Flash Game Review – Hints and Tips: Pandemic Two

Something about wiping out the human race just makes me happy. So when I found Pandemic 2 I was ecstatic. A game about designing a virus for the sole purpose of wiping out humanity? Brilliant! It was such an original idea that I had to give it a go.

You start as a rather pathetic virus on a single continent and only infecting one individual. In the beginning you have very little influence as a virus; not only are your symptoms pathetic but you also have almost no way of transmitting yourself. Over time, however, as you infect more people you gain evolution points which you can spend to upgrade yourself into a much more deadly and more effective virus.

Along with buying new symptoms you may also sell symptoms so that you can lower the visibility or infect-ability of the virus. Doing so allows you to keep your virus “under the radar” till you have either infected another continent or decided to start killing. The multitude of symptoms you can buy is impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed making my virus the most incredibly deadly thing out there.

This is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time and I’d love to give it a good rating but there are a few small issues. First, the game takes to long earning evolution points later in the game. Even though they do have a speed up time button, this still doesn’t help towards the end when you need just one more evolution point to win the game. That can be over looked if you just let the game run on the side while doing something else. Also, aside from controlling the virus I wanted to control something else to help my cause. Your control rests only with your virus so when you get all the way to the end and you find that the last country you needed to infect has now become unable to be infected, you have no way to get into that country and your game is essentially over.

The two flaws are easy to overlook by the sheer fun of destroying humanity.

The FAIL:

1. Madagascar sucks. Seriously, this little island kept me from winning more games than the vaccine did.
2. Game play is lengthy and boring, at least until you upgrade.
3. More control over the effects your virus has on the world is needed. I can’t say how much i wanted to kill everyone, only to be stopped by Madagascar (AAAGGGHHH!!), or some other place. I wished I could somehow find my way in there anyway.

The SUCCESS:

1. Kill humanity.
2. Create your own virus. That’s lots of fun.
3. Many different ways to play. Not only can you design your virus but you can choose what type it starts out as and what type of game play you want.

The OVERALL!:

Despite it’s faults I seriously enjoyed this game and it gave me hours of enjoyment. 5 out of 5 no questions asked.

Hints and Tips:

1. Madagascar, if you don’t start here the games difficulty skyrockets. This island can only be infected if you have high heat resistance and high water resistance and even then you may not get it cause the other countries may close their borders. If you do start here, it’s gonna be hell getting off.
2. Keep visibility low. In the beginning you may want to sell your symptoms till you infect a bunch of places, this way the countries don’t close their borders because you look dangerous.
3. Get transmissions very slowly. Only go for them when you’re having trouble getting some place and even then go slow. This way you always have the option of getting in somehow.
4. After you’ve infected at least one person in every country set aside the game and build up evolution points. Then in one swoop buy all the deadliest symptoms at once and KILL THEM ALL!!! . . . (ehem) Sorry, bout that.