Review by Common Sense Editor, Common Sense Education | Updated February 2013

You Make Me Sick!

Name: You Make Me Sick!
Item: You Make Me Sick!
Rating: 4
Author: Common Sense Editor

Dramatic way to teach kids about the spread of germs

Subjects & skills

Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.

7–12

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Players create a virus and a bacteria strain.

The player chooses the characteristics of the virus or bacteria.

In the simulated environment, the player infects objects for the host to touch.

The game shows a view of the host's insides, allowing players to track the infection's progress.

An in-game reference dictionary is helpful for learning about scientific vocabulary.

Pros: Kids become evil scientists when creating and then spreading their own infectious germs in a simulated environment.

Cons: The stage of the game where you actually spread your germs on objects in the rooms -- with a virtual spray paint -- gets repetitive.

Bottom Line: This engaging and informative game teaches about the spread of germs by letting players take the side of germs.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

You Make Me Sick! would be a handy addition to a unit on infectious diseases, bacteria, or the human body. It provides a fascinating, if unsettling, reminder of how many germs and microbes are around us, and how careful we need to be in what we touch and where our hands end up.

Teachers can try using the free demo version that provides a nice overview of the game (with limited features.) The demo does not require a login account, and you activate the game easily enough with the game launch link. A tutorial with video screencasts walks you through the gameplay, and then you start by making choices about your bacteria and virus. The game then informs players of the host target (the person you're trying to infect). For a more in-depth game experience, teachers will need to purchase the classroom version of the game.

What Is It?

The witty title of this game -- You Make Me Sick! -- will no doubt get the attention of your students. The good news is that this game will also sustain your students' interest because it's a simulation game where they get to create and then spread germs -- kind of like being an evil scientist. By putting players in control of “creating” bacteria and viruses that they then spread into the simulated environments where computer-generated characters, or hosts, wander around touching things, kid see firsthand how the spread of disease occurs. When the hosts come into contact with the player’s germs, they get sick. The challenge of play increases as the hosts use antibiotics and better hygiene to combat illnesses.

As in the popular game Spore, kids love to name and create new life -- in this case, pathogens. Players choose the basic characteristics of the pathogens (and those choices increase in the paid version); they spread germs around the room or environment by choosing objects to infect, and then the computer-created hosts wander in. Players have some tools to guide the hosts to the infected objects. Once a host is infected, the game shifts to an inside look at the host's stomach, where a battle ensues. A game is won or lost depending on the strength and number of the pathogens that the host character comes into contact with, and how well the gut of the human host can fight.

Is It Good for Learning?

As students are put in charge of creating and then tracking their germs' success, they quickly understand the life cycle of germs. Kids learn by taking the side of the germs, trying to figure out how they can best make humans sick -- a novel approach to learning. You Make Me Sick! lets kids learn by investigating, applying information, and experimenting. By embedding scientific terminology throughout the game, the game helps kids pick up the new language. Plus, the game offers an audio narrative that helps guide the gameplay, and an accessible dictionary of terminology with voice-over makes even the most difficult words here accessible to a wider audience.

Rating Details

Overall Rating

Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

By allowing the player to be the one in charge of inventing and naming new pathogens, this game brings students into the role of evil scientist. The steps that explain how to create your bacteria and virus are clear and easy to understand.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

Kids learn about bacteria and viruses and the spread of infectious disease by taking the side of the germs. The game uses a lot of content-specific vocabulary words as the player learns about the role of pathogens and sickness.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

A visual tutorial, with embedded video screencasts, does a nice job of demonstrating how to play the game, including the initial setup phase.

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Featured review by
Michael G. , Classroom teacher

Classroom teacher

Bayshore Middle School
Leonardo, United States

Made some students sick to play

Upon my preview, I did enjoy the game, but could see how this would be more effective with a higher level student who was interested in the subject matter. There was some confusion with playing between a virus or a bacteria when "infecting" a host. This was the only game that I have previewed with students from Filament Games that did not receive a favorable rating...seems the title was the most interesting part for most students.

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