lpetrich
30 Sep 2009, 04:53 PM
Heaven: the Game (http://heaventhegame.com/) is now out.
It is an extremely lavish production, advertised as consuming 3.5 gigabytes of DVD-ROM space. It looks elaborately rendered, with lots of detail and lots of reflections, so it is most likely prerendered in Myst fashion. In fact, some of the creators of this game had worked on games in the Myst series.
It closely follows the preview of it that was released a year ago, so I will work from that to fill in the blanks.
The premise: Joshua is an astronaut aboard a spacecraft headed for one of Jupiter's moons, but that spacecraft hits an asteroid on its way through the Asteroid Belt. A rather Hollywood Asteroid Belt, it must be said.
He visits Heaven, and meets Axis, that woman in a white corset, a short white skirt, white tights, and knee-high high-heeled white boots. She is an "old friend", and she turns out to be his grandmother in a "glorified body". In her earthly life, she had been crippled, but she got the use of her legs again just by asking Jesus Christ to cure her. It must be said that she will induce heterosexual male players to commit adultery in their hearts with her (Matthew 5:27).
He also meets the Archangel Michael and the "living creatures" from the Book of Revelation. Michael shows up as a 60-ft-tall, young, muscular he-man with short, curly blond hair; he is wearing a shiny, contoured breastplate.
The preview stated about it:
360 degree panning 3D world
360 degree panning stereo sound
Looping video inlays
Realistic Motion Capture animation (House of Moves)
Seamless integration of cut scenes
6 levels of intriguing, meaningful game play
Unique 3D menu interface
Beautifully concepted/rendered scenes
Powerful Biblical content
There are 6 levels in it, which seem like Myst Ages; one will get to see Paradise Island, Golden Streets, New Jerusalem, Pearly Gates, and Jesus Christ's throne. "All the ideas came directly from the Bible. It makes for a great game. We have taken literal Biblical descriptions of Heaven and made an interactive, engaging, and beautiful world out if it."
Aside from doing a lot of sightseeing, what one does in the game is not very clear. However, I concluded from one of the previews that one solves puzzles in it much as one does in the Myst series.
It is only available online, though its creators may later make some deals with some retail stores.
Discussions of the preview a year ago:
Just Adventure (http://www.justadventure.com/Previews/Heaven/Heaven.shtm)
Talk Rational (http://www.talkrational.org/showthread.php?t=7759)
Rants 'n' Raves (http://www.rantsnraves.org/showthread.php?t=14664)
PZ Myers's blog (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/10/at_last_i_know_what_heaven_loo.php)
Checking on Genesis Works's home page (http://www.genesisworks.com/), I found a lot of Flash and not much content; the company's mission is "to create interactive games that stimulate Christian growth". I also found an earlier Heaven preview page (http://www.genesisworks.com/sarah.html)e, with some preview video, some video of Axis twirling and walking, and nothing else.
It is an extremely lavish production, advertised as consuming 3.5 gigabytes of DVD-ROM space. It looks elaborately rendered, with lots of detail and lots of reflections, so it is most likely prerendered in Myst fashion. In fact, some of the creators of this game had worked on games in the Myst series.
It closely follows the preview of it that was released a year ago, so I will work from that to fill in the blanks.
The premise: Joshua is an astronaut aboard a spacecraft headed for one of Jupiter's moons, but that spacecraft hits an asteroid on its way through the Asteroid Belt. A rather Hollywood Asteroid Belt, it must be said.
He visits Heaven, and meets Axis, that woman in a white corset, a short white skirt, white tights, and knee-high high-heeled white boots. She is an "old friend", and she turns out to be his grandmother in a "glorified body". In her earthly life, she had been crippled, but she got the use of her legs again just by asking Jesus Christ to cure her. It must be said that she will induce heterosexual male players to commit adultery in their hearts with her (Matthew 5:27).
He also meets the Archangel Michael and the "living creatures" from the Book of Revelation. Michael shows up as a 60-ft-tall, young, muscular he-man with short, curly blond hair; he is wearing a shiny, contoured breastplate.
The preview stated about it:
360 degree panning 3D world
360 degree panning stereo sound
Looping video inlays
Realistic Motion Capture animation (House of Moves)
Seamless integration of cut scenes
6 levels of intriguing, meaningful game play
Unique 3D menu interface
Beautifully concepted/rendered scenes
Powerful Biblical content
There are 6 levels in it, which seem like Myst Ages; one will get to see Paradise Island, Golden Streets, New Jerusalem, Pearly Gates, and Jesus Christ's throne. "All the ideas came directly from the Bible. It makes for a great game. We have taken literal Biblical descriptions of Heaven and made an interactive, engaging, and beautiful world out if it."
Aside from doing a lot of sightseeing, what one does in the game is not very clear. However, I concluded from one of the previews that one solves puzzles in it much as one does in the Myst series.
It is only available online, though its creators may later make some deals with some retail stores.
Discussions of the preview a year ago:
Just Adventure (http://www.justadventure.com/Previews/Heaven/Heaven.shtm)
Talk Rational (http://www.talkrational.org/showthread.php?t=7759)
Rants 'n' Raves (http://www.rantsnraves.org/showthread.php?t=14664)
PZ Myers's blog (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/10/at_last_i_know_what_heaven_loo.php)
Checking on Genesis Works's home page (http://www.genesisworks.com/), I found a lot of Flash and not much content; the company's mission is "to create interactive games that stimulate Christian growth". I also found an earlier Heaven preview page (http://www.genesisworks.com/sarah.html)e, with some preview video, some video of Axis twirling and walking, and nothing else.