Video game reviewers have sometimes unjustly attacked and reviewed games where real-world religion plays a notable role. One of the most prominent examples of this is the game ''[[Left Behind: Eternal Forces]]''.<ref>http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/left_behind</ref>
==Popular video game franchises==
*''[[Assassins Creed]]'' - Taking place, after a fashion, during the [[Crusades]]. Play as Altair, and kill leaders from both sides to stop a deadly plot.
*''[[Age of Empires]]'' - An [[Real-Time Strategy|RTS]] in which the player leads an ancient civilization.
*''[[Call of Duty]]'' - A series of [[first person shooters]] in which a player is either a soldier in World War II or a soldier involved in the [[War on Terror]].
*''[[Civilization]]'' - A strategy game in which the player leads a civilization from it's birth, and into the future.
*''[[Donkey Kong]]'' - An early platform game in which [[Mario]] (then known as "Jumpman") tries to save his girlfriend Pauline from a barrel-flinging ape named Donkey Kong. Both Donkey Kong and Mario went on to star in many other successful video games.
*''[[Final Fantasy]]'' - A very popular and long running [[RPG]] series in both the [[United States]] and [[Japan]]. Earlier games were rather child friendly, but the series has become more mature over time.
*''[[Gears of War]]'' - Mankind has been annihilated by an underground race of beings.
*''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' - A game series about gangster like characters who perform missions to rise to the top by killing, stealing, and other, sometimes violent, missions.
*''[[Guitar Hero]]'' - A game where players play the role of the [[guitar]]ist in a band. Uses a special controller in the shape of and played similarly to a guitar.
*''Half-Life'' and ''Half-Life 2'' - First Person Shooter series about Gordon Freeman, a luckless scientist turned hero-from-desperation. This game uses one of the leading physics engine in first person shooters, the Source engine.
*''[[Halo]] - A trilogy of games following a super soldier during a fictional future [[war]].
*''[[Harvest Moon]]'' - Farm life simulator, with many sequels spreading from various platforms. Character runs a farm, raises animals, and can eventually marry.
*''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' - A popular series of fantasy action-adventure games.
*''[[Mass Effect]]'' - A science fiction RPG for mature players.
*''[[Medal of Honor]]'' - A first person shooter series usually taking place in the front lines of World War II.
*[[Mortal Kombat]] - Multi-player fighting game which is famous for violence, blood, and gory finishing moves called "fatalities".
*''[[NHL]]'' series - A series of Hockey games produced by EA Sports.
*''[[Pac-Man]]'' - An old maze game. It was very popular with kids and adults back in the eighties.
*''[[Portal]]'' - A popular first person shooter/puzzle game using the same game engine as ''Half-Life 2'' involving inter-dimensional travel through portals in an abandon testing facility. This game is known for its deadpan sense of humor.
*''[[Resident Evil]]'' - Survival/horror video game series, revolving around viral zombies and the survivors of the zombie attacks.
*''[[The Sims]]'' - A life simulator produced by EA.
*''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' - Series of Nintendo fighting games. It mixes characters from different [[Nintendo]] franchises [with some exceptions] in wide environments.
*''[[Soul Calibur]]'' - A weapon-based fighting game. Revolves around the tale of two weapons, Soul Edge [Cursed] and Soul Calibur [Blessed], and those who fight for control or destruction of the weapons.
*''[[Street Fighter]]'' - One-on-one [[martial arts]] fighting game series, where a player selects one of various martial artists and battles other players or against computer-controlled characters.
*''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' - Side-scrolling platform game series by [[Nintendo]]. Players play as Mario and Luigi, two Italian plumber brothers, who explore the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Peach from the evil Bowser [called Koopa in Japan]. Possibly the most well known game in the world.
*''[[Tomb Raider]]'' - Series of games following the adventures of Lara Croft.
*''[[Pong]]'' - the first real video game, resembling 2-d ping-pong.
== Popular video game consoles ==