Pros: A fun, quirky medical title that could teach you something
Cons: Touches aren't always recognized, gets hectic very quickly
The Bottom Line: A fun medical title, this game has a good story and fun gameplay dynamics. You will want lots of patience, but be prepared to learn something, too!
anastacya's Full Review: Trauma Center: Under the Knife for DS
The best man from our wedding brought this over to our house one night, when he was letting us preview the DS that he was selling to my husband. I remember reading some reviews about this game and was interested for two reasons:
1) I had been in school to be a physician,
2) I like quirky Japanese titles.
After about an hour of playing, I have this to say.
The game is fun, and a LOT more challenging than you would think. The concept is simple: you are a physician starting out at a hospital. You are presented with various patients that have varying degrees of medical issues. All of them, however, require surgery. That is where you come in.
Premise and Story
The premise is very basic: perform surgery to save a patient's life in the allotted time. Use your stylus to select the tool to perform the surgery, complete the operation, and at the end, receive a score based upon your accuracy, time limit remaining, and technique.
The first mission is simple, and throughout, your nurse assistant will explain what tools you need. Regardless, you will still need to use your freehand stylus skills to draw an incision, cauterize a wound, stitch them up, and tape, for starters.
As the missions progress, various time limits will be established and new objectives will be set. In some, you may need to remove tumors. In another, you may need to remove glass from an accident. Eventually, the nurse will stop telling you which tool to use for which case.
It becomes hectic, quickly. The game is not meant for long-term playing for this factor alone. You would quickly become aggravated because I guarantee, you will fail. Selecting the appropriate tool from the small icons can be infuriating, as it is sometimes hard to distinguish which icon is for which tool when you are rushing to finish in the allotted time.
Granted, early into the game you will get a special technique which allows you to slow time during an operation, but even this doesn't always help when you have tons of little blobs moving in the veins and you need to stop them before they cause an aneurism.
I thought this was fun, but if you do not have lots of patience and you do not like having to hunt for specific items to solve a puzzle early in a game, you may not like this title.
Graphics
The graphics are a mix of static anime images and fairly accurate representations of human anatomy. This game has the potential to gag the faint of heart. You will see blood spurt and skin tear. Organs are accurately animated and accurately placed within the human body. While the graphics within the surgery sessions wouldn't compare to those of the PSP, for instance, they are clear, with minimal pixellation. The cutscenes, which have anime pictures, are colorful and lively.
Actions that you take with your stylus are also animated accurately, and for the sake of medical accuracy, show cuts and damage as well as could be expected. Granted, I do not know what tumors look like on the pancreas, but my very fertile imagination believes what the DS displays.
Music and Sound
The noise that you make when you error will grate you. If you ever played the Dragon Warrior series, it is similar to stepping on a barrier. It is a loud buzzing/beep sound that will make you want to throw the DS when it doesn't recognize a stylus touch.
The music imparts a sense of urgency, which is appropriate to the game. It is dramatic and not annoying. As with most DS titles, it is nothing to write home about, but you will not necessarily want to turn it off.
I wish there was voice acting, but the text heavy dialogue can be boring to read sometimes.
Final Say
This is a fun DS title that true to Nintendo, offers a gameplay experience that is unique. If you like medical science and want to play doctor, this game is for you. Not only will you have the fun, but you may learn something, too.
It can be frustrating with the time limits, and the icons are a little hard to read while remaining accurate, but overall, you will have a fun time if you take the game in spurts. This title is highly recommended.
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