Left Behind: Eternal Forces PC Game Review

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12-22-2010 UPDATE!

*** All Pictures and Videos in this review have been removed. Left Behind Games has said that I am infringing on their copyright because in my review I uploaded the videos to YouTube. So just to be on the safe side I deleted everything. I contacted them and they said that ANY reproductions of their video games, including the software, interface and video is copyright infringement!! How do you do a game review without videos and pictures in it?!?!?!  That makes no sense to me, but whatever it’s all gone now and won’t be back up ***

 

The Left Behind series is huge, selling millions of copies worldwide, I myself have read a couple of the series as well, and they are very good. I was very much looking forward to a game based on the series of books with high hopes for something great. In all honesty though the game is pretty good but lacks something that makes it a great game. Overall, Left Behind: Eternal forces is an interesting game and true die hard fans of the book series will love it, but regular gamers might not. Left Behind: Eternal Forces deals with things that are a bit controversial, which doesn’t bother me at all, in fact I like controversy, but there are people out there who hate this game and those people have never even seen or played it. It’s worth playing, it really is, if you are a fan of RTS type games then you might just love this game, there are many aspects to it that can be appreciated, so continue on to learn more about Eternal Forces the Game… Oh and I have seven keys to give away so you can play Eternal Forces online for free!


 

Left Behind: Eternal Forces PC Game Review

Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor: Left Behind Games

 

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

 

 

Left Behind: Eternal Force the PC Game

 

Game description:

 

Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces – a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

 

· Lead the Tribulation Force from the book series , including Rayford, Chloe, Buck and Bruce against Nicolae Carpathia – the AntiChrist.

 

· Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.

· Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.

 

· Command your forces through intense battles across a breathtaking, authentic depiction of New York City .

 

· Control more than 30 units types – from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!

 

· Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode – fighting in China Town , SoHo , Uptown and more!

 

· Play multiplayer games as Tribulation Force or the AntiChrist’s Global Community Peacekeepers with up to eight players via LAN or over the internet!

 

 

 

 

 


A Better Look at Things

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Included with my copy of Left Behind: Eternal Forces was a nice Fact Sheet and free trial DVD to give away.

The box is very well done, very high quality overall.


The front of the box opens up to show you some in game screenshots and to learn more about the game.


The back of the box has more screenshots and description of the game.


There is lots of stuff included in the box I received, including a copy of Left Behind the book, also included was an ad for sponsoring a needy child, an extensive game manual, support information and a folder with the main key and seven other keys to give away.

   

The Left Behind book is a full retail copy, just like you would find on a store, it is the first of the series so you can get a start on it.

   

 

This review will be a mixture of videos and screenshots, I have eleven videos and lots of screenshots for you to learn more about the game.

 


 


Installation, Testing and Gameplay:

 

Ok, as with most any game nowadays, there is copy protection, Left Behind: Eternal Forces will check to see if the disc is real or not when you start the game.


There is a registration as well, so you can be sure to be notified of updates etc.

   

I was informed by the PR company that an update was available as soon as the game came out, so off I went to get the update. It apparently fixed quite a few issues that involved gameplay, added a building, made demons harder to kill, and improved the graphics for machines that can handle it, and some other small fixes as well.


Once we get through all that we are greeted with the intro movie, here is some of it in two parts:

 

 

 

The intro movie is actually pretty cool, and well done, I like it quite a bit actually…

 


 


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Installation, Testing and Gameplay Continued:

 

Normally I run through screenshots of the menus etc, but I decided to do it in video format this time as there really isn’t much there, and I really like the background for the menus and thought you should see it as well. The video options offer the standard resolution changes, shadows and performance quality options. There are also basic options for sound and game options as well, like Tool Tips on or off, and Narrator on or off.

 

The next two movies are of the JukeBox that is included so you can listen to the soundtrack for Eternal Forces. They are of course basically Christian music, some of it is pretty good and catchy…

 

 

 

From the main menu you can also view the credits, and the first person listed on the credits is God…

 

 


 


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Installation, Testing and Gameplay Continued:

 

When you start to play you are greeted with a rather lengthy actual movie, in which you learn what happened then and what is going on now.

 

The acting is pretty bad, really bad actually, but the quality is actually pretty good…

 

 

And we get to meet Nickolae Carpathia, the bad guy, or the Anti-Christ….

 

 

You can judge for yourself, but I think the acting is pretty bad… and I wonder how much GMC had to pay to have their trucks featured in the game like that? You just can’t miss that GMC logo as it comes on the screen…

 

 

 

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Installation, Testing and Gameplay Continued:

 

At the beginning of each level you are greeted with a narrative about what is going on, the voice is similar to that of James Earl Jones and I don’t think that is a mistake…

 

Once you get into the game there is a tutorial which I highly recommend playing though as you cannot just jump into this game and play it, you need to learn it first. The user interface takes up about tho-thirds of the screen, maybe a little less, and there is also a box that pops up in the top left corner to alert you to objectives or things going on in the game.


Across the top is your overall status bar, while the main interface is on the bottom of the screen. Here, on the bottom you will find many things to do that will change with each person you are using and the type of person you are using. In the bottom interface you will also find your personal stats as well, such as strength, defense, attack speed and spirit. Yes, spirit, you need to keep your spirit, and the spirit of everyone in your party high or they will turn to neutral characters… (I almost said turn to the darkside…) In the bottom right corner is the main interface, hear is your activity interface, this is for doing various things like recruiting people, attacking, praying, walking etc…


 

One thing that I noticed very quickly is the advertising in Left Behind: Eternal Forces, there are billboards everywhere, some are public service announcements, but some are for EB Games as well.

   


 


 


Installation, Testing and Gameplay Continued:

 

As you progress on in the game, you will take charge of other people, and you will learn more skills, or you will get to teach your people more skills. Of course there is a fighting element to the game, but not only fighting other people but things like demons as well.


Here’s a quick movie of the Peacekeeping forces attacking one of my buildings:

 

The control for the Eternal Forces takes quite a bit of getting used to, I found myself all over the place, you need to use a combination of the mouse and keyboard to rotate the camera and get the correct angle to see the action.

 

Movement is done with the standard click, point and click where the characters will go to where you click. Zooming in on your characters will also show a status bar above their heads.

   

 

Here’s two quick movies of basic movement:

 



Installation, Testing and Gameplay Continued:

 

There are many more elements to gameplay, but each level is basically objective oriented, you need to do this before you can do this, or a set of objectives need to be completed. While playing Eternal Forces you will need to build buildings like churches, cafes or restaurants, training centers etc, all these buildings serve a specific purpose. The cafe will feed the people, the base, or training center is obviously your base of operations and the place where you can train units that you recruit to do specialized jobs like construction or being a soldier. Recruiting people is fairly easy, you just need to click recruit and point to the person you wish to ‘convert’ over to your side. There are many neutral people walking around that can be converted t o your side to help you, after they are converted they can be trained in various things.
Left Behind: Eternal Forces is really a strategy game, but also has parts of RPGs in it as well. If I had to make a comparison I would say it is more like the Command and Conquer series, where you build things, and move your pieces around to complete an objective.
The game is hard, even on the easy setting, I found it very hard to get anywhere and it took me quite a few tries to even get past the first level.


But when you do complete a level you are greeted with a song, and also a pro-Christianity message, like this one is of course debating evolution, you can skip it if you wish though, as some people might not care to much about it…

In all Eternal Forces is not that bad of a game, like I said it is hard, and it will take a bit of learning to get used to the game and its controls, but overall it is enjoyable and very playable. The graphics are not that great, I really did expect them to be much better coming from a series like Left Behind.

I can’t say that everyone will enjoy this game, but fans of the series certainly will, and even the adventurous ones that pick it up to try it out will like it. If you are a fan of RTS type games then you might want to give Eternal Forces a try.

 

With things the way they are today in the world and politics, it’s a shame really, as I can see most people staying away from Eternal Forces just because of the subject matter that it deals with. It really is a cool game overall, and if you can put aside any petty differences or views you have, you might find you actually like the game if you try it…



Summary:
Like I just mentioned, with things the way they are today, I can’t see this game actually becoming really popular, but you never know, stranger things have happened. Eternal Forces is actually a pretty cool game that can provide hours of enjoyable gameplay, for anyone willing to give it a try. If this game wasn’t based on what it is, and wasn’t dealing with Christianity it would be very popular everywhere, but as it is, it has really limited itself to (sadly) a dwindling population of gamers. Go get this game, play it, enjoy it..
DragonSteelMods gives Eternal Forces: Left Behind a 4.5 out of 5 score.

Pros:
-Follows the book series
-Multiplayer online
-Will take many hours to finish
-Nice extras
Cons:
-Bad acting
-Difficult, even on easy setting
-High learning curve
-Graphics could be much better