You're All Diseased! (XBLIG): "Saving Digital Lives Shmup Style!"

Earlier this year I reviewed a simple shmup (shoot 'em up) called 'Pixelosity', and stated that it would likely be one of my shortest reviews. The same applies to this review, but don't let that discourage you from getting this game. You're All Diseased is a unique dual thumbstick shmup that was developed by 'PicWin Studios/Dejitaru Forge'. It has you taking on the role of a white blood cell as it travels through veins, and organs. The goal is to simply eradicate all the virus, diseases, and bacteria that try to attack you. As you make your way through the veins in the game you will encounter a wide variety of enemies that look like the cells of a human being. Your only defense against the biological attackers is the bullet spray that you shoot from your white blood cell. As you kill enemies without getting hit you will earn point (saved lives) multipliers. When your white blood cell finally dies off (loses all 3 lives) you will be given a final score letting you know how many points, or lives you have saved. You also create vaccines from power-ups that you collect. This will also be added to your final score. You're All Diseased is a highscore oriented game, so survivng for as long as you can will give you the opportunity to place high on the game's leaderboard.

 Gameplay in 'You're All Diseased!' is fairly straightforward. As the gamer you pilot the white blood cell through branching veins/organs while trying to destroy attacking virus, and diseases. The enemies range from basic bubble like cells, to more defined cells that have the basic appearance of real life viruses/diseases. Aside from the smaller enemies/cells you will encounter there are also boss battles against more larger, and dangerous afflictions. Some enemies will only run into you while others such as the bosses will shoot bullet hell type sprays at you. The game has a fairly steep difficulty, but it offers fun arcade style gameplay in a unique way that you don't often see in shmups. The soundtrack in 'You're all Diseased!' is one of the best I have heard in an indie, or non-indie game. It kind of reminded me of my early days playing retro Capcom games (MegaMan ...).

In the end I was really impressed by this simple shmup. It featured very polished graphics with a nice visual appearance. The soundtrack was very impressive as well. While the game is sort of challenging in the area of difficulty it's still a fun game to play, and it has really good replay value. I was definitely glad to see an XBLIG developer such as 'PicWin Studios/Dejitaru Forge' take a new approach to the shmup genre. To be 100% honest though I have seen a similar concept when I used to play on the PS3. I believe that game was called 'Microbot'? Even so 'You're All Diseased!' still has it's own unique look and gameplay style. I seriously hope to see more shmups developed by 'PicWin Studios/Dejitaru Forge' since they did such an outstanding job. This game is definitely worth the points. If you're a shmup fan like me I definitely suggest adding it to your collection.