When I first wrote about Left Behind: Eternal Forces, I honestly figured it was just blog fodder. I thought it would be one of those games I’d hear about once, which might never even make it to release… and even if it did, I’d never hear about it again.

Wrong!

Left Behind, you might recall, is a series of books about the folks who weren’t “Rapture-ready” and still live on Earth during the seven year tribulation after the rapture. Left Behind: Eternal Forces is the video game based on those books, where you have to pray and kill to oppose the evil rock star anti-christ.

Not only is it getting quite a bit of press, it’s apparently dividing the ranks among Christian groups, with some opposed to its “convert or kill” game play (the game’s publisher says this isn’t really a problem and that the game is “pacifist” because you lose spirit every time you kill someone).

Contrast this to “The Shivah”, a new Jewish video game about a rabbi who has to solve the mystery around a large gift of money and make sure it’s not cursed (although… can we at least pick some new stereotypes to enforce?).

Check the links below to see Warren Ellis, CNN and Ars Technica weigh in on the subject (Ars Technica has a characteristically especially detailed and informative review).

Via: warrenellis.com: Fuck You, Combat Jesus
Via: Christian video game stokes controversy
Via: Left Behind: Eternal Forces

[tags]left behind[/tags][tags]apocalypse[/tags][tags]game[/tags][tags]anti-christ[/tags][tags]warren ellis[/tags][tags]christian[/tags][tags]shivah[/tags]

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