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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | puzzle |
| Platforms: |    |
| Fun-O-Meter: |  |
In this unique game, players are tasked with manipulating the game's mechanics in order to solve puzzles in unorthodox ways!
Brief thoughts: Everything in this game, even the skulls and ghosts, are just a token or game piece to be manipulated.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Racing |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: |  |
BallisticNG is a love letter to classic antigravity racing games. While there's no proper campaign mode, you're free to create and race however you want!
Brief thoughts: This game is about as violent as any other run of the mill kart racer - which is to say it's extremely tame.
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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Ages 6 and up |
| Genre: | Bullet Hell / Rhythm |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
This outer space shoot 'em up is powered by your music library. Faster beats mean more intense battles, while quieter segments slow the action down -- and lower the strength of your weapons!
Brief thoughts: While this game is full of bloodless carnage, it's not any more violent than classic arcade games. The only real issue is that the player can choose to play with inappropriate music, and that's pretty much your own fault.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Ages 10 and up |
| Genre: | Bullet Hell / Rhythm |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
In this rhythm based shoot 'em up, the levels you play through are created by the music you select. Additionally, you can build a fleet of custom ships, complete difficult Shadow Missions, customize your favorite ships with upgrade modules, and compete for high scores in multiplayer contests.
Brief thoughts: The biggest issue with this game is that both Challenge modes have been known to select songs with explicit or mature lyrics. If you're only playing your own songs, then there isn't anything to worry about.
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| ESRB Rating: | eC - Early Childhood |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Match 3 |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: |  |
This is easily the most recognizable Match 3 game out there, as it was a colossal hit. Unfortunately, it's eclipsed by most Match 3 games today, as this sort of gameplay has become more refined and incorporated into new contexts over time.
Brief thoughts: There's no room for offensive content in a game this simple.
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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Match 3 |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Bejeweled 2 brought the Bejeweled series back with new features, such as powerups, a puzzle mode, and more modern graphics. It's still a good Match 3 game, however, it feels like this was a rushed stop-gap between the original and Bejeweled 3.
Brief thoughts: Even though the original formula has been expanded upon, there's still nothing offensive in this game.
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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Match 3 |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Of the original three Bejeweled games, this is easily the best version. With eight different game modes, there's going to be something here for every Match 3 fan.
Brief thoughts: Not only is there no offensive content to worry about, this is clearly the best iteration of the series so far.
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| ESRB Rating: | T - Teenagers |
| My Rating: | Ages 13 and up |
| Genre: | Adventure / Horror |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Henry was once an animator at Joey Drew Studios. Now his boss has asked him to return to what remains of the studio and have a look around for old time's sake. But when he gets there, all Henry finds is that he's trapped in a crazy world of cartoon nightmares.
Brief thoughts: There are a lot of dark concepts in this game, ranging from vaguely occult references to botched attempts at creating artificial life. On top of this, various characters are tortured or killed during the course of the story.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Adults - 18+ |
| Genre: | Roguelike / Twin Stick Shooter |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
The Binding of Isaac is a popular Indie game, and for good reason. The gameplay is simple yet challenging, there's a huge amount of content, multiple endings and nearly endless replayability. It's short enough to play through in one sitting, and no two games are going to send you through the same dungeon. If only it wasn't quite so full of gore and anti-Christian themes...
Brief thoughts: This game openly villainizes Christianity, which tells you everything you'll need to know about why it's not compatible with a Christian lifestyle.
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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Ages 13 and up |
| Genre: | Gambling Simulation |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
This game is free, but paid features exist
This isn't your traditional Bingo! Gather powerups, earn collectables, and conquer various minigames as you explore the world and play against millions of other players!
Brief thoughts: Despite the colorful cartoon characters, this isn't an appropriate game for younger players as you can spend real money on gambling simulations. Even the event-based minigames are tilted in favor of players who pay.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Adults - 18+ |
| Genre: | First Person Shooter |
| Platforms: |  |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
In the 22nd century, the evil Dr. Goldfire is preparing to wage war against the Earth using his army of mutant creatures and aliens! In order to protect the world from this insanity, Agent Blake Stone has been sent to find and defeat the madman before he can launch his attack!
Brief thoughts: Like other First person shooters of the era, blood and gore is frequently seen when enemies are killed. In this case, some of blood is green or yellow, and there's much less gore than you'd see in Doom, but it's still present.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Adults - 18+ |
| Genre: | Action Platformer |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Revived by the power of the Miracle, the Penitent One is set off on a quest to presumably heal the world and ascend to his proper place in the Cradle of Affliction.
Brief thoughts: This game is not for the faint of heart, as it depicts gruesome violence, disturbingly detailed gore, twisted deformations of the human body, and a very distorted adaptation of Catholicism in which there is no real Salvation.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Puzzle Platformer |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
A pair of indie game developers have been kidnapped, and now it's up to their current project, a little robot called Tetrobot, to come and rescue them. The twist is that Tetrobot can collect matter and, using Tetris-style physics, manipulate it to their own advantage.
Brief thoughts: This game is very family friendly - at its worst, the player may squish mindless slimes by dropping a block on them, or the player's robot can be destroyed if it comes into contact with a hazard (slimes, lava, TNT etc).
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| ESRB Rating: | T - Teenagers |
| My Rating: | Ages 13 and up |
| Genre: | Platformer |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Cursed by a powerful demon, Zangetsu travels the world, battling monsters and slaying demons wherever he finds them. During his journey, he may be joined by new allies and change his destiny.
Brief thoughts: As this is a game about fighting demons, everything has a demonic theme to it - including the heroes. However, this game also presents evil as something to be defeated, not embraced.
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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Platform |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
In this surreal world filled with odd trees, birds, snails and blue moose that wear sunglasses, something has gone wrong. A giant faucet located far up in the sky has sprung a leak! Now there is a never ending stream of water pouring into the world, slowly flooding it. You control a little bird person who must find enough objects to create a makeshift tower that will let you reach the faucet and turn it off.
Brief thoughts: The only issue with this game is that there's a hidden link to an old website that displayed comments posted by players. If the link still works, there's a chance that something inappropriate may be posted there.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Everyone |
| Genre: | Word Puzzle |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
This game is fairly simple; you just score points by creating words using the tiles in the game's letter grid. The only catch is that the letters you're using need to be next to each other, forming a chain.
Brief thoughts: As this game is more of an edutainment title than a puzzle game, things are kept very clean and wholesome. There's nothing to worry about here.
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| ESRB Rating: | NR - Not Rated |
| My Rating: | Ages 6 and up |
| Genre: | Puzzle / RPG |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
The Bookworm franchise goes through a genre shift, becoming a puzzle based RPG in which Lex must save the world and rescue a damsel by spelling words. Surprisingly, this worked out really well and makes for a fun, semi-educational adventure.
Brief thoughts: The biggest issue found in this game is that many of the enemies Lex encounters are monsters from various mythologies. This includes a trip through the Underworld (ie, Hell).
Additionally, at one point Lex gets lost in the desert, which causes him to battle a hallucination.
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| ESRB Rating: | M - Mature Audiences |
| My Rating: | Ages 13 and up |
| Genre: | First Person Shooter / RPG |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
For all of its science fiction and post-apocalyptic elements, Borderlands is something of a modern spaghetti western. Vault Hunters replace the common drifters, while the vicious skags replace the iconic wild coyotes. Indians have been replaced with mystical aliens, the loyal steed with dune buggy like Outrunners, and the desperadoes with, well, space desperadoes. It's a fun, not-so-serious romp across a lawless desert landscape.
Brief thoughts: While this game is a lot of fun, there's a notable problem with the way its characters behave - thanks to the ease of recovering from death, violence has become an acceptable way to deal with any and all disputes.
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| ESRB Rating: | M - Mature Audiences |
| My Rating: | Adults - 18+ |
| Genre: | First Person Shooter |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Five years after the events of the original game, the CEO of Hyperion, a cruel man called Handsome Jack, is trying to take over Pandora! Now, a new group of talented Vault Hunters have risen up to defend the planet - for a sizable fee, of course!
Brief thoughts: The Borderlands series is filled with objectionable content, be it the violent gunplay or the darker aspects of its lore. So while these games are a lot of fun, Christians should be wary of what these games depict.
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| ESRB Rating: | E - Everyone |
| My Rating: | Ages 6 and up |
| Genre: | Puzzle Platformer |
| Platforms: | |
| Fun-O-Meter: | |
Like many other video game heroes, Tim wants to rescue his princess. But, he's not perfect, and has made a number of mistakes in his life. Thus, as he searches for the princess, he reflects on the nature of time and how choices in the past can affect the future.
Brief thoughts: The central theme of this game is learning from your mistakes and in turn, learning to forgive yourself. Even considering the dark nature of the ending, this is still a very healthy concept to focus on.
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