Bio Inc. – Biomedical Plague review: kill your patient with lethal diseases

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I’ve always been a fan of apocalyptic situations. If it’s a meteor headed straight for Earth or a virus that turns humans into zombies, I’m up for it. I like it even more when I get to virtually participate in a simulated version of a killer situation.

Bio Inc.  – Biomedical Plague is a simulation app that allows you to slowly kill your patient by injecting him with a variety of medical conditions. As his health deteriorates, you’ll have more ways to kill him off. We took the game for a test run and have a review of Bio Inc. for you today…

Design

Based on the name, you may be thinking that Bio Inc. is similar to Plague Inc., but it’s not. You are not in control of destroying the world. You are in control of destroying one life. The goal is to break down your patient’s immune system by infecting him with various diseases and conditions until he just can’t take it any more and, well… dies.

The main screen shows you a list of your patient’s various systems, including circulatory, nervous, digestive, and more. Each system has a health bar that drains as your attack succeeds. Tap on one of the systems to see it reflected on your patient’s body.

At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see your Bio Points, how many days you’ve been infecting your patient, and the rate at which he is recovering. There is also an Immune Shield, which is how your patient fights disease. Lower his Immune Shield to affect his health faster. You can do so by giving him conditions, like Insomnia, or diseases, like Lupus.

To see the disease section, tap the Bio Points icon. Diseases are listed in branches under each system. You’ll need to give him one in order to later give him another. Tap the disease to read the details and see how it will affect the other parts of the body.

When you give your patient a disease, you will see the affects on his system over time. Bones will turn brittle. Organs will blacken. You’ll also hear your patient convulse and moan as he deteriorates.

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Gameplay

The game starts with a completely healthy patient. Let’s call him John. John will start to show signs of sickness when infections start appearing in his system. Different viruses and bacteria will appear in different systems at different times. When one appears, the system it is hiding in will light up on the left side of the screen. Tap that system to see the invader. Tap the ball to grab it and earn Bio Points. When you’ve collected a certain number of Bio Points (minimum of 6 to start), tap the icon to see where you can spend them.

Just like the systems of the body, diseases are split up into categories, including Circulatory, Nervous, Muscular, and so on. Tap a system to see the available diseases you can give John.

For example, tap the circulatory system to give him hypertension, angina, and eventually a brain aneurysm. Tap the nervous system to give John stress, a nervous breakdown, and Dementia. The more diseases you give him, the faster he gets sick, producing more Bio Points for you to spend.

In addition to diseases, you can speed up the process by spending Bio Points on risk factors and recovery obstacles. Risk factors include such things as malnourished, smoker, or allergies. These factors are required in order to trigger certain diseases.

Recovery obstacles are things that will keep your patient from seeing a doctor and receiving medicine that will help heal him. Obstacles include such things as nurses being on strike, living far away from a hospital, and an acute fear of hospitals and clinics.

Your goal is to kill your patient off before doctors successfully treat him. After he has been continually sick for about 150 days, he will visit the doctor and treatment will begin. His recovery meter will begin increasing. However, you can still beat the doctors by feeding John diseases that will lower his Immune Shield and ultimately kill him.

You can play the game in mild, moderate, or severe mode. Each mode produces a different number of stars, which are needed to unlock new stages. You will need four stars to unlock the fourth level, so you’ll have to play at least one of them in the moderate mode.

If you earn enough stars, you can move onto the next stage and try again with a new patient. Each stage features a patient with a different issue. For example, one is a hypochondriac and another is already in an unstable condition. Each patient must be cared for (or un-cared for) in a different way in order to succeed.

The first two levels are fairly easy to beat on moderate. However, by the third stage, strategy becomes much more important as you try to find the right balance between disease, risk factors, and recovery obstacles.

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The Good

I love everything about this game. It looks good, plays smooth, has a compatible sound track that doesn’t distract you, and has a lot of fun time management strategy to it.

The Bad

I didn’t find anything wrong with this game. It is right up my alley in terms of entertainment and enjoyment.

Value

Bio Inc. costs $1.99 and is a great price for a game with such a high replay value. Even if you manage to beat every stage on severe, you’ll still want to go back and play again to see if you can kill you patients in different ways.

Conclusion

If you like time management games, this one will scratch an itch (careful though, you may have some kind of disease that will deteriorate your immune system). If you like the idea of slowly killing your virtual patient with a wide variety of diseases, you should check it out. This game is available on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Download it in the App Store today.

Related Apps

Obviously, Plague Inc. is similar, but don’t be confused. They are both disease-spreading simulation games, but they are nothing alike in terms of gameplay.