Play on Smartphone: Plague Inc

When I first started searching for games on my iPhone, I would only buy the ones that had a free trail version available. The why is simple, because I wanted to know if I liked the gameplay before I spent my money on an app that was going to cost me a whole dollar. I know, I'm a really thrift-er. Then I ran into this game, which was my first super-addictive game that I played on my iPhone. There was no trial, there was no guarantee that I would like it, but still I took the chance because of the rave reviews.

[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plague-inc./id525818839?mt=8]

And the reason I am saying that, the reason for giving doubt about buying this application, is that I want everyone to know that I took a chance and I thought it was worth it. So here is my review of Plague Inc.

Plague Inc. [2012]

Plague Inc. Logo

Let me just start by saying Ndemic Creations game is actually very morbid, for your goal is to be the bad guy for once and to kill off all humans. How you do that is you are a disease of some sort, be it bacteria or virus or something that is not even possible yet, and you have to evolve to infect, spread, and then kill. So with that said, you now have the entire games general objective and after that it pretty much always plays out the same with just a few little switch-ups between each disease type.

Now here is the basics of the gameplay, you pick a country (or group of countries for some regions) where your disease will start out. It then slowly starts to spread person to person and you select evolutions for your disease. These evolutions will then either be used to help infect other people faster, help keep your disease from being cured, or start harming and killing off the world's population. They add in a few other things to keep it from being too boring too, such as pop-up bubbles you can tap to get more disease points, but really that is just to keep you watching more than a gameplay. That's it.

And you would think that this type of game would not be very addictive, beat it once and you are done. Too bad for some reason it is a lot of fun to try and think of a way to kill off all of humanity! You see, I lost the first several times I played, the damn population stopping the spread of my deadly bacteria and then finding a cure. That is why this game actually lasts more than one play-through, because the population reacts to you and you have to retaliate back. In other words, this is a puzzle game with all of the puzzle mechanics hidden underneath a very beautiful design.

A Screen-capture of Plague Inc.

What I love about this game is that the gameplay requires you to think on your feet about how to retaliate to the world's reactions against your disease. And thats with the following in mind; that while the strategy might be the same with every play, the object never changing and really the only difference between any two games could be where you start your infection. So it is a game about actions and reactions, you have to watch the news bar to see what people are thinking of as your disease becomes more deadly. Have they stopped allowing flights around the world and that was your major way of spreading to different countries, then you probably need to choose a new way to infect. Have they closed off all border and started some sort of medical program, well then you'll need to figure out a new way to infect. The list of reactions that each country takes against your list goes on and on, but your job is to use whatever tools are currently available to counter-attack. It's brilliant.

But there's more to the game then just that. They also based this game on the real countries and worked hard to make each one unique in the way that you have to react to that region. Let me explain it in a bit more intuitive sense, some countries are rich while other ones are poor. Similarly, some countries have better health programs that others and they will be harder to infect. Some countries are in hot parts of the world, some in cold, some in arid, some in humid, and so on and so forth. So in playing this game you start to learn something about the regions you infect, for you have to do your research to see what your best way of spreading the disease in that country might be. I love that, a game that forces you to learn something that is based on the real thing to continue competing.

I've decided to add in two other sections to this review, a section for basic strategy (moved to the next blog) and a section for what you can expect in the next [free] update. I am doing this, because like I said before this game can be frustrating and I think this will help sell you on why purchasing it is worthwhile. Again, there is no trial version of the game!

The Next Update
I became so intensely involved with this game that, unlike other video games that I have played, I sent a message to the creators to tell them how much I loved the game. While doing so I also stressed that there were some things I would like to see in the next update. Well, what I got back as a reply was the coolest thing I had seen from any company! They told me exactly what they were working on and what to expect in the next update for the game, and it was really cool.

The basics of the next update are to add more disease types (possibly even some more unrealistic ones such as zombies) and to improve the current ones to be a bit more different. Now, this was great news for someone like me considering I felt that the only problem with this game is that all the disease seem a bit too similar. You play a virus like a bacteria, and fungus like a bacteria, and just about everything else like a bacteria. Just for reference, the bacteria is the first one you play as, so if they all play like that then they all play the same. I really want to see these changed so that a virus spreads better through animals than a bacteria would, a fungus spreads better through the air, or something similar that allows for each infection to have a unique attribute you have to consider. So to hear that they are working on making each disease more unique in this manner was really awesome to hear. I felt impartial to the additional disease, though I know I will love playing them when they come out.

But they are also working on more world reactions and events to make you have to consider doing even more to take over! The reason I was excited for more reactions is that they can then make it so that  maybe two countries open transportations better and so getting the infection to spread between the two becomes easier. Or maybe a cold war breaks out and then two countries close off border and make it harder to contract the disease between each-other. In other words, I'm looking for them to add more dynamics to the game so that if I play it with the same disease twice I may have to do something completely different because countries reacted differently. And that is what they are adding.

A few things I stressed I would also like to see is a more global map, one where I could spin the map in a circle and be able to go to the other side. Right now it is a flat image and once you reach the end, it stops you. I would prefer to see it go in a circle and then boats take the actual path instead of a weirder one. I also stressed I would like to be able to zoom in more, because at the beginning it is fun to watch the disease spread. They replied and said that while these would be possible, they would not be easy and I should not expect them in the next update. However, they are considering the ideas.

It is responses from a good video game company like this that also make me tell people that they need to try their game. So please go out, spend the dollar, and enjoy the addiction of Plague Inc!

The Spotted Canvas uses the Plague Inc.^® application programming interface but is not endorsed or certified by Ndemic Creations. All of the Plague Inc.^® logos and trademarks displayed on this website are the property of Ndemic Creations.