Finding God in Video Games

Join us for this week's "Video Game Rewind" as we take a look back at the original "Plants Vs. Zombies" game and share our struggle with sacrificing some of our plants to win a war that couldn't be won any other way... and along the way learn more about the nature of sacrifice in our service to Christ from the tragic but necessary martyrdom of Stephen mixed with a littl...

After seeing the Super Mario Bros. Movie achieve over 1.3 BILLION dollars in box office money, it is safe to say that the long-running challenge of turning video games into successful movies has been broken by icons such as Sonic and Mario in their respective cinematic adventures. The world of the Mushroom Kingdom was so successfully translated to the silver screen that it will take multiple viewi...

Not many games get the opportunity to have a THIRD life, but of all the games that deserve this chance to breathe again Shadow of the Colossus is certainly one of the most deserving. Beloved for its low-key telling of an incredibly personal story that involves almost zero dialogue and copious amounts of moody atmosphere, the fact that this game every existed once is a miracle in and of itself. But...

After 25 years of leading the Pokémon anime series as the leading protagonist and face of the franchise, Ash has finally achieved his dream of becoming “the very best, like no one ever was”. With his (and Pikachu’s) victory in the Pokémon World Coronation Series Masters Tournament, Ash has proven that he is, in fact, the world’s greatest Pokémon trainer… which means his twenty-five year long story...

In the world of gaming, there may not be a brand more ubiquitous than Fortnite… with an average of over 230 MILLION players a month, this free-to-play juggernaut has maintained a healthy following despite all of the best efforts of their competitors to disrupt their stranglehold on the marketplace. But in a surprising twist, the parent company of Fortnite was forced to undergo a massive round of l...

We all know the sound… I can’t fully articulate in a manner that will adequately convey it, but when we hear it, we just KNOW. Let me try… it goes something like this, ” Do doooo doo do dooo doo do dooO doOO DOOO DOOO!” See, I told you that it is hard. That was my attempt at using words to describe the sound of the music speeding up as Mario’s time begins running out at the end of a level. You are...

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been deep in the middle of an incredibly heated and competitive match when your controller suddenly decides it has run out of charge? If so, you might be entitled to compensation. Well, no, you probably aren't... but you MIGHT be a little bit like me, who ignored the obvious warning signs until my controller went dead when I could least afford for i...

Portal began life as a simple tech demo and became a franchise all of its own, complete with memorable characters, one of the great ending theme songs of all time, and quite possibly one of the most enjoyable antagonists in the history of gaming. As your player character wordlessly moves through each challenge armed only with the “portal gun”, a bizarre yet perfect reward is repeatedly dangled bef...

While Microsoft fans have been able to enjoy the benefits of a premium controller for several years with the fully customizable Elite controller, PlayStation players have been forced to either stick with the official Sony controller or settle for some rather dubious third-party controller options that tried (and failed) to mimic the impressive functionality of the Xbox Elite controller. Are the da...

In an ever-changing sea of faster frame-rates, dramatically upgraded hardware, and technological upgrades there has been one constant in many of our gaming experiences… the targeting reticle. This little icon on our screens has been a steadfast partner with us across galactic exploration, underwater worlds of wonder, and through just about every battle that has occurred through history, fictional...

If you have played any story-based game through to completion over the years, you know the feeling… it’s that strange mixture of anticipation and dread that we feel in the pit of our stomach as we realize that we are “in the endgame now”. This is what the entire game has been building towards from the moment we first pressed start, and the tension has become so thick you could cut it with a Darksa...

The moody atmosphere and unique environment of Rapture made Bioshock one of the most memorable games of its' generation, but it was the plot twist that gave a real "The Usual Suspects" vibe to the proceedings. A healthy "SPOILER ALERT" for those who need it, because we are going to dive into the reveal of the TRUE antagonist of the game as well as uncover what the Scripture...

After years of trying and failing to carve a successful path into the portable gaming space, Sony has finally found the right partnership to achieve what they have been dreaming of... a way for gamers to enjoy their content wherever they choose to play it. But the journey from PSP to Backbone One was anything but smooth, and it took Sony giving up on THEIR version of the dream to realize that what...

As we wrap up our Spider-Man 2 series, a large part of the challenge for this Spider-Man game is that it exists in its’ own unique part of the Spider-Man “multiverse”… this is NOT the same Spider-Man that has shown up in the MCU or the Spider-Verse movies, even if some of the scenarios are going to feel pretty similar and the villains hail from the same classic rogues gallery that have plagued Pet...

Microsoft’s blockbuster acquisition efforts for Activision Blizzard have generated many interesting conversations about the future of video games, with industry experts and gamers alike pondering the ideas and impacts of everything from monopolization, monetization, and now CANNIBALIZATION within the gaming marketplace. Yes, you read that correctly. Microsoft is finally admitting that their Game P...

The release of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was pretty exciting news for gamers around the world…well, as long as they had the right console, anyways. Spider-Man 2 is a PlayStation exclusive… a PlayStation FIVE exclusive to be exact. And while that is not an issue for those who already possess a shiny PS5 system, it does leave those of us who have NOT made that console purchase yet on the outside loo...

The fan response to the first iteration of what has now been affectionally named “Ugly Sonic” was SO massively negative that the movie's creators had to completely throw out their first design of Sonic and all of his animations and start over. Continuing to invest into this unproven concept that appeared to be “damaged goods” was a massive risk. But fortunately for all of us, the designers beh...

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 brought even MORE iconic villains, even HIGHER stakes, and a deeper story that pushed both of our friendly neighborhood protagonists to their mental and physical limits… and in a proper sequel, that is what we should expect. I mean, who picks up the next game in a series and expects it to be easier? Sure, our main characters are stronger and have grown in their skills and cap...

There are iconic games that define their generation, and then there is GoldenEye… arguably one of the greatest games to come out of the Nintendo 64 era. And after all of these years, the original GoldenEye has found its’ way back to reclaim its’ former glory on both the Xbox and the Nintendo Switch, giving both original fans as well as those who have never played this game in its’ original form an...

In their high school yearbook photo, they would have been voted the least likely properties to find their way into a video game franchise together, but in this East meets West collaboration the minds behind Final Fantasy and the house that Mickey built formed an organism that for gamers rivals the sweet, sweet combination of peanut butter and chocolate. This unforeseen merging of all things Disney...

Finishing a video game can be a bittersweet experience… the characters and story that we may have been enjoying for hours, days, months, or sometimes even YEARS is suddenly over, and that finality can be even more jarring if we are unhappy with the way the game ends. After investing emotionally into the narrative journey of a group of characters or spending a great deal of time developing specific...

We all did it, we just didn’t recognize it for what it was at the time. Yours might be slightly different than mine, but for each of us there was a time we placed a beloved and integral part of our gaming experience back into the case for the final time and simply didn’t know it. There was a night that my friends and I gathered together for our regular Halo 2 LAN party for the final time, but we d...

The triumphant return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the public consciousness is a victory for a new generation being exposed to these characters for the first time as well as a nice dose of nostalgia for those of us who played the original games... but they don’t have a new game on the shelves to call their own. Their most recent release was the retro-inspired Shredder’s Revenge that was...

Don’t call it a comeback… the return of the Telltale Games studio to the video game industry has more in common with a resurrection, as this company was completely dead in the waters five years ago. After years of churning out their very unique and specific style of dialogue-driven, narrative-focused games, Telltale Games appeared to have breathed its’ last gasp back in 2018… after completely runn...

Cyberpunk is one of my favorite genres in both gaming and non-interactive entertainment. Few games have attempted to nail this setting, and fewer still have gotten it right. But then there is the Deus Ex franchise, brimming with all the tech noire that befits its futuristic setting. These dystopian futures resemble our real world more and more all the time, as our hyper-dependence on technology be...