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Bazzlad’s Lunchtime Review:
Trauma Center
Second Opinion.
(Requires Nun chuck)
I’ve never played Trauma Center on the DS. After playing this game on the Wii, I’m beginning to wonder what other Gems I may have missed.
Second Opinion is a “Wii-make” of the popular DS game, however, * this is not a quick lazy port. New tools, new procedures, new operations and a new second character to operate with shows the team put some thought and effort into it.
* According to other reviews (as stated – I haven’t played the original)
To those who haven’t seen/heard of this game before let me explain.
You are Derek Styles newly qualified doctor and surgeon. Your role is to operate on whoever is put in front of you. With your (sometimes) helpful nurse assisting you it’s your job to cut, grab, fix, set, heal and stitch your patients back to health.
Presentation:
This is disappointing part of the game in my opinion.
The slick, easy to navigate menus are intuitive and well designed. The problem is the story.
It’s not the ACTUAL story, (which is quite interesting to be honest) it’s the way the story is told. Screen after screen of text with a picture of whoever is talking. This is a 7th generation console – not the Snes. In fact, the general presentation does remind me of the end of Street Fighter 2. Don’t get me wrong, it’s stylishly done, but surely they could have recorded speech.
The pre op screen is where you get your briefing. It’s worth paying attention as hints and tips are occasionally dispersed this way.
Surgery begins. It’s very tastefully done, so don’t worry if you’re a little squeamish!
*Technically, the above image is inaccurate (must be beta) because the antibiotic gel is NOT called Heal jelly!
Gameplay:
And into the game itself! You select your tools from the octagon in the bottom left. A fair few reviews have stated it’s a little touchy, and I’d agree – when I’d only played it once. It’s pretty simple and within a day you’ll have it down to a T.
Your Wiimote does the work itself.
Example- Suturing (Stitching) hover over the laceration (Cut) hold down “A” and make a zigzag pattern down the wound. Job done.
You start the first surgery using only 4 tools: Scapel, Stitching Needle, Antibiotic Gel and Forceps. Some poor idiot has crashed his bike through a window. It’s your job to get the glass out of him and stitch him up making him ship, shape and Bristol fashion.
The Forceps are excellent. You “Grab” by pressing A and the B trigger together, giving the illusion that you’re actually grabbing something. Nice touch
As you progress more tools appear at your disposal ranging from the Laser to the Ultrasound. What impressed me is even though the plot goes off at some crazy Japanese anime angle, the accuracy of medical terms and procedures (Within reason) is quite good.
Your patient has a heart rate. You have a timer. Either of these get to Zero and it’s Game Over. Hint. Don’t kill your patients. You do have a syringe with green stuff to help stabilize the heart rate – though as with most tools in the game, over use makes them unselectable for a while – so be careful with how you use them!
This is where the game gets interesting for me. At first I thought it was a puzzle game, and to an extent, it is, however, for every move you make in surgery you get a ranking COOL, GOOD and BAD, and you can of course, make combos of COOL and GOOD. Dependant on how well you’ve done and how quickly, you’ll get a grade from S, A, B or C. And once you’ve played a few levels, you’ll find yourself wanting to get an S on each one. It’s great, it reminds me of Parappa the rapper, or Dance Dance Revolution.
A nice touch is the option to select the mission’s difficulty before starting – hard, medium or easy are your choices, and completing a mission on an easier level than before will still unlock the next mission. So if you get stuck you can drop the difficulty down and carry on.
Sounds:
The sounds are excellent. The music is really tense and moody and believe me, when you’re racing against time or struggling you really feel the music. Your assistant will chip in occasionally with the odd word, but mostly it’s text again here – however it actually works a LOT better in game! Do something wrong and you’ll soon here a high pitched yell of “DOCTOR!” to let you know you’re an idiot.
Well that’s my lunchtime review hope you’ve enjoyed it.
85%. Buy it.
Pros
Great game
Addictive
Original idea
Mass replay value
It’s fun!
Cons
Story told in words and pictures.
No multiplayer – imagine a split screen surgery race against your friend?
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Is this available in the UK?
Originally Posted by vinnyT
