"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" is a great video game!!

Actually, it doesn't look so good.

I was going to talk about the recently released real-time strategy (RTS) game, LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces, which is based on the Left Behind series of books about the people who are left behind on earth after Judgment Day, and must fight the Anti-Christ or something. It has been reported in the news media that a central theme of the game is killing Muslims and converting people to Christianity. I was going to pose questions about whether such a game should be released because rewarding kids for that kind of stuff could constitute hate speech. Fortunately (unfortunately for this post), according to the game's website, this is not true. So I'll try to make fun of the game without talking about that.

From the website:

"Contrary to misinformation on the web, this game does not include references to any other religion. Also, there is NO killing in the name of God, and NO convert or die missions. All content has been reviewed and approved by Tyndale House Publishers prior to publication."

Bummer. What am I going to talk about now?

Oh wait, here we go:

• Conduct warfare using the power of PRAYER and WORSHIP as more powerful weapons than guns.
• Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.
• Control more than 30 units types - from Prayer Warrior and Worship Leaders to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!

And then we have this screenshot (click for enlarged image):



Tell me why this isn't just like any other RTS game. Show me how it doesn't look like there's a bunch of magic and shit on this screen right now. Oh sure, it goes by the label prayer, but come on; this is no different from Warcraft. I almost expect the soldiers to say "My life for the horde!" when they're clicked.

If this game was in the bargain bin, I'd buy it. Unfortunately, it's still $30 on Amazon.

I don't have $30 to spend on a pratical joke.

Oh, and check out the comments at Amazon. Apparently Christians and fans of the series don't even like this game.