Atlus' Wii game, Trauma Center: Second Opinion lets you enjoy being a doctor without without the threat of going to prison, flirting with hot nurses, and drawing pentagrams on your patients' organs. All without having to answer to loved ones asking, "why did so-and-so have to die" and "didn't you know he was allergic to penicillin?" Such trivial matters can be easily brushed aside, mostly because the game presents a light-hearted and at times comical approach to life in the operating room (OR), but the option to replay operations ensures that no matter the size of the calamity, tumors can always be withdrawn, broken bones put back together and polyps removed.
Second Opinion follows the exploits of 26-year-old Derek Stiles, a cocky, inexperienced doctor working at Hope Hospital in Angeles Bay. Although he exhibits questionable bedside manner and makes some brash decisions, Stiles turns out to be one of the hospital's greatest physicians, thanks to a mysterious power that he possesses known as the Healing Touch, a supernatural ability that enables him to cure all disease. Eventually, he must harness this energy and use it to save the world, making for an intriguing coming of age tale that, despite the lack of voice acting, is so well written that one would be foolish to skip the cut scenes, or in Second Opinion's case, still frames. However, if you prefer operating to reading, pressing the minus button on the remote will fast forward the dialogue.
Operations of varying degrees of difficulty have been littered in between the cut scenes. Some involve piecing broken bones together, others require you to cut out tumors, while others task you with burning polyps off a musician's throat using a surgical laser. The developers break each operation into several steps. Case in point, before getting to the tumors, you'll need to disinfect the insertion point, make the incision, use an ultrasound to locate the problem areas, and then begin the cutting. The game contains the following 12 tools (13 if you count Healing Touch) to aid you in the OR: antibiotic gel, syringe, stitches, drain, surgical laser, bandages, defibrillator, light, ultrasound, magnification scanner, scalpel and forceps, all of which must be controlled using the Wii's remote and nunchuk. Using both in tandem, you select a tool by pointing at it with the nunchuk's analog stick, then put it to use with the remote. For example, in order to cut someone, you select the scalpel with the nunchuk's analog stick, aim the remote's cursor, press A or B on the remote and slowly (or quickly, depending on how steady your hand is) bring it across the body.
The game isn't especially gory and the graphics, while detailed, feature pastels as opposed to dark, slimy body parts, but the game manages to invoke a terrific sense of tension, thanks to a constantly depleting Vitals meter and a time limit. While not a big deal early on, these two very important factors make things stressful during the game's more advanced operations, which more often than not, never go according to plan.
Second Opinion's controls and story work extremely well together, but this is still the same Nintendo DS game that was released last year. Atlus spices things up with a side quest starring new character Dr. Nozomi Weaver, and the addition of two new items -- a light and a defibrillator -- enrich the already gripping experience, but if Under the Knife failed to capture your attention, Second Opinion may not thrill you.
Furthermore, despite various situations that pop up (and as dramatic as the narrative gets), Trauma Center's light-hearted take on surgery keeps it from being anything more than a videogame. Instead of making things even more technical and educating the public about what truly goes into an operation, Atlus created this supernaturally flavored story with anime looking characters and some operations that feature bizarre assailants (yes, assailants).
Thankfully, none of these nitpicky complaints ruin this outstanding game. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess gets all of the attention, but Trauma Center: Second Opinion deserves to be purchased. More importantly, Atlus deserves to be commended for doing what most third parties failed to do: make a fantastic Wii game.
Related Links
Trauma Center: Second Opinion Game Guide
Reader Comments (0)