Big Pharma
By David Wolinsky,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Dense, hard simulation skewers the health care industry.
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Big Pharma
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What’s It About?
BIG PHARMA raises questions about whether players can potentially cure diseases and ease the pain of patients while making money at the same time. The focus shifts from curing the sick to earning money, not because you're inherently evil but because that's what you need to do to win; if you corner the market or cure the populace, you won't be able to earn money anymore. Competition is good because it drives up profit and encourages you to be more inventive with your products, but it may not necessarily be what the people need. It's an interesting dissection and demonstration of ways the real world actually works.
Is It Any Good?
It's difficult to broadly recommend this simulation, especially for kids, since there's a lot to learn here, but it doesn't do a great job of explaining how to best deploy the equipment, ingredients, and staff members at your disposal. There's a tutorial, though it's lacking, so unless you're incredibly patient, you'll find the lengthy explanations both dense and still somehow coy. It will definitely take lots of tinkering hang of. Parents will need to pay $25 for a game that may take kids a long time just to understand.
That said, once you do start to get the hang of things, it becomes a nuanced balancing act of creating products that don't cure but rather treat. That also means that though you can get bogged down with the science of how different compounds can be combined, you should also pay attention to what other corporations are doing and how they're faring. Do they have any blind spots? How can you best them? There are a lot of logistics at play here -- figuring out what machines to buy and which to upgrade, what types of medicines you shouldn't bother with. There's even a series of missions that challenge you to meet certain criteria by a certain date, such as curing certain diseases or earning a certain amount of money. But until you get up on your feet, all that may seem woefully out of reach. As such, it's hard to recommend this game. It won't be for everyone.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the health care industry and medical insurance. Why does health care come guaranteed for some countries while other countries run it more like a business?
What would the world be like if there were no more illnesses?
Game Details
- Platforms: Mac , Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Positech Games
- Release date: August 27, 2015
- Genre: Strategy
- Topics: Science and Nature
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: March 8, 2019
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