Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 8.5 (4.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Shiva Stella
• Reviewed on: 07/01/2008
• Released on: 07/02/2008
• Originally published on GameSpot: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS) Review

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is the sequel to 2005's Under the Knife, which introduced the world to the amazing Dr. Derek Stiles and a deadly infection concocted by a crazed terrorist group hell-bent on destroying humanity. Many puzzle fans couldn't put the game down despite its outrageous plot and painful difficulty, and the sequel is just as addictive. Though you'll still spend time fighting fictional diseases spread by bioterrorism, Under the Knife 2 is such an exceptional medical-themed puzzler that you'll forget the game's absurdity as you're sucked in by its consuming gameplay.

The game recasts you as Derek Stiles and opens in Costigar, a fictional African state attempting to recover from decades of brutal civil war. It has been three years since the eradication of GUILT, the man-made infection crafted by terrorists, and though it has been successfully treated worldwide, it seems that those who had previously suffered from the disease have developed new symptoms, prompting Derek to return to the United States to contend with new strains.

Gameplay in Under the Knife 2 proceeds in much the same fashion as in the original, and operations play out in chapter episodes after a cutscene provides the appropriate backdrop. Before each operation, you're given a patient briefing and a surgical objective by your assistant, after which the standard five-minute time limit appears and the patient's life is in your hopefully very steady hands. You work externally to internally, making incisions with the scalpel, removing foreign objects with the forceps, and coating the patient's wounds in the strongest antibacterial gel ever created. You complete an operation by fixing whatever ails the patient and are awarded a rank according to how quickly and effectively you work.

Though it sounds simple enough, operations in Under the Knife 2 quickly intensify because the fast-paced procedures require you to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously; the difficulty comes not in any one procedure's complexity but in the speed with which you need to perform it as you struggle to stabilize a patient's vitals while feverishly sucking out pools of pus and zapping tumors. This hectic push for speed is the game's high point and significantly increases an operation's difficulty--since the slightest slip of the hand damages a patient's vitals. Fortunately Derek has a healing touch ability, which appears to slow time as he moves faster than an infection can progress. You'll also receive clear verbal cues about your next procedure from your assistant, which is a blessing when a patient's condition is spiraling out of control and you're clueless as to what to do next.

If you've spent any time at all with the Trauma Center series, then the game's standard tool offering won't surprise you; in fact, most of the tools are identical to those in the original game and function similarly, with the exception of the defibrillator, which comes in handy when patients go into cardiac arrest. You drain disgusting bodily fluids by drawing the stylus up from the target pool, stitch up gaping wounds by zigzagging the stylus across them, and make clean incisions with the scalpel by following the dotted line. Any sloppy suturing isn't likely to get you chastised, but Under the Knife 2 is more of a fast-paced puzzler than a straight medical simulation, and the mixture of both elements makes the game incredibly fun and addictive. The surprising amount of operation variety is also refreshing considering the plot's heavy focus on the new GUILT; you'll do an organ transplant, extract fragmented bones in the dark, inject color-coded serum into bacteria, and even play laser tag with giant moving tumors.

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