Big Pharma is a ...Well, lets just say it outright, it's not a game about being a large scale megacorporation producing a massive amount of drugs and cornering the market. It's not a simulation of medical pills and pharma companies, and it certainly is not a game about the overall management of such a company or the simulation of such a thing.

It makes promises that it can not keep. You will get little strategy, severely abstracted simulation, and very limited management. 'Big Pharma' is not about anything big at all.

Instead, it is a small scale game that is essentially a puzzle about optimising chains of machines to produce a desired output, in a randomised building area of random size, with random ingredients that have random effects. If you like that, then good for you. You will probably enjoy this one, but for the rest of us who are after the other 'features' it proclaims to have..

The simulation is basic to the point where I wonder if it is a simulation at all. Diseases have a set number of sufferers or a set cycle/increase of sufferers and your management is limited purely to the supply lines, machines, and conveyor belts. Everything else is abstracted to the degree that I wonder why it was even included in the game, and many times adds nothing except a timer you need to wait on before you can continue working your belts.

The challenge, and main gameplay is more alike a puzzle.
Fit machines in the (random) building you have to have your (random) ingredients produce an optimal effect for maximum profit. Nearly all the gameplay is about optimising your conveyor belts and machines, which will be frustrating to you because the machines come only in one form with 4 facings. You can not make a symmetrical and effective supply line, and conveyors can not go over or under eachother. You get a limited amount of (Randomly placed) input/output areas to connect to, and often you will not have space for just about anything more than a basic machine.
Employees never have to walk in, out, or do anything in your building, they are merely an animation that is part of the machine. Research and exploration happens somewhere else. You never see your scientists or explorers except in a menu where you send them out.

If this game was only purely the production tab, was honest about its size and content and somewhere between 5-10 dollars, then it would be great. But as it currently stands I just can not reccommend it for its price.
The conveyor belt optimising puzzling is nice, and I will likely play it a few more times just for that, but that is all there is to the game. There is no 'improving the lives of millions', there is no 'getting rid of disease', there is no real management or simulation of a 'pharmaceutical conglomerate' here. The challenge scenarios are jokes, the rival corporations are jokes, and the whole 'business sim' part that it talks about in the "About This Game" part of the store are jokes.

This is a conveyor belts puzzle with shiny graphics, get it for that if it is ever at a 75% or even 50% sale, but as long as it stays above 10 euro/dollar, I recommend avoiding it.

Big Pharma is a ...Well, lets just say it outright, it's not a game about being a large scale megacorporation producing a massive amount of drugs and cornering the market. It's not a simulation of medical pills and pharma companies, and it certainly is not a game about the overall management of such a company or the simulation of such a thing. It makes promises that it can not keep. You will get little strategy, severely abstracted simulation, and very limited management. 'Big Pharma' is not about anything big at all. Instead, it is a small scale game that is essentially a puzzle about optimising chains of machines to produce a desired output, in a randomised building area of random size, with random ingredients that have random effects. If you like that, then good for you. You will probably enjoy this one, but for the rest of us who are after the other 'features' it proclaims to have.. The simulation is basic to the point where I wonder if it is a simulation at all. Diseases have a set number of sufferers or a set cycle/increase of sufferers and your management is limited purely to the supply lines, machines, and conveyor belts. Everything else is abstracted to the degree that I wonder why it was even included in the game, and many times adds nothing except a timer you need to wait on before you can continue working your belts. The challenge, and main gameplay is more alike a puzzle. Fit machines in the (random) building you have to have your (random) ingredients produce an optimal effect for maximum profit. Nearly all the gameplay is about optimising your conveyor belts and machines, which will be frustrating to you because the machines come only in one form with 4 facings. You can not make a symmetrical and effective supply line, and conveyors can not go over or under eachother. You get a limited amount of (Randomly placed) input/output areas to connect to, and often you will not have space for just about anything more than a basic machine. Employees never have to walk in, out, or do anything in your building, they are merely an animation that is part of the machine. Research and exploration happens somewhere else. You never see your scientists or explorers except in a menu where you send them out. If this game was only purely the production tab, was honest about its size and content and somewhere between 5-10 dollars, then it would be great. But as it currently stands I just can not reccommend it for its price. The conveyor belt optimising puzzling is nice, and I will likely play it a few more times just for that, but that is all there is to the game. There is no 'improving the lives of millions', there is no 'getting rid of disease', there is no real management or simulation of a 'pharmaceutical conglomerate' here. The challenge scenarios are jokes, the rival corporations are jokes, and the whole 'business sim' part that it talks about in the "About This Game" part of the store are jokes. This is a conveyor belts puzzle with shiny graphics, get it for that if it is ever at a 75% or even 50% sale, but as long as it stays above 10 euro/dollar, I recommend avoiding it.