And I’ll bet you thought it was just the NES and the SNES that had Bible games. God bless Crave Entertainment, then, because they’re bringing the Bible Game to the PlayStation 2. That’s right, not just a Bible game - the Bible game. Check this out:
“Today’s technology teams up with the Old Testament in question rounds and mini-games that represent stories from the Bible. It’s hearty fun you can enjoy individually or together, as a family. With The Bible Game, you can feel good about kids playing video games.
Join the energetic, ever-smiling host Justin Warren and three rival contestants on the fictional game show Do Unto Others. Players take it in turns to reveal panels on the game board that hide either rapid-fire question rounds, mini-game challenges or sudden death rounds, to score the most points and win the game.”
While I’m all for parents feeling good about kids playing games, and the idea of socially interactive games, I’m sure there’s a way to do this without a bunch of sub-par minigames - and this is coming from someone who’s played at least three of the Mario Party games.
Still, you can’t fault their choice of source material, especially as they’re not shying away from the idea of the Old Testament’s vengeful God:
“Points are collected and added up at the end of each round but watch out for the fearsome “Wrath of God” panel. Reveal this and you can kiss goodbye to points accumulated during that round, adding an element of fun and surprise to the proceedings.”
It sounds like Wheel of Fortune, with added angry God. Actually, come to think of it, that doesn’t sound half bad.
This is the Red Sea minigame. I suppose the point to run from the Egyptians and avoid the obstacles. I don’t thiink that’s exactly how it happens in the Bible - in fact, the general implication of the story is that the Pharoah’s horsemen were drowned when God “brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea” - I guess whether or not they had to avoid what appears to be giant sea anenome is up to your personal interpretation.
Somewhat less accurate is this minigame, which is based on Jonah and the Whale. I don’t recall Jonah having to jump through hoops by being blasted out of the whale’s blowhole, although the Bible doesn’t strictly mention that. It does mention Jonah praying to God (well, technically, Yahweh, but let’s not get picky) to get out of the “great fish” and then being “vomited out”, but I’m guessing that wouldn’t have made quite as cool a minigame.
Next up is the False Idols game. I’m not really sure where this is in the Old Testament. The Gospel of Barnabas in the New Testament says “so greatly did Abraham love God, that he not only brake in pieces the false idols and forsook his father and mother, but was willing to slay his own son in obedience to God”, but I’m not really seeing any son-slaying elements to this bit.
There’s always the Ten Commandments, of course, most notably the first one; “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above”. I’m still not really getting the bit about throwing them into lava though.
This, believe it or not, is the David and Goliath game. The First Book of Samuel certainly mentions David defeating Goliath with a stone and a sling, but mentions nothing of what appears to be a training ground for defeating Philistine champions in such a fashion.
And this is the quiz section. I’m currently unable to find a picture of “ever smiling Justin Warren”, the idea idea of which, quite honestly, scares the crap out of me, but I do know that this is where you will find out whether you “could you preach a sermon on Sodom” (no laughing, please, this is serious) or whether you would “babble uncertainly if asked about the Tower of Babel”. The other screen I’m unable to source at the moment is that of the Creation minigame. I don’t know about you, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how they pull that one off, and whether the minigame does indeed last for six days.
Also worth looking forward to is the fact that “accompanying the frantic action in these challenges are music tracks from some of the hottest Christian rock artists of the moment”. If DC Talk and Creed have reunited for this, I will just die.
You can pick this one up on the 30th of June, for the low, low price of only £29.99. That’s only a little over a month away. Peronally, I would preorder it, just so you don’t miss out.