News anchors, doctors, and flyers stuck on office walls have told us time and time again what if feels like to have the swine flu. What a very homo-centric approach to the issue.
Being the inquisitive minds we are, and having concern for ALL life forms, whether mammal or virus, we wanted to know how it feels to BE the swine flu. Well, after a thorough investigation, we discovered that it feels ... kind of good.
Pandemic 2, a flash-based Web game, allows players to become their favorite virus, bacteria, or parasite. The object of the game is to evolve a disease that will wipe out the human race. Using preset options, players can customize their illness for maximum lethality.
Will it be airborne? Will it be carried by rats or insects? Will it be resistant to drugs?
Traits are bought with evolution points and should be carefully selected, as making your disease too visible in its early stages will allow doctors to find a treatment, while making it too contagious will cause public institutions to close, hindering its spread.
With each game, players better understand what kind of disease will yield the highest body count, making it all the more difficult to stop. Pandemic 2 is strangely engrossing and incredibly eerie, in light of the real pandemic that's shutting down schools and creating public hysteria.
The game pushes players to think about what a global pandemic would look like and what could be done to contain it. In a weird and kind of morbid way, it also gives players the momentary illusion of control. Seeing a precise count of how many people have been affected, knowing exactly why, and controlling the spread of a disease is a sharp contrast to helplessly watching the pandemic unfold on the news, and still feeling in the dark.
You can check out Pandemic 2 by visiting crazymonkeygames.com.
