Review by Leslie Crenna, Common Sense Education | Updated June 2012
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Plague Inc.

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download on Amazon

Negative goal overshadows science concepts in disease-design app

Common Sense says
2
Rating Details
Teachers say (5 Reviews)
$avg_user_learning_rating
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Grades
8-12 This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
Great for:
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Price:  Free, Paid
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire

Take a look inside

5 images
How to Play provides detailed yet succinct instructions.
Seven plague types teach concepts; can be unlocked in any order with purchase.
Symptoms page shows various symptoms, such as "evolved," through "purchase" with DNA points; see DNA points and disease data statistics at bottom.
The world map shows Asia and Africa with high infection rates, infection along distribution and travel routes, and total number infected.
The world page shows number infected worldwide and remaining health (blue heart), a headline about the first death, and cure status.

Pros: Teens can contemplate sophisticated concepts and get lots of data and information.

Cons: The pretext is violent, and user input is relatively small.

Bottom Line: It's possible to pick up some biology and social studies concepts as you work toward the very negative goal of Plague Inc.: total annihilation through disease.

Lesson & Activity Ideas

Plague Inc. obviously has an antisocial agenda that educators probably wouldn’t want to promote, except perhaps for the reaction of countries to the problem and the race to find a cure. If the developers had given teens the option to play as a government official or research scientist rather than genocidal criminal, this app could be used as a learning tool without reservations. It's just a weird, backward way to learn about the spread of disease.

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Plague Inc. is an app that asks players to create and evolve a disease that kills the human race before a cure is discovered. Gameplay shows teens how disease spreads across the globe through air travel and cargo ships, as well as how vectors like animal hosts or "abilities" like airborne transmission make diseases more contagious or resistant to medicines. Teens can learn about world geography through the map interface; about biology through disease types, transmission, symptoms, and abilities; and about society and government through tickertape news stories and statistics pages for each country showing responses and actions to the disease.

An opening one-page tutorial clearly explains the basic steps of gameplay, distilling a great deal of detail down to its elements. Players first select a country in which to start their disease. Players strengthen their virus, fungus, or bio-weapon by adding symptoms and giving it defenses –- against cold and water, for instance. Players get points and upgrade their virus by "popping" bubbles that appear on screen. Once doctors become aware of the disease, they work on a vaccine.

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While some teens will be fascinated by the intense music, detailed graphics, extensive data, and the slow red spread of contagion and death, others may find it too intense and disturbing.

Overall, gameplay is quite passive physically, aside from popping DNA bubbles to earn points toward evolving the disease, but teens must do a quite a bit of reading and thinking -- though it's not clear how much impact this has on the results. In-app purchases to unlock DNA codes are easy to make inadvertently depending on your device and settings, and the text is way too small. In the free Android version of the app, ads (for dating and violent games, for example) can be eliminated with an upgrade to the full version via in-app purchase.

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Overall Rating
2
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?
3

Much of the gameplay is watching and waiting, though the information, concept, and graphics are scarily fascinating.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?
2

Plague Inc. uses statistics, distribution lines, and disease characteristics to teach a spectrum of social concepts. However, what's learned here doesn't transfer well to real life: Who wants to start a plague?

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?
3

Data is extensive, and play is amazingly intuitive considering the complexity. Scoreboards and achievements help players track their progress.

Common Sense Reviewer
Leslie Crenna
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Teacher Reviews

4
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Featured review by
Denis K. , Other
Other
NYC Department Of Education
New York, NY
4
Great visualization and simulation on how bacteria can adapt and evolve to take over the world!

This is a great interactive learning tool to see how evolutionary actions have consequences on a global scale in modern societies. It is a fund and engaging game where students are given complete control of evolving their disease and seeing the impacts of their choices.

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