Ok, I look at this and see that, yes, they went overboard. The Christian reviews of different things from music to games, help parents filter out some of the bad stuff (Like GTA: Vice City). However, sometimes the reviewers go overboard and read way too far into things (Like a review of Linkin Park that pissed me off). All in all, if you really want to use them, just ignore the obvious stretches (like the pokemon thing), and focus on the real meat of the review.

Hurray for free speech!

If anyone wants to review games within a political or religious context, more power to them.

I forget which comedian it was, but the message always stuck with me: "It's all BS, but eventually you find some you like, and it becomes, like, your personal BS."

Reviews are like that. If certain reviewers trash a movie, I'm fairly certain I'll like it. There are other reviewers, who I tend to agree with.

I'm glad to have that choice.

i think christians should take a chill pill. video games are fun, and they shouldn't be analyzing these games and assume that it's evil. i don't think the original creators of pokemon or d&d intended to convert kids into devil warshipers..it's just good clean fun.

once more religious folks show how truly ignorant they are... but i dont think a game review taught me that lesson..none the less..yeah pretty ammusing that people would actually think such contrived things but whatever religion controls people and im all for controlling people because people are idiots

I resent the fact that most peple think that all christians are like the ones who blame pokemon for school shootings and the guy who stands on the street corner next to the freeway exit yelling "Jesus loves you!" through a megaphone. Just because a bunch of them are twits dosn't mean we all are. I pride myself on being able to represent gamers and the religious, and neither of them are ignorant by nature. And an electric rat is as much witchcraft as an electric eel .....so there.

Another website dedicated to "inspecting" games from a Christian viewpoint is Al Menconi Ministries. The site also hands out its review scores based on "Biblical standards" rather than spending much time analyzing the game from a more traditional standpoint. Each game is introduced by examining its storyline, followed by a run-down on each of the following categories: violence, illegal/harmful material, language, nudity/sexual content, and occult/supernatural material.

This is all good and well, but one thing that irked me was when reading the Mafia review; the site decided to bluntly expose a major storyline element that takes place at the very end of the game, without even showing enough courtesy as to put up a spoiler warning on the page. Simply giving this plot element away greatly lessens the effect of that particular component in game if one should go ahead and give the game a try, despite the site's dismal 23% (F-) score. As one might expect, many of the titles that receive a terrible score from Al Menconi (that is, when judged on other sites' scales) are some of the most popular and highest rating games available today.

My parents thought most games were evil.
Thankfully, they neglected me so I grew up lonely, emotionaly scarred, and greatly entertained.

Dave, if you're going to title yourself with something (christian, gamer, artist, male, whatever) you have to be able to stomach both the people who criticize that title and the fools who claim themselves under the same title.

There are many things that I am that I would never say simply because people ruined the word and the point of categorizing is for clarity not confusion.

To me calling yourself a christian, though, is like a guitarist saying he plays rock music. Any more vague and I might start bleeding from the ears. So, please, just don't say anything at all.

I actually mailed Al Meconi a while back, asking him what his deal was. I was responded to very rudely , by Al himself , believe it or not. The mail said, and I quote, 'Our problem ? What's your problem ? You obviously don't like our reviews, so why don't you stop reading them?' Here's the kicker. 'And you call yourself a christian.' Yes, yes I do.

AHA! Funny ? Yes. These dudes need to freakin' calm down. Seriously.

Might I add, they have the worst sense of humor I have ever heard, for example:

"Medal of Honor is about a man who has to go behind enemy lines (no pun intended)"

What the hell?

There is only 1 word to describe this, idiocy.

Some people just should review games. If they're gonna be offended by something, they shouldn't play it. So what if Quake 3 has pentagrams? Its just a symbol, and if you get offended by that, it shows how weak-minded you are. The same goes for so called "offensive" language. Their review of quake 3 brough up the fact that there is no pentagrams/ "satanic" imagery in quake 2. If they were smart, they would realise that its a whole 'nother game setting. Quake 3 used *cough* "demonic" imagery to create a dark atmosphere and suceeded, for the better.

These guys don't seem like christians, more like fanatics. Eager for control over our minds.

Well, if that's all you're open to, then sure. The thing is that reviewers never try to control a persons' mind; they try to tell another person their opinion, thus, possibly, influencing their opinion to make a wise purchase. It really is no different than a movie review, except done from a believer's perspective. I would know. I write reviews for the site. One of the above reviews posted is one of mine, and, yes, I take just a bit of offense at the fact that you say I have no sense of humor. But that's okay. I won't hold it against you. Still...saying that anyone is idiotic, even if it is me, is just not cool. I mean, c'mon, the sheer fact that you are talking about CCGR and its sister site (now the same site)means that it makes you think about the games you play. Maybe Diablo is making you just a bit uncomfortable now. Or maybe its Quake, dare I say it, with its maps in the shapes of pentagrams and upside-down crosses. The fact that that is acceptable to you, sheer blasphemy, is proving that you, my friends, don't have your priorities straight. The end fact is that, while some of the reviews may be amateurish and sometimes poorly written, they provide an alternative to the secular magazines that are so popular. True, I do read some of those, but I just want the info. If anyone does want the alternative, they should know it is there, and they should also know that they are free to diss it as they see fit. It doesn't bug me. I just felt like I needed to tell you what I thought.

Later.

Scott

It's plain and simple to those who understand. How can we expect others to truly understand...it is foolishness in the eyes of those who can't understand. It used to be idiotic to me too, but once you really "see" you understand. At least we have names to ask that the blinders be removed.

You're absolutely right. People need to see the truth that are in these reviews. Don't just take them at face value, but rather at what the intentions are. That means that you need to actually look at the review and read the ratings, rather than just assume that the reviewers are trying to make this world into a Big Brother society, in something like 1984 or Brave New World. Rather, we try to provide an alternative voice to the mainstream that controls the gaming industry. The fact that we are trying to report and review the things that are always kept to the big guns is a good approach to what you call brain washing and mind control. Likewise, those that use the reviews for what they truly are, a way for the Christian population to get wholesome advice, will find that, more often than not, we do have valid and good opinions that should be listened to. However, the goal is not mind control, brain washing, or assimilation, but the good use of advice and creativity that our writing produces. Ours is not merely suggestions, but rather a sort of guidance for those who would like to see what games are good and not good from a Christian perspective. This is not something to read too much into. It is merely a useful tool that you, quite obviously, have no need for. In the end, however, it is the consumer who decides what they want to see, and, currently, we are recording over 100,000 hits last year, and quickly are expanding past that point, thus the reason for our site to evolve more into something far bigger. The customization of the site also adds to the user-friendly attitude. Check it out. And you might even sign up for our newsletter.

I really think sites and people like Al Menconi are really ignorant, when you review a game, it is for the content, and by content I mean the quality of a game. Pretty much 80 percent of all christians I know arent idiots like Al Menconi who are so narrow minded, the average games on the pulse of gamers everywhere have things like Violence, Sex, and swearing. And heres the one that pisses me off the most.... Any game with magic immediately gets kicked out so far because it has "occult" themes, your so narrow minded it isn't even funny. A fantasy game is called a fantasy because of just that, it is make believe, Christians say sins drag people in because it feels good to sin, well if your playing a game where you sin, isn't that better because your so juiced up from those games that you won't do it in real life? I say games discourage folks to kill, maim, bludgeon et cetera, I won't even go into the pre-marital sex deal. But you need to be open minded and respect the fact that you aren't in our world, or even universe in most of these games.

Please Wake the hell up.

Email me with any questions or comments at icefox922@hotmail.com

LOL, somehow I doubt few people will be writing you to discuss your insightful opinions.