Harry's Blog

I was a participant in a BBC World Service discussion about Left Behind: Eternal Forces this evening. It was very entertaining.

I was invited to take part in the radio show to explain what the game's about in my official capacity as a games journalist. Then a preacher came on to talk about what a lot of bigoted shite the game was (not exactly his words). The Left Behind Games President waffled on his usual line about the game only using violence for defence.

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Interesting story over at The Times today about several groups condemning the PC strategy game Left Behind: Eternal Forces for inciting religious hatred.

Some Muslims have called for a ban, but that isn't going to happen and is really not a great idea. While I really dislike anything to do with Tim LaHaya and Jerry Jenkins right-wing nonsense I equally dislike groups trying to limit free speech and person freedom.

The fact is that Eternal Forces is going to sink without a trace over here. Why? Because the game isn't actually any good.

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It's all too easy to forget, when faced with the shrill sound of America's right-wing Christians, that there are many of the faith across the pond who actually believe in Jesus' message rather than a doctrine of hate and bigotry.

One such coalition of Christians has clearly had enough of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' Left Behind series and specifically the new game based on the franchise.

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Channel 4 broadcasted a very interesting documentary this evening called The Doomsday Code. Presented by Tony Robinson, in one of his much better performances, this investigated the End Times believers. The cancerous subset within Christianity especially prevalent in the USA that not only believes that the time of Armageddon is upon us, but that they have a role to play in making it happen. Hence US support for Israel's more extreme policies, an unwillingness to combat environmental damage - in some cases deliberately increasing it and support for anti-Islamic military and political policies.

I've touched on this subject here often before, especially when discussing the Left Behind books. But it was pretty scary watching Tony Robinson put all this together on screen. It painted a picture of a United States run by people who want to bring about the end of the world, slaughter and destruction on a global scale, and all in the name of Jesus.

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Things are going to hell in a handbasket over in Lebanon. Israel, not a nation used to understand the concept of an eye for an eye, has gone rather over the top in its conflict with Hezbollah.

What seems particularly worrying is the news that Israel shelled a UN position for ten hours and received numerous phone calls to stop. However Israel eventually blasted the position with precision guided missiles, killing four of the UN troops there. Was it deliberate or a genuine failure in the chain of command?

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The second chapter of Left Behind deals with the growing realisation by airline captain Rayford Steel that many of his passengers have disappeared. Poor old Hattie, the lusty stewardess of his desires, seems to have gone slightly mad yet Ray takes in in his stride. He can multitask, he can "bite his lip hard and wince at the pain" at the same time. He's that kind of hero.

We're told that many people are missing without a trace. Yet our intellectually challenged authors manage to contradict themselves right away. There are plenty of traces left behind. Mostly clothes, but there are other things left such as hearing aids. Obviously this should be really spooky, all these people suddenly vanishing from a plane at 30+ thousand feet. In the hands of a great writer one would expect so, but the narrative is so flat it reads like you're not supposed to be excited by any of this.

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As promised here is the first part of my look at the book Left Behind. I've read three chapters now, but today I want to focus on the first chapter, how it sets the scene and some of the issues raised by it. My overall impression so far is that it is very much like the works of Dan Brown in that it has huge logic holes all over the place that make it difficult to suspend disbelief at all.

One of the major points of the first chapter is so stupid that I had to read the section again to make sure I wasn't just misreading. But we'll come to that in good time. Let's get into the first chapter and take things in order.

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