Christian Video Games

Here’s a list of “the 6 Most Misguided Christian Video Games,” brought to you by Cracked.com.

Not surprisingly, we found that devout fundamentalists often make incredibly bad game designers. A little less expected is their muddling of the message of the Bible. We take a look through six of the most preposterous religious video games, evaluating them on sheer ridiculousness, as well as biblical coherence to answer the ultimate question: What would Jesus play?

The Left Behind game? #3.

Which means there are two games even more misguided!

For aptly-named The Bible Game, here’s the quick summary:

Winning the game requires knowledge of a bunch of obscure bible trivia, constantly completing bizarre mini games that seem to be pointless rituals of repetition, and even if you do everything you’re supposed to, God can randomly take everything away from you. In other words, it’s just like being a devout Christian.

This game below (King of Kings) seems particularly dull. The bad guys just disappear… and the ending just doesn’t have the punch you’d like it to have:

And you can’t talk about Christian video games without being reminded of the one played by Bart Simpson and the Flanders boys in which one converts heathens by throwing Bibles at them. When Bart thinks he hit someone and screams out, “Ooh, full conversion!,” the boys reassure him, “No, you just winged him and made him a Unitarian.”

(via Sexy Secularist)

[tags]atheist, atheism, video game, Christian[/tags]

JeffN

I have just looked at the video above and i have to admit as a Christian I’m embarrassed. That game looked so 80s in an age where 3D rendering on the fly in games is not only possible but being done. if your going to do something; especially something you want other people to bye and see; put some effort into it.
Darryl

It’s not news but it does bear remembering that evangelical-Christian culture never produces cultural products that are interesting or valuable, certainly not on a par with those of the wider culture. Listen to the music, if you can stand it. This culture has difficulty simply keeping pace with the pop market. It encourages mediocrity. Christians may sleep better at night, but they have no cause to “break on through to the other side.”
Mriana

Left Behind should have gotten #1 because it is so violent.
King Aardvark

Games 6-4 are handled very well by the Angry Video Game (or Nintendo) Nerd. You can look them up on Youtube.
JeffN

There are one or two that look like they might have decent graphics. i couldn’t tell you if i like the games without at least checking out the demos. so perhaps it would be best to bring this forum back in a week or so to give people a chance to actually download and play the demos.
Robert

When I was younger, I once read a Left Behind spinoff book thinking it was about a soldier stuck behind enemy lines. I thought it was horrible. And then I went to Wikipedia and saw the game.

Left Behind as a whole (books AND that disgusting video game, which apparently (oh, the horror) has not one, but TWO sequels) should be frowned upon and possibly banned where banning books is allowed. It promotes religious violence and extremism. For example, in one scene, a book depicts Jesus merely speaking in order to rip the bodies of his enemies open, resulting in his followers having to drive carefully to avoid “hitting splayed and filleted bodies of men and women and horses.” (source: Wikipedia). The series condemns itself.