By Clifford Helm

Based on the bestselling Left Behind series, the new video game company Left Behind Games released its first game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, for PC in late October. The game has been subject to heavy criticism from secular and Christian outlets since it was first announced. Left Behind Games’ website describes Eternal Forces as an exciting real-time strategy (RTS) game based on the novels. Players join in the ultimate fight between Good and Evil, either on the side of the Tribulation Forces (Christian) or the Global Community Peacekeepers (secular).

Much of the controversy surrounding Eternal Forces concerns the violence central to the game. The website claims that violence is necessary in any game about the end of the world, but explains that the violence is not as direct as in, say, a shoot-em-up game. Talk to Action (a site devoted to the policies and actions of the Religious Right) has run a multi-part series concerned with the violent message this game may send to young Christians and how mainstream Christianity is marketing the game in a debatable manner. On November 28th, the site posted a brief description of a Christian group’s condemnation of the game, saying Eternal Forces “explicitly encourages ‘Left Behind Christian Converts’ to convert or kill a host of people deemed unfit for the Kingdom of God” .

Besides reviews, which generally praise Eternal Forces as having great game play, other outlets see this game as a punching bag labeled “hypocritical Christianity.” Boing Boing calls the game a bigoted version of the “Kooky Christian Left Behind science fiction novels.” WarCry Network points out that the “villains” of the game are a secular UN-type organization who, should their spirit points get too low, let demons come into the world. Wired News does all but use the word “irony” when showing how mainstream media is a tool of the “Dark One,” and pokes a little fun at the game with a very basic rundown of how it is played.

Overall, the message of the game seems a little too plausible – fundamentalist Christians fighting against the evils of the secular world. The game, though, uses paramilitary tactics (when conversion does not work) to fight for worldwide Christian control. According to the developer’s website, the game itself is not violent. The players do not directly insight violence, instead controlling the characters as chess pieces, in a war that has no gore. Interestingly, the website’s publicity shots of the game show epic battles littering the ground with corpses of both Christians and Peacekeepers. But there isn’t any blood.

Clifford Helm is a student at the University of Southern California.