in the early 30's. This is after WW1 but before WW2. The book contains none of the events of WW2 and barely anything of Hitler. It is as if those things did not happen. This man is apparently seeing how the entire world forms together as a socialistic one-world state. To me, the whole thing about it being one man's vision strikes me as an excuse to give the book a narrative story feel, but honestly... H. G. Wells just wanted to go off about his socialistic fantasies here.

The first part of the book is mostly just about how bad war is. You will probably not have too much trouble relating to what he is saying in these pages. War is bad. There is nothing good about it. But this ultimately leads to a change in people who want the world to get better. It progresses to a worldwide socialist revolution that takes hundreds of years to be fully realized.

In order to get to this, the author relates how various things such as religion, capitalism, and the concept of the family and personal possessions must be irradiated to make this vision a reality. Yes, the book goes really hard against Christianity, because that's what socialists do. They don't want one standard of morality; they want it to be whatever the herd wants it to be, which can be fickle over a long period of time as well as across the world itself.

The book also details the sudden and inexplicable removal of all government at a later date, leaving everything in the hands of the people. I guess H. G. Wells never realized that people in power tend to want to keep it. He gave the human race way more credit then they deserved. Oligarchies should have formed in his scenario, and he gave no plausible reason why they wouldn't have.

By the end of the book, everything seems great... except for one very disappointing thing. There is almost no talk of futuristic technology even by the year 2100. Honestly, it still really feels like a slightly better version of the 30's. The most spectacular technology he came up with was prefabricated housing. That actually does exist today, and everyone agrees that it isn't as good as the alternative. Where are all the flying cars, spaceships, and other cool things? No. It's all about humans just living in a socialistic world state. There is still science, but it's barely getting anything done.

If you find "The Shape of Things to Come" on an online bookstore, you might see it with flying cars on the cover. This was simply slapped onto it because the book was public domain and by H. G. Wells, a man famous for his unique views of the future. This book barely qualifies as a science fiction and certainly does not have any flying cars.

This book was simply a medium for Mister Wells to spout off about his socialistic beliefs, and it is thinly vailed as a science fiction book. The whole book is extremely whiney. It constantly complains about anything that it doesn't agree with. It does not show an encouraging view of the future, but it does show a world where everybody is controlled by a population that is godless and with no definitive morals. Anyone who disagrees must conform. I ask you: how was H. G. Wells not terrified by his own fantasy? How was he not disturbed by his own look into the future. He was such a great visionary, but his final vision was the most boring of them all.

If it isn't clear, I do not recommend this book unless you want to look into the mind of a socialist. If you already know what that's like, then you can skip this long book entirely. Don't be fooled by the author resting under the title. It was simply a vehicle to pitch his ideology and nothing more.

This blog was written on March 16, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Troopers' Playground [Video Game Review]

"The Troopers' Playground" is a video game developed by Matthias Worch, and it was released in 1996.  It is a 9-level map pack for Doom II.

Not bad! Not the best either. A bit short for a Doom II map set. Usually they end up being 32 maps long, but this one keeps to the old formula of the original Doom's nine.

There doesn't seem to be much of a story here. It was just an attempt to make a set of really interesting maps. The thing that stood out to me was the way enemies sort of phased into each area. Like, I kept finding rooms that appeared either empty or with just a few enemies in them, and then a whole lot of other enemies would sort of bank around the edges or come from behind pillars. This happened a hell of a lot.

Also... do you like Shotgunners? This map set has Shotgunners. They are everywhere and in almost every single room. I personally love the shotgunner enemy. To seasoned Doom players, they are basically shotgun-shell dispensers. I think that may be my favorite thing about this map set. I love seeing them, and I got to see them all over the place.

The maps themselves were fun to explore, but they generally felt like classic doom maps that didn't really feel like actual places. Remember that this map set came out a couple years after the original Doom II. People had not quite figured out how to be clever with the maps yet. It felt like a step back from all the more modern ones I had been playing, but honestly it's no big deal.

The final map was another Icon of Sin fight... OR WAS IT?! Actually it was a direct fight with the severed head of John Romero... who technically is the Icon of Sin. They had him going up and down an elevator with little windows that gave you a chance to shoot at him. It was a silly ending, but I had fun. I think they gave him more health in this one too.

Either way, I liked "The Troopers' Playground, if anything for the abundance of Shotgunners. I do recommend it. It is listed as a featured mod in the excellent Doom+Doom II Remaster by NightDive Studios. If you are a fan of the shotgun, then download this one.

This blog was written on March 11, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Revolution! [Video Game Review]

"Revolution!" is a video game developed by Thomas van der Velden. It is a special map set for Doom II. It was released in 2009. If you recognized his name, I reviewed his other Doom mod called "Harmony" a little while ago.

"Revolution!" is a very relaxed and fun Doom II mod that doesn't ever get too difficult unless you pump up the difficulty yourself. The missions are fairly straight forward and the maps look like real places. Velden is really good at creating environments that are like this. For example, the first missions takes place on a moving train. I have actually seen this done before, but it is still really cool. It is actually impossible to make a moving train in classic Doom, so the whole thing is just a clever illusion.

The story of "Revolution!" is very interesting. Here is a copy-and-paste of the story as written by the developer:

The story revolves around a chaotic being known as "The Father". The Father had a son ("The Son") which was a being of pure evil and rebelled against him. The Father created humanity as an army to stand against the Son. The Father left a device called "the Oracle" which was intended to show humanity its true purpose; when humans had evolved sufficiently they would discover their true purpose and the battle against the Son would begin.

The Son discovers the plan and attacks humanity before it has finished evolving. Nonetheless an army of marines succeeds in defeating the Son. The monsters previously commanded by the Son become humanity's slaves. The Father, although pleased, becomes worried that humanity will eventually conquer the universe.

Earth begins to colonize a planet known as "Utopia". The monsters are used to build the colony. On the planet the Oracle is discovered; the monsters use this to break free and take over the colony. The monsters seize the transporters on the colony and use it to begin an invasion of Earth.

The story sounds really serious until it becomes kind of silly. And the opening of the game does feel very silly. It brings you into various resort-looking places such as pools and hotels where the demons have revolted. You almost feel a little bad for them, but ultimately you realize that they have to be stopped. I do think it is funny that we basically enslaved demons which gave them kind of a right to go on the defensive. Funny!

The game does get very serious and cool as it progresses. I enjoyed exploring the different areas more than anything. Velden is just so good with classic Doom architecture. I think he might be one of the best map makers, even likely better than the original developers of the base game in many respects.

This 32-map set did have two secret maps, but I don't really remember them all that well. I guess they were not that big of a deal. I don't think I hated anything though.

It ends with yet another Icon of Sin battle but done in a way that it doesn't actually look like it. It's just modeled in a way that fits the story better. The mechanics are there, but it has been visibly changed. It made for a final battle that was similar to the Icon of Sin map but easier to execute. And let's just be honest, the original Icon of Sin fight was kind of bullshit.

There is no reason not to play "Revolution!" It's funny at times, charming at others, and just all around cool. I recommend it. You can find "Revolution!" as a featured mod in the excellent "Doom+Doom II Remaster put out by NightDive Studios.

This blog was written on March 6, 2025.

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