For me, the best place to start was Canada or the U.S. A lot of connections. I went virus and became barely noticable. Eventualy, after a few tries, I had infected the country within 30 days and finished the human race off in 94.
Also, no, I do not think that both of the Pandemics are the same. If I recall, the first one did not even have pictures of planes and ships moving around, and it was not in colour. Also, you got all of the points after the beginning.
Pandemic 2 is better, by a lot. It is more strategic and fun.
Solution to infecting Madasgar? Start there, which rarely happens. Problem - if you need to infect and kill the whole world in a limited amount of time, that is not the solution. Getting the virus out of madagascar is...hard.
Actually, you just have to keep your visibility near 0 and buy all the resistances and transport first.
Strange thing is, even if your visibility is 0, your virus might still be found by somebody. XD It's weird, but only appropriate, seeing as this would make the game too easy.
the only problem with the game is that its very ancient. by the time it was here they should be already making part 5 . and another thing to really make some damage you have to be a parasite
I believe Pandemic II was a pretty good game. First game was too easy. You pushed buttons and bought stuff. Woo. As for Madagascar, I've never gotten there. (Plays Pandemic II for 5 hours.) Still nope. I always found the best place to start was near China. I wiped out all of Asia, Europe and both Americas. Fun. =)
