Just in Time for the Holidays

In honor of the awesome new video game I got yesterday ("X-men Legends II," yes!!) I thought I'd see what new games are coming out now (esp. since my game is already a year old. But I don't care because it's fun!). I came across two interesting ones that have religious themes. The first was "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," which is based on the "Left Behind" book series. From what I gather, it's premise is kind of similar to my X-men game. But instead of finding new mutants to join your fight against Apocalypse and his evil clone army, you're out recruiting and converting people in your fight against the Anti-Christ and non-believers. Critics of the game have described it as "a violent video game in which born-again Christians aim to convert or kill those who don't adhere to their extreme ideology." That's from this article on cnn.com. One of the groups against the game is petitioning to have it removed from the shelfs at (where else) Walmart. In response the the critiques, the CEO of Left Behind Games, Inc. says that "The reality is that our game perpetuates prayer and worship and that there is no killing in the name of God". He then goes on to contradict this, saying that "There is killing of course, it is a video game. But the basis of the game is spiritual welfare". Ummm okay. I think I'll stick to X-men. Everyone can agree that Apocalypse is a bad guy, especially when paired with evil clones.

The second game, although it involves a murder mystery, is decidedly less violent. It's called "The Shivah" and it's protagonist is a New York Rabbi. His congregation is losing money and members when he receives a strange monetary gift, and must investigate to make sure it's not cursed or in some way sketchy (i.e. connected to a murder). I found a little article about it here.

Anyway, it's interesting to see these two very different examples of religion in video games. I remember this game for (I think) Nintendo, "Bible Stories" or something like that, but it was non-violent. One of Carter's suitemates has it, maybe he can verify the actual name of the game and its OS, if he makes it this far into this post. Anyway, the "Left Behind" game seems to signal that this is changing and that violent Christian games may be the wave of the future. Is it connected to the violence of video games in general? Could it be tied up with our current cultural climate, the rise of fundamentalism, or the idea that we're waging some kind of "holy war" against the "infidels" or "evildoers" in the Middle East? A bit of all of this? Or maybe something else entirely.

I don't know. I'm going to play X-men.