Big Pharma

 PC
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 21
  3. Negative: 5 out of 21

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  1. anotherplayer
    Feb 27, 2016
    7
    Quite confusing at the beginning but there are tutorials. It's a puzzle game but I feel it is not worth the full price. Although a good game, wait for sale before buying.
  2. agurczuk
    May 23, 2017
    6
    A game that reminds of the great Theme Hospital but sadly is not one - although it is not a bad game in itself.

    Big Pharma is a game about drug production by setting up processing lines that change different ingredients into a drug that can be sold with profit. You get a number of machines that can change the drug intensity, upgrade it or remove side affects that come along. Each steps    A game that reminds of the great Theme Hospital but sadly is not one - although it is not a bad game in itself.

    Big Pharma is a game about drug production by setting up processing lines that change different ingredients into a drug that can be sold with profit. You get a number of machines that can change the drug intensity, upgrade it or remove side affects that come along. Each steps of course comes with a price and it's up to you judge if you want a better drug or make more money on it - sometimes both means the same but not always.

    The visual aspect and general user interface are really great. A bit old school but well designed and look.

    The processing line design is pretty fun - I must admit. In general it's a puzzle - place more cheaper machines that takes less space or more costly ones that do the job for three but at higher cost. Either way you have to judge space requirement over probable income loss. Depending on the drug complexity the processing lines can be quite long and interesting and putting them up together is the meat of the game. You need to watch for side effects, adjust proper concentration, mix them together to combine certain effects in order to upgrade them. The whole marketing model is quite complex and opponents do put up a fight.

    Apart from that you get scientists you can hire in order to discover more complex machines and other enhancements. You also get to hire people to discover other ingredients curing different diseases. They're costly so you need to manage this as well.

    There are some issues though - ones that really spoil a lot of the fun. First of while the theme is interesting it causes the names to be hard to remember. This goes especially for ingredient names and diseases treated - I could not remember them whatsoever and had to constantly check by hovering over or visiting cures screen. Fact that processed drugs at each stage look almost the same - apart from the small distinction in colour does not help at all. The machine names are easier to remember but just a little. Also the fact that once you research Creamer there is no point in shipping pills is also off putting.

    But the worst offence was a combination of trying to optimize the output combined with competition. The game gives you a packaging machine. This enables storing multiple drugs in a single package, thus the packages contain more but are less frequently occupying the conveyor belt. This lets you output multiple drugs into a single slot. The number of slot is limited and you can use them both for input and output - thus makes sense to have 4 inputs and single output - and is doable. However if your opponent gets a patent on one of the drugs you're producing you are screwed. The forbidden drug will stop the export and halt all four lines to a point in which you have to manually delete and replace the conveyor belt in order to get your other lines working. Really annoying and proves that optimizing this area is pointless.

    Overall apart from the problems noted the game is pretty good. Has it's flaws but did enjoy it. Though probably will not get back to it again.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Games.cz
    Jun 24, 2016
    60
    Although the mechanics of Big Pharma are interesting, instead of Theme Hospital tycoon style it's more about factory management. The game is certainly entertaining where it is supposed to be. But I'm afraid that it won't be good enough for those without love for chemistry.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jun 20, 2016
    80
    Big Pharma revives the tycoon concept with logic beyond the given frame and this makes it not only fresh and interesting, but also entertaining. [Issue#264]
  3. Brash Games
    Apr 23, 2016
    70
    I did enjoy my time playing it – there’s a pleasant satisfaction to building up your factory and slowly perfecting your latest wonder-drug (before giving it a deliberately silly name) but I was always faintly aware there wasn’t too much else to look forward to in the game.
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