VIDEO GAME REVIEWS

'WWE SMACKDOWN! VS. RAW 2007'
(THQ) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 2
Genre: Sports
Rating: T
Grade: C
It's good to see that the WWE franchise has reached a place in its life where focusing on the little things is the name of the game instead of earlier editions that were almost wholesale revamps of their predecessors.
Most of the development time for "WWE 2007" went into creating a whole new grappling system. Instead of pressing a single button to enter grapples and execute moves, most of the new system is controlled by using the right analog stick. Most sports titles are relying less on the buttons and mapping more controls to the two analog sticks. That works well here and makes the action much more fluid.
One odd note is while the last two games in the series seemed to make strides in the collision detection, "WWE 2007" seems to have regressed some. Often you'll have a wrestler knocked down by a punch that on screen looks like a total whiff.
The graphics on the Xbox 360 version look great, but they are lagging a little behind other 360 titles. At some point THQ needs to push its visuals into the next-gen sphere. The game modes are more in-depth this time around, and overall there's a sense that this franchise is on the brink of reaching perfection.
It's just not quite there this time around.
"LEFT BEHIND: ETERNAL FORCES"
(Left Behind Games) for PC
Genre: Strategy
Rating: T
Grade: D-
What ruins "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" is not its overtly religious themes, but a nagging overall structure and its bland and repetitive visuals.
It would be easy to knock this game based on its biblical implications of an apocalyptic New York City. Seriously, when only the men can be the true saviors and women are relegated to supporting roles, you're going to have problems getting fans. Oh, and that's just the beginning of the horrible stereotypes this game propagates (artists and rock musicians are minions of Satan, doctors and builders are the chosen people and only those with typical Caucasian names are the leaders of the movement to save the world).
Let's leave the story behind for a moment and focus on the gameplay, which has its moments, but otherwise does nothing spectacular. The goal is not necessarily to smite all Satanists but convert as much of the population as possible to Christianity. You do this through prayer groups, building up supply depots of food and money to aid the cause and eventually taking on the forces of evil.
A strategy game such as this, even with its veiled attempts at inclusiveness, only really appeals to gamers of devout faith. This is a big chance for evangelicals to stake a claim in the video game world, but realistically it thuds like a homily that completely misses the mark.
Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard