Wow! A Left-Behind version of Rise of Nations?

After hearing about, I had intended to do a mini=review of the Left-Behind demo. The idea of religious-themed games, Christian or Muslim, is rather interesting.

The reason I never did the review is that the game just sucked too badly - I lost interest. From a technical level, it was a slightly dated but pretty solid product. What bored me was the gameplay.

• You get a savior - a regular guy in a baseball hat and a "unique" history explaining why he was left behind but still cool.
• Use your savior to convert some random person walking down the street. (Sparkly lights and you are saved, brother!)
• Build a militia house in one of the preset building spots.
• Train your convert to be a soldier.
• Save someone else.
• Build a supply building.
• Put your convert into the supply building.
• Convert someone else...

Repetitive and not terribly interesting. But with enough money, even bad games (especially bad games?) live on in sequels. BHG will certainly raise the level of attention the next game gets. Im curious how it will turn out.

Which gives me some time to be bored by the Left Behind books themselves.

Left Behind Licenses Big Huge Tech For RTS Sequel

Gamasutra

November 30, 2006

Officials from Christian-themed game developer Left Behind Games announced that the company has signed a multi-year technology license with developer Big Huge Games (Rise of Nations).

Left Behind: Eternal Forces, which shipped to retailers and inspirational book stores earlier this month, is set against the backdrop of a post-rapture world as players take up the fight against an encroaching and growing evil. The storyline is based on the Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which has sold more than 63 million copies worldwide.

While based on Christian themes, the game recently came under fire from religious advocate group The Christian Alliance for Progress, who condemned the game for its content and themes which "stand in opposition to the ideology that the game and its companion book series seek to promote." The PC RTS has thus far received a lackluster 48% average rating on review aggregate website Metacritic.

Troy Lyndon, Left Behind Games' co-founder and CEO, commented: "We are confident our next generation real-time strategy game will include the best gaming experience for Left Behind fans, utilizing a great RTS engine and an award-winning development team as our technology partner.”

Update: January 11, 2006

On their 12/14/2006 episode of the Games for Windows podcast, they discuss this game in more detail and more humor than I did. I particularly liked the idea that your last name determines your religion, so if you have an Arabic last name that means you are a Muslim (and will be left behind). That ought to come as a surprise to all the Christians in Lebanon and Israel. (Although it may also come as a surprise to many American's that there are Christians in the Middle East.) I also enjoyed the shout-out to Focus on the Family

GFW Radio - Podcast - 12/13/2006

This week, the GFW philosophers gaze into the mystic and ask: How many Splinter Cells are too many? In other spiritual matters, they confront the musicians, academics, and other instruments of Satan in Left Behind, and ask the heavens who in the world would think a Firefly MMO was a good idea, and ponder the broken promises of episodic gaming. Burp count: Zero.