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Religious videogames seem to attract a lot of attention when you put them
on a shelf next to God
Of War, Onimusha: Dawn
of Dreams and Final Fight:
Streetwise. This game makes no bones about what it is, and
doesn’t appear to want to trap anyone with covert packaging
(“they won’t now it’s
about God, really…”) and it doesn’t pretend to be something
it’s not. It’s about providing a game suitable for those who
don’t want to fight zombies or demons, who want their games a
little more wholesome.
Do Unto Others! Is the catchy name given to The Bible Game’s main component; the quiz in which you have to
answer questions based on the Old Testament and play games for
points, there are no losers in this game only those who don’t win.
It is possible to play with up to four players and if there are not
enough human players the computer makes up the numbers – similar
to BUZZ!: The Music Quiz - handy if you don’t have a
Multi-Tap for your PlayStation2.
The basic idea behind this is to play a quiz show, with questions based
around the Old Testament in the Bible and Mini-Games running along
the same theme, perhaps obviously, the person with the most points
at the end of the game wins. There are not a set number of Rounds
you have to play, instead, the focus is a Timer, when the Timer runs
out it means the Round you are playing will be the last before the
final Grace of God Round where you can earn Points by picking fruit.
It is possible to go from last place to first in one-fell-swoop and
in the same breath go from a comfortable first place to slightly
less than comfortable last place. However, in this game you do not
lose, you just don’t win. You can have three game lengths; ten,
twenty or thirty minutes depending on the game times you select from
the Options Menu and, although the amount of Points you receive
changes, the Rounds are the same. Although this works well for a
shorter game, completing a half an hour match with such little
variation can become a little tedious especially if playing against
the computer.
There are several different actions which can happen when you select a
square: you have Testament Trivia; they are the questions, Challenge
Games which are four-player games and Lesson Games which  are
for the player in control of the board at the time. The Do Unto
Others square gives you the opportunity to give away Points, play a
game for another player or give control of the game to another
player. Last but not least is the Wrath of God square, when this
appears all the Points you have won in that round are taken away and
the round ends.
There is good variation in the questions totalling one thousand and five
hundred over the three difficulty settings, ranging from the obvious
to the very obscure, so there is a wide range of questions for the
beginner right-up to the more learned player. These questions are
chosen at random yet there is a small amount of repetition which is
a little disappointing. The Mini-Games total twelve in number and
the Difficulty Setting can be altered accordingly, depending on your
skill level. These games vary from being fun distractions to grating
interruptions to gameplay. Some, such as Jacobs Ladder, provide a
real chance for competition: a test of your reactions, as in this
game you must press appropriate buttons in order to climb the
ladder, the faster you press the correct buttons the quicker you
ascend. However most of the games are less than perfect; the
Noah’s Ark Mini-Game is a simple case of matching pairs of
animals, yet the pictures are too small and detailed for you to be
able to clearly see the differences when they travel across the
screen. In other Mini-Games movement is unresponsive and/or
inaccurate, for example in the David and Goliath Mini-Game, which
requires the player to throw stones at Palestine targets you must
press the Cross Button to stop the cursor moving and again to aim
it, this method of hitting the Cross Button when it is in the right
place is frustrating and time consuming if you aim wrong and there
is no way to back up so you can try to aim again.
Graphically this game is quite poor; the Character Models are very
basically animated and show a set number of expressions and
movements. They are choppily strung together with frequent pauses
between different actions which give the game quite a disjointed
feel. The Lip-Synching is also poorly done to the point it doesn’t
match up at all. There are a few nice touches here-and-there,
particularly when fire is shown, but these instances are
few-and-far-between, so for the most part there is only the bright,
blocked-colour characters.
The sound really makes the game; it doesn’t seem quite as cheesy when
playing with the volume turned down, which is a good thing. The Game
Show Host is perhaps the cheesiest host ever seen and his stock
phrases get put together which results in the same paused,
disjointed feel as the character animations. The music ranges from
Celestial Choirs to Christian Rock music,  none
of which fit the game whatsoever; they are just two totally
different experiences. The music is from famous Christian Rock bands
so it is possible to see why it was used; it adds some kind of
credibility to the game. Yet they just weren’t thinking about the
mood and style of the game at all when they picked the Soundtrack.
The Bible Game is, if
nothing more, an interesting alternative to other types of games
considered inappropriate for children and for those who would like
the chance to show off their Bible skills. However the decency
aspect seems somewhat lost when you consider the great variety of
children friendly games available, Robots, the Tak
series, Super Monkey Ball Adventure and a whole host of Spongebob
Squarepants releases which provide a fun experience without the
gore or profanity. However you may feel that The Bible Game
falls short of anything but an attempt to cash-in on the need for
games of this nature, rather than offering something to help people
learn about the Word of God. This game would appeal most to those
already with a faith in God rather than those who wish to learn
more, there is an expectation for there already to be the knowledge
to help you play the game. If you want a more educational Bible
experience I would recommend visiting a local church; or better,
pick-up a copy of the Good Book yourself.
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