Plague Inc: Evolved Review (RockstarCRO)
This was most enjoyed in the days of miniclip.com and shockwave games. This game was sort of ground breaking in the sense it wasn't anything I've seen before. Fast forward to today and the devs have successfully launched a few games on Steam. Although this can feel a little like a mobile game, it does have a certain progression that respects the player enough to give a challenge. In short, will recommend but on the same steep sale that I got it on.
Plague Inc: Evolved's gameplay relies mostly on a point and click control scheme. The main view for most of the game is a map of the world. The player essentially controls the view of the map, clicks the user interface to interact with the game. The game itself doesn't require much player interaction as its mostly observation. The game is essentially choosing a disease, naming it, watching it spread, mutating it as points accumulate, and popping notification bubbles that come up. I wish there was a little more interaction rather than popping random bubbles that appear on the map. These bubbles either give the player more DNA mutation points or slow the research against the disease. The player can't quite see the extent of their disease in any third or first person mode. Even though the game sounds very straight forward and not much is going on, there is a gameplay loop that is addicting - especially with a campaign that introduces variances.
The visuals and graphics are okay. There is some minor animation going on showing players where infections start and how they travel around (by boat or by plane). Messages sometimes randomly pop up informing the player of world events that are occurring, and if the player is good enough, can actually change the messages. For example, Brexit happening is a big one, and somehow through whatever I did, I mitigated and avoided the Brexit situation. The sounds and music are also okay. They're not phenomenal, but they're at least present. I've actually turned down the this domain because the repetition of the same sounds can become annoying.
In short, I will sort of recommend this game, even if it's on a major sale. The campaign was well done - making an effort to familiarize the player with how to play the game, and sort of adds a new spin to each scenario. The biggest issue for me is staring at the same screen over and over, and simply playing whack-a-mole with my mouse. Really wish there was more interaction. The game does have a "sandbox" type mode and enough for the campaign, but once its done, don't see myself (personally) coming back often.
RATING: 7.0/10
Gameplay
C+
Story / Campaign
B
Visuals / User Interface
C+
Sounds / Music
C
Replay-ability
C+
Overall
C+