The Bible Game review

Think non-Christians cringe when faced with the nuttier right wing garbage peddled at most Christians by publishing houses, games developers and music studios? Often it's tougher actually being a Christian, it's like having an insane older brother that makes the whole family look bad by standing in a local election for the BNP or getting his tackle out on Big Brother.

So The Bible Game comes across as something rather refreshing. It's a faith-based party game that is not remotely heavy handed. It's also not very good either, but we'll come to the reasons why in a little while. First I'll explain what it's all about.

Would you like to learn more about Jesus?

Party Time

Only joking. Okay. Where was I? Right The Bible Game is essentially a Buzz style quiz called Do Unto Others where four players are encouraged through a variety of questions and mini-games by a cheerful host. The presentation is good, with a cartoon style and a focus that never feels forced or preachy.

In fact there's no preaching in the game at all. Which seemed rather odd. Well not preaching per se, but if you're going to offer a quiz on a subject it would make sense to give some ways of learning the stuff. Not that the actual knowledge in the game is spot on - considering the game must be aimed at kids it's seems odd the King James version of the Bible is used, full of anachronistic language and mistranslations. Some of the answers perpetuate myths about what the Bible says, didn't anyone check these things? Surely a more accurate and modern source for questions could have been found?

Quiz Time

The object of course is to win the Do Unto Others game show by earning more points than your opponent. Each player takes a turn at controlling the screen where they get to stop a flashing light at a variety of point scores. Beneath the score there may be a solo mini game, multiplayer mini game or Bible question. You can set how difficult these questions are in the options and some of them get very obscure indeed.

We're promised 1500 questions from the Old Testament. This means of course the game is relevant to several faiths, a game featuring the New Testament would have had a narrower appeal. There's no reason why this family game should just be for those of faith. I remember my college English Literature tutor (who was an atheist) once lamenting that the lack of Biblical knowledge among kids today means they don't understand many references in classic English Literature.

Anyway at least the focus here on the OT it opens things up for a sequel.

Four Players Only

I played the game with my girlfriend when working on this review. One day we hope to have kids and so we were interested to see if this was the sort of thing we'd let them play. In the end we decided the game wasn't fun enough and had some odd gameplay decisions that made it less likely to be a fixture in our household, unlike say SingStar.

Do Unto Others is always four player. So if there's fewer than four players you're going to be playing against the AI. In the mini-games this is fine, but when it comes to answering quiz questions it just seems very arbitrary and fake.

The other issue we had was how players lost their turn. When choosing a point score sometimes instead of a quiz question or Bible question we get the Wrath of God symbol. The screen then shows something like a plague of locusts and it's game over and points lost. So we're supposed to let our little kids play a game in which God is a big meany take their points away? Who exactly is this game aimed at, Anton LeVay?

Mini Games

The mini games are a mixed bag. The David & Goliath one is fun, the object being to shoot at some cardboard giants. There's a fun Tron-like Tower of Babel game too. Yet far too many of the mini-games, and there are only ten or so on offer, feel like cheap quick knockoffs. The horse racing around the Walls of Jericho is particularly rubbish.

The actual nature of these games has only a passing connection to whatever section of the Bible they relate to. My favourite though was the run through the Red Sea (again not great research though) which involved jumping over obstacles and avoiding a soaking.

Lamentations

It's hard to know who exactly this game is aimed at. It's inoffensive stuff (unlike most Christian games) and fun for 30 minutes or so. But the few mini games and odd Biblical references, coupled with blaming God for taking all your points doesn't make for a really great family game.

As a quiz game it falls short too. Most episodes of Do Unto Others will have players taking part in mini-games more than answering questions. The quiz questions are rare and there is no option to focus solely on these. So as a Sunday School teaching aid it would probably fall flat too.

Parents looking for some wholesome fun for their kids can do a lot better than this. The PlayStation 2 is awash with fun, family friendly secular games that do a better job teaching co-operation and moral values. And if you must have a Christian game, wait for the forthcoming Veggie Tales Larry Boy game, which looks a lot more fun for the little ones. Though to my embarrassment at E3 2006 I couldn't do the first level - I think I'll go and stick my head in a bucket now.