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Post by TheGunheart on Feb 21, 2012 19:44:36 GMT -5
I think ultimately the big issue with the subgenre is the need to be a "moral substitute" first and a quality game second. I guess that's why Saints of Virtue is the only vaguely interesting sounding one of the group, due to the end result actually being fairly unique sounding instead of an outright clone of other, better FPS games, even if it's still pretty bad.
Great job keeping an objective viewpoint throughout on such an easy to snark target.
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Feb 22, 2012 9:26:44 GMT -5
Good to see these games covered and examined as just games, instead of the "lol Christian games" mindset. Saints of Virtue and the two N'Lightning games seem to have some legimate points of interest. I only wonder how much they are un-subtle with their messages - I think of that RTS game based on some christian books, I don't remember the name now...
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Post by genesisknight on Feb 22, 2012 9:51:34 GMT -5
Good to see these games covered and examined as just games, instead of the "lol Christian games" mindset. Saints of Virtue and the two N'Lightning games seem to have some legimate points of interest. I only wonder how much they are un-subtle with their messages - I think of that RTS game based on some christian books, I don't remember the name now... I would point to Saints of Virtue and Catechumen as the most worthwhile of the games covered. Saints of Virtue is very old but it has a certain level of sophistication and a very dreamlike, surreal design. Catechumen is a pretty solid shooter in its own right; as I said I think N'Lightning's follow-up (Ominous Horizons) is quite a bit rougher. I think the RTS game you are referring to was Left Behind. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind:_Eternal_ForcesThese games are much more tactful in their religious content than that!
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Post by Resident Tsundere on Mar 1, 2012 5:07:05 GMT -5
I love how educational and objective this article was, even though I'm not a Christian.
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Post by bakudd on Mar 4, 2012 3:09:09 GMT -5
cool article. you mentioned psykosonik, coincidentally, they did the opening theme for Bungie's FPS classic Marathon 2.
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Post by Malev on Feb 13, 2014 16:15:24 GMT -5
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Post by goldenpigsy on Apr 25, 2014 21:35:41 GMT -5
I really enjoyed this article. In fact, I remember playing the Catachumen demo from a PC Gamer CD. And I actually rather enjoyed it.
One question for the author: did you at any point e-mail Vox Day/Theodore Beale?
He's quite open to talking to the public. I ask because this is the only part of the article I found disappointing, as I don't recall if he has written much about the game's development and am almost certain that he would answer questions regarding it, and the Christian-fic I believe it was based on. Also of interest would be his work on 3D accelerators, sound hardware, and his time reviewing for Computer Gaming World. Hey, you could even ask him directly about his contributions to Psykosonik.
This is the only part of the article that is dismissive of a game's creator, and the note it strikes is atonal with the rest of the feature. I don't agree with everything that Beale writes or thinks, and I understand why somebody who disagrees very much with him might hold him in contempt. But when you are speaking about somebody who has done work in the industry and making a journalistic retrospective on a trend that originated with that person's work, I think it behooves the author to either recuse himself from making personal judgements about the developer's character or to provide a broader profile of the creator that acknowledges those beliefs that he or she holds that relate directly to what they produced, as well as those that do not. I do not think that Beale's opinions on women's suffrage or "human bio-diversity" relate to the game (correct me if I'm wrong, I have not played it), and neither do his father's legal woes.
Aside from that, this was a really great read. I'm e-mailing it to one of my friends who actually owned most of the games you covered.
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Post by The Green Herring on Mar 29, 2015 19:53:39 GMT -5
To add to the limited cart rerelease mention above (almost a year late, but still!): In May 2014, Wisdom Tree did a 20th Anniversary rerelease of the PC version of Super 3-D Noah's Ark for modern OSes using the open-source Wolfenstein 3D source port ECWolf, with the original DOS version included. The modern port also includes support for higher screen resolutions, modernized controls (with support for the original controls) and a digital manual with a quiz guide. The majority of profits from this version go to ECWolf's developer, whose roadmap includes eventual support for other Wolfenstein 3D engine games, including (in the distant future) Rise of the Triad.
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Post by Weasel on Mar 29, 2015 21:40:17 GMT -5
This is not to mention that, if you look past the theme, Noah's Ark is actually a reasonably fun game.
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Post by maxtheax on Oct 12, 2015 13:45:06 GMT -5
This is a well written article, and it seems to be objective. The good news is that the book on Christian FPS Games is not closed. As a developer of Christian FPS Games, I have learned a bit about the shortfalls while reading this article, and hopefully my story will be one of success, this is what I pray. For those of you who may be interested, I have a free game that can be downloaded here: maxtheax.com/games/free-orientation-gameRegards, Max
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