Just look at those germs cower in fear

Platforming Microscopic-style

Introduction:

You just got SERVED SUCKA!

Hello everyone! I’m Nolan, gamertag Totaltoad, and I’ve been going FPS crazy lately and leaving not much time for anything else. Setting Overwatch aside, I decided that what I needed to fill the nostalgia-less void within me was a return to 2D side-scrolling platformers. What could be more perfect than a platformer that actually takes place within the human body? Systematic Immunity is the indie game that goes microscopic, giving players command over a group of white blood cells to help fight off the spreading sickness. Truly deserves it’s Indie label, It is awesome to note that Systematic Immunity’s battle within is created by a single individual: Felix Wunderlich.

Gameplay:

Layouts remind me of the Worms franchise.

Your body is a treacherous landscape for a pack of white blood cells. White blood cells may act as warriors destined to defend your body against invading germs, but one wrong step in a pocket of stomach acid or a collision with spiky tissue linings and the reality of their fickleness kicks in. Systematic Immunity takes the disadvantage of such fragility and constructs a overall challenging set of stages. Players start out with a group a white blood cells, 20 strong, whose only goal is to swallow and kill a pack of germs hiding somewhere on the map.

Some stages tease you early on by showing you the germ’s location.

Players reach the germs by only utilizing five keys: A to move left, D to move right, W to jump, the Up Arrow to regroup, and the Down Arrow to roll/ float in balloon form. I found these controls to be fairly simple to adapt to and well suited for stage maneuvering. I don’t mean I conquered each level easily; In fact I restarted over and over again until my timing was just right. You may survive a short jump over something spiny, but brushing close will likely shave off a cell or two. Too many close calls will land you under 15 cells and outnumbered; without enough cells to gobble-up all the germs, players are forced to restart.

What makes Systematic Immunity stand out among other platformers is the use of the regroup mechanic. It seems white blood cells are not very coordinated when its comes to spelunking; walking, jumping, or even changing directions too fast will cause a few cells to fall out of formation. Regrouping at the appropriate time if key to completing levels unscathed; miss hitting of the regroup key while mid-air and watch your comrades fan out and flail themselves across the spikes. Near the center-top of the screen lies a “RG” gauge that is absolutely essential to keeping track of how much regrouping “juice” you have left.

Run ye mateys!

Design:

It’s going to be hard to see this hunting trophy once mounted on the wall.

Stomach, lungs, and brain are all in need of saving. These organs play host to the different chapters in your adventure and each are decorated using it’s own bag of tricks. The stomach is dark and riddled with spicy pools of acid; the lungs flow with air bellowing strong enough to send you flying towards sure death. The brain is jam packed with electrical impulses that web all over, stressing players through a shockingly worthy finale.

Keeping track of your progress is easily done from the main menu. Under each organ you can keep track of your course completion time and an overall level score represented by 1–5 winky-faced white blood cells giving thumbs up. I’m assuming players can unlock bonus levels by receiving high rankings on a certain number of levels and am genuinely excited to see what lies within the bonus levels. The challenge in early stages is to become well versed in controlling the white blood cells. I encourage players to try different techniques; many times I thought I screwed up ended up being a surprise success. Later stages began introducing new game mechanics like sticky walls, obstacles to roll under, and air currents to ride. Puffing myself into a balloon to toot around floating islands of death spikes, even if it seems slightly off textbook white blood cell behavior, is extremely fun:

I don’t remember this is Biology class

Entering the last stage of an organ, players locate the strongest source of the infection: a boss germ. Defeating bosses isn’t easy, and requires some quick thinking. Having little in the way of weapons, players must rely on tricking the boss into hurting itself. Though boss battles are rare in Systematic Immunity, they are a welcome change of pace. Progressing may lead you to repeat sections again and again until successful, so squaring off against a mobile opponent with multiple stages of attack mixes things up.

If bosses and stages seem a little to easy for you, try finding all the collectible “Info Snippets”. Info Snippets provide random bits of body knowledge such as “Your body is made up of about 10 Trillion cells” or “Cells are the smallest component of your body and are the basic units that make up tissue”. To collect a snippet, players must locate a small white circle with a “!” within, run over the symbol, then survive to the end of the stage. Accomplishing this becomes harder as levels become more menacing; snippets that were once easily accessible along your path are now hidden from view or placed in an extremely difficult spot to reach. Bonus: collecting a snippet will refill your RG meter so don’t worry about becoming stranded using it all up to reach a snippet.

Learning through collectibles? Collearnibles!

Presentation:

Cutscenes bask in cartoony charm, but feel bit quick and lack fine detail. A few extra cutscenes placed here and there cataloging the travels of the white blood cells around an organ would’ve been a nice addition, but I still chuckled a time or two during boss scene animations. Overall, the in-game sound effects fit in alongside Systematic Immunity’s comical tone and toonlike appearance: squishes for walking on tissue, balloonish air-sputters when popped, and (my favorite) cute “yippees” and “wahoos” from the cell gang when jumping fast. With each new organ, I found the sound track to be quite satisfactory as it heighten my experience with playful and quirky midi sounds.

This is going to take some practice.

Animation cutscenes may have lacked finer details, but stages sure didn’t. Tissue floor and wall textures can seem anywhere from slimy to coarse, smooth to sharp and are covered in obstacles. I loved the other strange germ-like inhabitants of the body that can be found eerily floating about in colors from vibrant pink to booger green. I will admit, at first I wasn’t too thrilled with the surrounding dark areas while playing through the stomach level; I thought it was a cop out. It didn’t hit me until reaching the wonderfully bright stages of the lungs, that this was intentionally done to promote the stomach’s dark and dreary interior. To get through the darkness, I found comfort in adorning one of Systematic Immunity’s nine adorable unlockable hats:

Who knows, maybe this will be my lucky hat

Conclusion:

WHEW almost didn’t make it on this one

I believe a game is measured by the amount of entertainment it provides this game was loads of fun! I kept flashing back to days of Gamecube; the regrouping mechanic made me feel like Captain Olimar throwing around Pikmin, only instead of a foreign alien world, I’m venturing through the treacherous body of a human being and dying a way lot more. Systematic Immuntiy may not be the longest game you’ve played nor does it have to greatest graphics and collectible Info Snippets are educational, but to me they still fall into the needless collectible category. Some of these may seem like deal-breakers to many of you and I don’t ask you to turn a blind eye, but if a formidable platforming experience is what you seek, then look no farther than Systematic Immunity.

Thank you for reading. Nolan — Totaltoad

Systematic Immunity gets a 7/10 (Average)

Thank you to Zack Hage and Felix Wunderlich for supplying me with the code and giving me this chance to share my opinion with everyone. Check out my random video game videos on YouTube. For more reviews and features like this one, please check out The Cube on Medium.com, or our twitter account @TheCubeMedium