Left Behind: Eternal Forces preview

There's no question about it. The appointment I was most looking forward to at E3 this year was with the good people of Left Behind Games. I've been fascinated by the growth in the Christian games industry and in particular the prospect of this particular book/movie series becoming a game.

Left Behind is interesting for a number of reasons. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' novels mix science fiction with an unusual interpretation of the Bible and a large portion of right-wing politics. The main plot follows events after the rapture, where millions of people disappear to heaven leaving behind the unfaithful to fight over the earth. Meanwhile there's a smattering of anti-Catholic bigotry, scare stories about the UN and a plot centring on an attack on Israel. Our heroes find their faith and must do battle with the forces of evil in the world headed by Nicolae Jetty Carpathia, the head of the United Nations.

Worldview

The series is controversial for its political viewpoint, use of violence, becoming a vast money making machine, suspect political views and its largely unpopular interpretation of the bible. While Left Behind is meant to be set in the future many critics point out that the paranoia over the UN and support for Israel no matter its policies is more about bolstering a current right-wing worldview.

"The worldview (to call it "thinking" would be an exaggeration) propounded in the books was first popularised by the Protestant theologian John Nelson Darby in the mid-19th century, and it is disturbing how it has become an underlying meta-narrative for American life: progress for the righteous, doom for the enemy," wrote Dr Gareth Higgins on the excellent Christian website ship-of-fools.com. "The message of the Left Behind books is insidious. It is incompetent theology. It is an astonishing example of bad faith of the worst kind, because even its proponents seem to have deceived themselves. They don't even translate the word apocalypse properly (it means revelation, not catastrophe)."

Pot of Gold

However my main problem with the series is the way it sells itself as Christian to a market that exists in a ghetto. I know all too well that some Christians will buy anything if it has Christian written on it or a fish symbol. Left Behind's Christian Warriors and the book's setting has very little to do the teachings of Jesus and more to do with those who want to use the faith to justify such adventures as the war in Iraq. Left Behind relies on an evil rather than loving God, which makes it all the more strange the franchise has been taken to heart by so many Christians across the world.

Any series that takes as much money as Left Behind is bound to expand. The books inspired a series of novels aimed at children and even some movies. But now Left Behind is coming to the PC as a strategy game. Heading to my meeting with Left Behind Games at E3 I was hoping to see a really good game, which may seem strange to you given my animosity to the franchise.

It's the ghetto that bothers me, that mediocrity succeeds just because it is Christians selling to Christians who will buy anything no matter how poor. I wanted to see if the Christian market was capable of producing something good enough for the market as a whole even though I believe Left Behind novels have more in common with the likes of Ann Coulter than the teachings of Jesus.

A Happy Camp

Left Behind Games was a happy camp when I arrived thanks to some welcome front page coverage on the LA Times that day. Given the big names and big games on show at E3 2006 it was a real coup having such a piece on the front of the popular newspaper.

Before I took a look at the game I sat down to have a chat with Left Behind Games President Jeff S. Frischner. Jeff is a real nice guy and we had a very interesting chat about that ghetto. He believes that Left Behind is a game that will appeal to everyone and not just Christians and has the quality to do so. And while he said that the first role of the game is to entertain, he hoped it would make people think too. However the worldview of the books is clearly present here in the games as Jeff proudly told me how most US Christians, in his opinion, support President Bush and the war in Iraq. Make of that what you will.

But let's get onto the game itself and first impressions were rather positive. Left Behind: Eternal Forces is set in New York City. Those city streets have been very well realised and the game bears a striking resemblance to map programs such as Google Earth. The player commands the troops of the Tribulation Force against the rival actions of demonic Global Community Peacekeepers (note the anti-UN name). It's the true battle for good and evil, the small band of the Trib Force against the massed demonic hoards of the Antichrist.

Have Spirit, Will Travel

The unique setting of the game combined with the views of the developer result in some rather interesting gameplay concepts that make Eternal Forces stand out compared to your usual resource gathering RTS games. Prayer plays an important part in the game and keeping your troops' spirit meter high is important to success in the game. Soldiers with low spirit are not as effective and are in danger of being recruited by the opposing forces.

Wanton destruction will lower the spirit of your troops which means they will be less effective. Killing is part of the game but not taken lightly. Dead bodies persist on the map showing the results of another battle. The player can click on the corpses to read a biography of the slain. Each of these biographies has been individually written and often feature tragic stories of why that person fought for the enemy. There's great scope for emotional involvement here in showing the motivations and history of characters on either side and not just viewing enemies as cannon fodder. It's unique aspects such as this that give the impression Eternal Forces is more than a Christian propaganda tool.

Heavy Handed?

The Bible does play a part in the game but it's not heavy handed and a secular player could enjoy the game without really feeling like there's any agenda or dogma involved. Despite the dubious history of the Left Behind franchise the core of Eternal Forces is a fantasy-based RTS with a wide appeal. There are over 30 units including the Prayer Warrior, Hellraiser, Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks. Players finding ancient scrolls will see various angelic or demonic events based on their actions that raise thoughts on the nature of good vs evil. I'm not into heavy handed messages but what I saw of the game made it seem as though the player is never beaten over the head with concepts such as this. Most gamers will have played more morally heavy handed games already such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces boasts a single-player campaign that will take you across the very well realised city to locations such as China Town, SoHo and Midtown. And cutting against expectations is a multiplayer mode that will allow players to take the role of Global Community Peacekeepers and fight those goodie-two-shoes Christian Tribulation Force players. A neat addition that shows gameplay is as important to Left Behind Games as is the message and setting.

Tank Rush

I did perceive a weak spot in the game though and that comes down to the way strategy is employed in the game. Having watched a few entertaining battles that left corpses strewn across the map I asked my hosts how much detail went into the tactical calculations. I wanted to know how much of an advantage players had by flanking or rear attacks. Unfortunately in this first game, certainly the build that will ship to stores, factors such as this aren't accounted for. This means the action is often going rely on tank-rushing and success in arming oneself with the correct disposition of forces rather than how these forces are employed.

Yet despite my obvious misgivings about the Left Behind source and worries over the heavy handed morality of the game I was pleasantly surprised by my time spent with Left Behind: Eternal Forces. While the lack of some tactical depth leaves the game behind some modern RTS games, the gameplay didn't seem far behind games such as Battle for Middle Earth. Certainly the use of spirit and prayer is very interesting and I love the ideal of detailed biographies of all units in the game. At this stage Eternal Forces looks like a solid title with a controversial source that may help its profile more than hinder it, the only problem may be selling the game to right-wing Christians who will balk at the level of violence. Gamers ironically may be much more receptive to Left Behind: Eternal Forces.

Eternal Forces is set for release later this year.