Left Behind Eternal Forces Preview - PC

Left Behind started of as a series of Christian novels set in the ‘end times’ according to the book of Revelation in the Bible. The series follows the story of a group of people known as the Tribulation Force.

These people were left behind after the rapture, an event according to the Bible where true Christians are taken up into heaven. Following this is the seven-year reign of the Antichrist.

The series has spawned graphic novels, television series, three movies and now a game - Left Behind: Eternal Forces which is being developed by Left Behind Games.

The story takes place in the near future in New York City. Due to the rapture event, one-third of the population has vanished. The United Nations have changed their name to the Global Community led by Nicolae Carpathia, who begins to form a world government. The Tribulation Force is the ‘good guys’, a small faction of people who have seen the light and come to realisation that Nicolae Carpathia is the Antichrist. Their aim is to show the world the truth and save as many souls as possible before the end of the seven year rule.

The game puts you in control of the Tribulation Force (although you do get to play as the bad guys in multiplayer). You have access to military units, infantry and vehicles. Christian rock music and biblical facts fill in the time between levels. Many religious themes are featured in the game rewarding you for taking the right moral stance, while at the same time giving you the option to take the wrong one.

In order to progress, you will have to take control of New York City block by block. The game’s two main resources are money and spirit. Money lets you buy neutral buildings and convert them into banks, military facilities, churches, and hospitals to further your progress. Every unit in the game has a Spirit Level rated from 1 to 100. Spirit levels that fall between 40 and 60 are considered neutral. These are people who haven’t decided on which side to take in the war. As a unit’s faith increases, their spirit level increases too. Once this reaches 60, they become friendly units who can then be trained in different professions. Likewise, units whose level falls below 40 get converted to the dark side and become the enemies.

Your spiritual rating is increased by doing good like building churches and it goes down when you kill civilians. This means you have to constantly manage units to keep morale up and maintain everyones spirit levels to ensure that they do not wander off as neutrals or become the enemy itself.

The game also features a multiplayer mode that lets you play either side. The Tribulation Force side has evangelist units and the Global Community has seducers. Players’ evangelist units can grow in power and persuasion, giving them the ability to directly convert enemy units. The enemy’s seducer units can do the same. Spiritual units are equally important as military units as every fight brings unit morale down and spiritual units make sure it goes back up and keeps the faith alive.

The game also features supernatural help in the form of scrolls that contain biblical verses, which double as power ups. The verses inside the scrolls correspond to the power within, sending angels that do a variety of things including blessing you with money or increasing your spiritual power and even cool powers like hail and fire.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces is going to spark a lot of controversy from both sides, just like the series. This just might be the game to tap into the huge Christian market base. Christmas 2006 will tell us if the game holds its ground as an innovative strategy game with a message.