Changes

* UnderGroundOnline<ref>http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=16063&sectionId=51</ref> gave it a B+

* UnderGroundOnline<ref>http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=16063&sectionId=51</ref> gave it a B+

Some of the reviews were more about the reviewers' hatred against religion in general or evangelical [[Christianity]] specifically. For example, in the review that appeared on Game Revolution, the author wrote, "I am sick and tired of being told that I have to respect everyone’s beliefs," and, "So let me be clear - Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Whatevers – you’re all nuts." Unsurprisingly, the reviewer gave the game an undeserved "F."<ref>http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/left_behind</ref> Reviews such as these may have seriously damaged the game's sales, though it is unlikely - the gaming community in general has notoriously poor taste and poorly scoring games like [[Simcity Societies]] and [[Army of Two]] often sell very well - something constantly commented on by disillusioned game reviewers. It is likely that the poor commercial performance of Eternal Forces was simply due to the fact that the game was poorly marketed and that the development team were clearly inexperienced in the field of game design.

Some of the reviews were more about the reviewers' hatred against religion in general or evangelical [[Christianity]] specifically. For example, in the review that appeared on Game Revolution, the author wrote, "I am sick and tired of being told that I have to respect everyone’s beliefs," and, "So let me be clear - Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Whatevers – you’re all nuts." Unsurprisingly, the reviewer gave the game an undeserved "F."<ref>http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/left_behind</ref> Reviews such as these may have seriously damaged the game's sales.

Some of the complaints about ''Left Behind: Eternal Forces'' were based on various issues with its performance and design, citing appearance, interface, bugs, lags and crashes. For example, Game Revolution's review stated, "[W]hen the glowy balls get thick (anytime a lot of people are on the screen), the game starts to seriously lag, and sometimes even crash," "All your units look and dress alike once they’re converted," and "[Y]ou’ll find yourself playing the same maps over and over, preaching on the same corners, buying the exact same buildings and turning them into banks and churches and hospitals all over again." GameSpy stated, "While the developers went to the trouble of using actual images and logos from New York City on the game's buildings..., the buildings themselves are blocky, unconvincing and, worst of all, get in the way of the camera.", and summarised the bad points of the game as, 'Lousy controls; too much micromanagement; bad AI; poor graphics and art design; lack of skirmish mode; slow multiplayer.'  These were comments made in initial reviews and Left Behind Games subsequently issued several patches to address dozens of issues.<ref>http://www.eternalforces.com/updatefullEP11.aspx</ref>

Some of the complaints about ''Left Behind: Eternal Forces'' were based on various issues with its performance and design, citing appearance, interface, bugs, lags and crashes. For example, Game Revolution's review stated, "[W]hen the glowy balls get thick (anytime a lot of people are on the screen), the game starts to seriously lag, and sometimes even crash," "All your units look and dress alike once they’re converted," and "[Y]ou’ll find yourself playing the same maps over and over, preaching on the same corners, buying the exact same buildings and turning them into banks and churches and hospitals all over again." GameSpy stated, "While the developers went to the trouble of using actual images and logos from New York City on the game's buildings..., the buildings themselves are blocky, unconvincing and, worst of all, get in the way of the camera.", and summarised the bad points of the game as, 'Lousy controls; too much micromanagement; bad AI; poor graphics and art design; lack of skirmish mode; slow multiplayer.'  These were comments made in initial reviews and Left Behind Games subsequently issued several patches to address dozens of issues.<ref>http://www.eternalforces.com/updatefullEP11.aspx</ref>

==Controversy and criticism==

==Controversy and criticism==

Even before ''Left Behind: Eternal Forces'' or its demo were released, many left-wing individuals and groups were already criticizing the game on its supposed content.<ref name="bauman"/> The anti-Christian Right website Talk To Action sparked much of the criticism starting in May of 2006, several months before the game's release. Talk To Action contributor Jonathan Hutson wrote articles with titles like "the Purpose Driven Life Takers" condemning the game for allegedly having the goal "to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians."<ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959</ref> Hutson also falsely asserted several times in other articles that "characters kill New Yorkers while shouting 'Praise the Lord.'"<ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/1/82458/92817</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/7/41835/37829</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/9/32014/83270</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/12/31011/1474</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/21/23153/9497</ref> Strangely, in an apology in response to claims of copyright violation by Left Behind Games, Talk To Action admitted adding of red coloring to screenshots of the game to give the false impression that it depicts blood.<ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/11/11/154225/46</ref> Others reported Talk To Action's claims, including several left-wing bloggers, the [[BBC]]<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6178055.stm</ref>, the [[New York Times]]<ref>http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/grand-theft-christianity/</ref>, and the San Francisco Chronicle<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/12/MNG8TMU1KQ1.DTL</ref>.  The [[Nation (magazine)|Nation]]'s Max Blumenthal also heavily criticised the game in an article about sending it to soldiers serving in Iraq.<ref>http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=220960</ref> The controversy and criticisms led to left-wing groups calling for [[Wal-Mart]] to censor the game by removing it from store shelves.<ref>http://www.faithfulamerica.org/article.php?id=133</ref><ref>http://ga3.org/campaign/tell_wal_mart</ref> To its credit, Wal-Mart did not comply. Other criticism was that Left Behind: Eternal Forces was a cynical attempt to make private profit from the Christian faith; strongly denied by Left Behind Games.

Even before ''Left Behind: Eternal Forces'' or its demo were released, many left-wing individuals and groups were already criticizing the game on its supposed content.<ref name="bauman"/> The anti-Christian Right website Talk To Action sparked much of the criticism starting in May of 2006, several months before the game's release. Talk To Action contributor Jonathan Hutson wrote articles with titles like "the Purpose Driven Life Takers" condemning the game for allegedly having the goal "to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians."<ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959</ref> Hutson also falsely asserted several times in other articles that "characters kill New Yorkers while shouting 'Praise the Lord.'"<ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/1/82458/92817</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/7/41835/37829</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/9/32014/83270</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/12/31011/1474</ref><ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/21/23153/9497</ref> Strangely, in an apology in response to claims of copyright violation by Left Behind Games, Talk To Action admitted adding of red coloring to screenshots of the game to give the false impression that it depicts blood.<ref>http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/11/11/154225/46</ref> Others reported Talk To Action's claims, including several left-wing bloggers, the [[BBC]]<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6178055.stm</ref>, the [[New York Times]]<ref>http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/grand-theft-christianity/</ref>, and the San Francisco Chronicle<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/12/MNG8TMU1KQ1.DTL</ref>.  The [[Nation (magazine)|Nation]]'s Max Blumenthal also heavily criticised the game in an article about sending it to soldiers serving in Iraq.<ref>http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=220960</ref> The controversy and criticisms led to left-wing groups calling for [[Wal-Mart]] to censor the game by removing it from store shelves.<ref>http://www.faithfulamerica.org/article.php?id=133</ref><ref>http://ga3.org/campaign/tell_wal_mart</ref> To its credit, Wal-Mart did not comply.

Left Behind Games, however, vehemently denied these allegations and posted a response on their website<ref>http://www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.htm</ref> which cited the comments of various sources. Among them, the [[Anti-Defamation League]] - while criticizing the theology behind the game - stated, "Conversion to Christianity in the game is not depicted as forcible in nature, and violence is not rewarded in the game."<ref>http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/leftbehind.asp</ref> Game reviewers like IGN.com<ref>http://pc.ign.com/articles/745/745956p1.html</ref> and ArsTechnica.com<ref>http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/leftbehind.ars</ref> also were cited as noting the false allegations of critics and the game's focus on promoting non-violent solutions to the missions. In addition to these sources cited by Left Behind Games, other sources noted the game's promotion of non-violence. [[GameSpy]] described the game as having an "[i]nteresting premise" and an "unusual 'nonviolent' strategic design," and stated, "[A]nyone looking for explicit 'Kill the unbelievers!'-style content to justify their fear of the game won't find it here."<ref>http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/left-behind-eternal-forces/749748p1.html</ref> Gamespot called the game an "[i]nteresting concept that strays from the kill-'em-all RTS norm."<ref>http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/leftbehindeternalforces/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;reviews</ref> And G4's X-Play stated, "[A]ny deaths will severely negatively impact the spirit of your flock."<ref>http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1367/Left_Behind_Eternal_Forces.html</ref>

Left Behind Games, however, vehemently denied these allegations and posted a response on their website<ref>http://www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.htm</ref> which cited the comments of various sources. Among them, the [[Anti-Defamation League]] - while criticizing the theology behind the game - stated, "Conversion to Christianity in the game is not depicted as forcible in nature, and violence is not rewarded in the game."<ref>http://www.adl.org/Interfaith/leftbehind.asp</ref> Game reviewers like IGN.com<ref>http://pc.ign.com/articles/745/745956p1.html</ref> and ArsTechnica.com<ref>http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/leftbehind.ars</ref> also were cited as noting the false allegations of critics and the game's focus on promoting non-violent solutions to the missions. In addition to these sources cited by Left Behind Games, other sources noted the game's promotion of non-violence. [[GameSpy]] described the game as having an "[i]nteresting premise" and an "unusual 'nonviolent' strategic design," and stated, "[A]nyone looking for explicit 'Kill the unbelievers!'-style content to justify their fear of the game won't find it here."<ref>http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/left-behind-eternal-forces/749748p1.html</ref> Gamespot called the game an "[i]nteresting concept that strays from the kill-'em-all RTS norm."<ref>http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/leftbehindeternalforces/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;reviews</ref> And G4's X-Play stated, "[A]ny deaths will severely negatively impact the spirit of your flock."<ref>http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1367/Left_Behind_Eternal_Forces.html</ref>