My passion for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has made me a realize a long-departed interest in gaming, and I’ve spent some time scouring sites like Gamespot and IGN for the latest gaming news and views. My next large present to myself will undoubtedly be an XBox 360, but that is a long time coming. I wouldn’t feel right plopping down four hundred bucks for a game machine right now, not when my car sounds as though it’s about to explode, I have rent and bills to pay, and I’ve yet to figure out a wedding gift for my mother and her boyfriend. But anyway.

I stumbled across a preview for a game that, at first glance, is quite similar to GTA. It’s a real-time strategy game that is based in New York City, and, as the main character, you wander around completing missions. This is where the similarities end. Where GTA offers the innocent gamer the opportunity to do things he/she probably would never do in real life, such as steal cars, shoot innocent bystanders, and deal with corrupt cops, among other things, Left Behind: Eternal Forces lets you “join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil” as you use prayer to build up an army to take on the AntiChrist, the head of UN-lookalike Global Community Peacekeepers. The game, though involving some necessary deaths, will not include blood so as to retain its ‘T for teen’ rating, and unnecessary killings result in a lower score. Compare that to GTA, where you actually gain respect for killing rival gang members.

Can you guess that this game is targeted at the Christian community? Looks pretty interesting, but I’ll stick with my ‘Los Santos’ boys, thank you very much. That is, unless the promised multiplayer capability really does offer the opportunity to control the forces of the AntiChrist. Now that’s intriguing.