Bible Adventures

Infobox VG
title=Bible Adventures


caption= Box cover of "Bible Adventures"
developer=Wisdom Tree
publisher=Wisdom Tree
designer=
engine=
released=1991
genre=Side scroller/Platform game
modes=Single player
ratings=
platforms=NES/Famicom, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, PC
media=2-megabit cartridge
requirements=
input=

"Bible Adventures" is an unlicensed Christian video game by Wisdom Tree, first released in 1991 for the NES, and later re-released in 1995 for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. It contains three different games: "Noah's Ark", "Baby Moses", and "David and Goliath", all of which are based rather loosely on stories from the Hebrew Bible. The gameplay of these games is sidescroller style similar to that of "Super Mario Bros. 2".

Gameplay

In "Noah's Ark", the player must round up animals and food -- sometimes by knocking animals out or catching fruit thrown by a monkey -- and carry them onto the Ark. Noah's health is recharged when the player reads Bible verses that are scattered around the four levels.

In "Baby Moses", the player controls Miriam, Moses' sister as she tries to save her brother from the Pharaoh's decree that all male Hebrew children be killed. In order to do this, the player carries Moses from one end of the level to the other, in a manner quite similar to the way in which characters in "Super Mario Bros. 2" carry vegetables. Moses can be thrown around without harming him, but enemies cannot be harmed in any way. If the player completes the level without Moses, the game says "Good Work, But you forgot Baby Moses." and the level must be restarted.

In "David and Goliath", the player starts out controlling David as he herds sheep and avoids predators such as lions and bears. The player then obtains a sling and goes on to dodge guards, scorpions, and stones before he fights Goliath's shieldbearer and ultimately Goliath himself, whom the player must strike once in the head to defeat.

All three of these mini games have identical character control fluidity to another NES game, "Menace Beach". The sound effects for picking items up, throwing them, jumping and even a bird are also identical to "Menace Beach", both games even contain a bird that picks up the character and carries them to a different part of the level. In Menace Beach, the bird carries you to a previous area, reversing your progress, while in Baby Moses, the bird carries Miriam to a further area, but makes her drop baby Moses, forcing her to go back and get him.

Criticism

The game has been criticized for being overly didactic (e.g., gameplay is broken up by Bible verses), for being highly derivative of "Super Mario Brothers 2", and for generally bad gameplay. Nevertheless, it sold reasonably well in Christian bookstores. It was featured on "Seanbaby's EGM Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Games of All Time" as the 19th worst game ever. [cite web | url = http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/w20-19.htm|publisher = EGM
title = Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Games of All Time | accessdate = 2007-01-15 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.wisdomtreegames.com/games/bibleadv/ Official Bible Adventures page at Wisdom Tree]
* [http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=116 Classigaming—Game of the Week]
* [http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/w20-19.htm SeanBaby—The Worst Nintendo Game #19]