Sunday, March 21, 2021

Christian Action Video Games


Break-Out the Bible (Excellent)
Purchase from Amazon or the publisher's website
 
Platform: PC, Mac
Publisher: DivineGames, 2002

Bounce the ball into the pieces to score points and reveal the Bible verse and graphic. There are three difficulty modes that determine the speed of the ball and plenty of levels to provide for extended gameplay.
 
 
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Guardians of Ancora (Excellent)
Purchase on Amazon or Google Play

Platforms: Android, iOS, Kindle
Publisher: Scripture Union, 2015

This platformer that walks through the stories of the Bible is a very impressive offering for mobile devices.



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Light Rangers: Mending the Maniac Madness (Excellent)
Purchase

Platform: PC, Mac
Publisher: Digital Praise, 2005

The Light Rangers receive their mission from their mastermind Sunday School teacher and need to save the children of Angeltown from various sinful attitudes caused by the Maniac Brainiac. It's a great game with a good story, fun animation, and plenty of platforming action. There's also just the right amount of Christian teaching. As a bonus, you can play a Christian trivia game.



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Noah's Ark (Excellent)
Purchase (this one's pretty difficult to find!)

Platform: NES
Publisher: Konami, 1992

Play as Noah gathering the animals across all seven continents. This is a very loose rendition of the story, though, as Noah changes form with different power-ups and even fights some rather interesting bosses.




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Timothy and Titus (Excellent)
Purchase

Platform: PC
Publisher: White Knight Games, 2006

This is a great (but short) action game in which you control Timothy and Titus seeking to recover Pauls stolen letters. Now, who would want Paul's letters to be lost? That's right, there are enemies to fight in this game, but it's a fairly non-violent game with the human enemies converting to Christianity when you defeat them.

 
  
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Adam's Venture Trilogy (Good)
Purchase on Amazon or Steam

Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One
Publisher: Vertigo Games, 2009-2016

The Adam Venture games are action/puzzle games in the exploration genre.

Adam's Venture: Episode 1: The Search for the Lost Garden (PC)
Adam's Venture: Episode 2: Solomon's Secret (PC)
Adam's Venture: Episode 3: Revelations (PC)
Adam's Venture: Chronicles (collection of all 3 for PS3)
Adam's Venture: Origins (a remake of the originals for PC, PS4, Xbox One)



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Adventures in Odyssey and the Great Escape (Good)
Purchase

Platforms: PC, Mac
Publisher: Digital Praise, 2005

The gameplay is fairly simple as you play through a series of activities from the perspective of being in a video game. The story is a great illustration of temptation and our need to resist it with God's help.

Watch the trailer!


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Armor of God (Good)
Play for free!

Platform: Browser
Publisher: Mark Gossage, 2018

Here's a short Christian platformer game you can play right in your browser. Your goal is to collect the Armor of God while avoiding the spikes, making jumps across pits, and landing on moving platforms. It's a fun game that doesn't take too long and will give you a good review of the applicable passage.


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Axys Adventures: Truth Seeker (Good)
Purchase
  
Platform: PC
Publisher: Rebel Planet Creations, 2007

This is one of the best Christian video games in the Action / RPG genre. The graphics leave a little to be desired (it's a few years old), but the story is intriguing, and the gameplay is phenomenal. You're battling monsters with your sword and figuring out puzzles like you would in the best Action RPG games.



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BibleMan: A Fight for the Faith (Good)
Purchase, if you can find it!

Platform: PC, Mac
Publisher: Covenant Studios, 2005

Based off of the episode of the series, you play as BibleMan and his teammates, defending the city against the Wacky Professor. Is it campy? Yes! That's part of what makes it fun. Also, the cutscenes are from the TV show, which brings back a lot of nostalgia for certain gamers. The only detriment is that gameplay can be a little slow, as you can only defend rather than attack.





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  Bible Smuggler (Good)
Play for free!
 
Platform: Browser
Publisher: Mark Gossage, 2018

In this Christian action game, you have to avoid the watchmen who are trying to prevent you from delivering Bibles to the houses. It's a fun, challenging game, although short because it was made for a game jam. There's no music, just some sound effects, and there's no story. This little game focuses on gameplay only. It's free, so give it a try and see how well you do on your stealthy Bible delivery.


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Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land (Good)
Purchase

Platforms: DOS, NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1991

This is a fun but repetitive dungeon crawler game shooting Ws (the Word) at enemies and barriers as you defeat Pharaoh's magicians and collect manna to advance to the next level. To continue, you have to answer multiple choice trivia questions about the Biblical story. Between each level, you'll see a scene from Moses' life.



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Joshua & the Battle of Jericho (Good)
Purchase

Platforms: NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1992

Control Joshua as you race against the clock to collect enough resources to exit each level. Joshua uses his horn to defeat enemies. At the end of each level, you also need to answer multiple choice questions on the story of Joshua.




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King of Kings: The Early Years (Good)
Purchase

Platform: NES
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1991

This is a three-in-one game of playing the Wise Men as they collect their gifts and head to Bethlehem, the Holy Family as they flee to Egypt, and Joseph and Mary as they search for the Boy Jesus at the Temple. You have to avoid traps and enemies while answering trivia questions for points. You'll also see a scene from the early years of Jesus' life at appropriate points in the game.




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LarryBoy and the Bad Apple (Good)
Purchase

Platform: Game Boy Advance, PS2
Publisher: Crave Entertainment, 2006

Play as LarryBoy's superhero alter ego in this 3D platformer as you learn to fight temptation. The graphics are nice and clean for this title, and the story and gameplay are entertaining enough to still please a modern gamer.



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MightyNoah Adventure Game (Good)
Play for free!

Platforms: Android
Publisher: Doroncreations Inc, 2018

This is a pretty fun reaction game. You swipe the ark left and right to avoid dangers and collect coins, health, and shields. The scenery and obstacles and varied and look great. The music adds to the sense of adventure. When the durability of your ark gets too low, you can either pay coins to restore it and keep going, or answer three trivia questions to keep going. You can also watch an ad, but there is no invasive advertising. I don't think this is a game that will keep your attention for long, but it's fun to try out and see how far you can get floating on the waters of the flood.


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Noah's Elephant in the Room (Good)

Play for free on Android or iOS!
   
Platform: Android, iOS
Publisher: Salvation's Story, 2017

Ride Noah's elephant through the Ark, avoiding Noah's sons, who are trying to ruin his good time. If you want to a boost, you can memorize Bible verses and upgrade your elephant. It's a fun game to play around with, but don't expect it to keep your attention for long. Thankfully, it doesn't have to since it's free to play.



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Onesimus: A Quest for Freedom (Good)
Purchase

Platform: DOS
Publisher: Ark Multimedia Publishing, 1992

Play as runaway slave Onesimus referenced in the book of Philemon in this platformer. The sound effects and music are very rockin', and the game is fairly challenging. You'll find Bible verses in the levels, but other than that, there's not much real Christian content in this game.



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The Pilgrim's Progress (Good)
Purchase

Platform: PC
Publisher: Scott Cawthorn, 2011

This is a fun game with simple but clean graphics telling the classic Paul Bunyan allegory in an RPG style. It's a good one for engaging action and your spiritual mind at the same time. 



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Adventures in Odyssey and the Sword of the Spirit (Fair) 
Purchase

Platforms: PC, Mac
Publisher: Digital Praise, 2008

This game has a decent story and an animated art style that holds up fairly well. It also has a mix of puzzles, roleplaying, and platforming. Unfortunately, the platforming is rather difficult to control, bringing down the overall gameplay experience.



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Bible Adventures (Fair)
Purchase on Amazon or Steam

Platforms: NES, Sega Genesis
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1991

This retro platformer can still be a lot of fun as you play through the stories of Noah's Ark, Baby Moses, and David and Goliath. Just don't expect too much of a challenge.




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Defender of the Faith: The Adventures of David (Fair)
Purchase (another rare one!)
 
Platform: DOS
Publisher: Solid Rock Software, 1992

Fight your way through the stories of David's life in this combat-heavy game. You'll get a review of the Shepherd-King's life, but you might also get frustrated with the controls as you try to survive the enemies coming at you.
 
 
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FIVE: Champions of Canaan (Fair)
Purchase

Platforms: PC, Mac
Publisher: Kingdom Games, 2016

Your mission: infiltrate the arenas to disrupt the sacrifices to Moloch. The gameplay: repetitive. This is mostly a fighting game. The graphics are great, and the ability to upgrade your gear is a plus, but there's not much to the story. If you simply want some quick-paced fun, Champions of Canaan can hit the spot, but there's not enough depth here to play for an extended period.



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FIVE: Guardians of David (Fair)
Purchase

Platforms: PC, Mac
Publisher: Kingdom Games, 2015

Play as 5 of David's mighty men as you walk through some of the major events in the famous king's life. 



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Guardian Light of the World (Fair)
Also known as GLOW
Purchase on Android or iOS

Platform: Android, iOS
Publisher: The Sanet Group, 2012

There isn't much Christian content to this game, and it does get a little bloody. You're a knight trying to recover the Ten Commandments for your kingdom (don't ask me how your kingdom got the Ten Commandments). There's a prayer of salvation you can read on the title screen, and the game is set up to say that you're fighting demons in your quest. You also gather Bibles as your powerups. Despite the thin Christian skin on this monster-hacker, my main complaint is that the movement and aiming are difficult to control.



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Moses Freedom Fighter (Fair)
Play for free on Android or iOS!

Platforms: Android, iOS
Publisher: Ayotree, 2016

This is a variety game with each of the seven levels representing a different event in Moses' life with a different style of gameplay. You'll experience everything from platforming to Tetris to boxing to aiming to gem-matching. The game is generally is well-done for a collection of mini-games.



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NIV Bible & the 20 Lost Levels of Joshua (Fair)
Purchase (a rare find!)

Platform: Game Boy
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1996

Read or search the Bible or play a short version of the dungeon crawler, Joshua & the Battle of Jericho reviewed above.


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 Spiritual Warfare (Fair)
Purchase

Platform: NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1992

Use the Armor of God and the Fruit of the Spirit to battle (convert) souls. This game has a good premise but lacks a story to hook the player, relying solely on the theme and gameplay.




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Bible Buffet (Poor)
Purchase

Platform: NES
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1993

You play platforming levels in different food-themed areas as well as answer trivia questions in this board game. It's an odd gem in the Christian video game genre, suitable for the true connoisseur.


 
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Interactive Bible Series (Poor) 
(Screenshots from James and 1 Timothy)

Purchase games in the series

Platforms: PC
Publisher: GraceWorks Interactive, 2005-2010

I want to like these games. I just can't. They're exploration/action games that move too slow and really have very little to do with the books of the Bible they're representing.

Gameplay video of Interactive Parables


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Sight's Adventure (Poor)
Purchase

Platform: PC
Publisher: Brandon's Gaming Company, 2018

What is going on in this game?! The amateur art style would be charming if I could understand the story. You start walking around your town with no objective of where to go. Along the way, you meet friends and collect different neckties that give you different abilities. At certain points, you have to answer a trivia question based on a Bible verse. I feel like there's the beginnings of something worth playing here, but for now, it's all just a bit too random.


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Sunday Funday: The Ride (Poor)
Purchase

Platform: NES
Publisher: Wisdom Tree, 1995

Ride your skateboard and dodge bullies on your way to Sunday School. While Christian-themed, there isn't much content to this one.




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Do You Know of Any Other Christian Action Video Games?

Let me know in the comments so that I can add them here. Developers can send review copies if they wish.




 

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