Pocket Pandemic Review

By , on January 24, 2011

Pocket Pandemic
Download on the AppStore
2 out of 5

PROS

  • A true test of your ability to aim.
  • Compete against others around the world.

CONS

  • No gameplay variation, skill or depth; simply fling away and keep doing it till you can't fling no more.

VERDICT

Pocket Pandemic is about as sterile as it comes for gameplay, with generic maps, poor controls and no convincing reason to stick with the plague theme other than to be childishly gross.


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The idea behind Pocket Pandemic by Night Leaf is to infect others around the world by literally flinging it across the world (electronically) to land on various cities. However, what could have been an interesting concept is weighed down by poor gameplay matched with an almost entirely irrelevant interface.

What the game really boils down to is the catapulting gameplay, where players are given various targets around the world and a wind direction and speed. At first this is fairly amusing, but it falls apart as you come to deal with many of the game's limitations, notably launching from where you're located in the world. While this isn't so bad for those situated comfortably in the middle of the map in Europe or Africa, the further to the edges you get (e.g., Hawaii or New Zealand), the more ridiculous the aiming system becomes as even moderate winds can affect your shot wildly and in some cases making the shot entirely impossible.

In order to progress in the 'campaign' mode you'll have to participate in the social networking section of the game, either targeting random players around the world by finding their names in the score list or by inviting friends to the game.  However this only unlocks more of the same without any notable change other than to continue boost your score.

When I think of 'pandemic' I think of creating a virus, bacteria or parasite that I can use to compete for domination, infecting the world and maybe even destroying competing 'pandemics' in the process. Pocket Pandemic is merely a glorified target shooting game and a frustrating one at that; feel free to save your germ-covered pennies by skipping this title.

Screenshots

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