GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 11/16/2006
- Released on: 11/14/2006
- Originally published on GameSpot: Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii) Review
One of the most memorable Nintendo DS games released last year, Trauma Center: Under the Knife put you in the role of an up-and-coming surgeon who becomes embroiled in a series of surprisingly intense medical emergencies. So perhaps it's only fitting that such an unusual game would make the unusual transition from a portable game system to Nintendo's new console, the Wii. Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii is essentially a remake of the original for the DS, featuring redrawn artwork, a redesigned control scheme that's a great showcase for the Wii Remote, some new story sequences and operations, and a really good subtitle. While this isn't the full-on sequel that a fan of the first Trauma Center would want, it's a refreshingly original, tense, and exciting game that embodies the Wii's promise of being able to deliver great, involving gameplay experiences over flashy graphics.
And now for something completely different.
Those who've played the first Trauma Center game will already know Dr. Derek Stiles, a young surgeon who is fresh from having completed his residency. The game identifies Dr. Stiles as the story's main character, but Trauma Center turns out to have a lot of great characters in it, even though all the story sequences are told in a simple, rather old-fashioned way, using still images and text dialogue. Nevertheless, the story is engrossing, and broaches some surprisingly intense and serious material, from patients with suicidal tendencies to doctors who are morally predisposed to euthanasia--and that's just the beginning. The story goes way over the top as Dr. Stiles discovers he has the Healing Touch, an ability inherited from ancient Greek times. Meanwhile, a world-threatening epidemic is discovered and believed to be a work of bioterrorism. There's a lot of intrigue to this story, and the dialogue is well written to drive it forward plausibly enough.
All the anime artwork is nicely redrawn from the DS original and looks good, but from a graphical standpoint, Trauma Center: Second Opinion doesn't have any bells and whistles that couldn't have been found on, say, the Sega Dreamcast years ago. The game doesn't even allow you to run it in a widescreen progressive scan mode like most other Wii titles. However, Traume Center still has a nice sense of style to it, and the 3D surgery sequences feature just the right level of detail to make them a little unsettling or intimidating, without being gruesome. The audio is similarly understated but effective. There's not enough speech, but the few spoken lines of dialogue that come from the major characters help establish their personalities, and the quality of the voiceover is solid. Also, the game's sound effects and musical score fit the anime-style look very nicely. The music runs the emotional gamut, tensing up during an operation, and the scalpels sound like ninja swords.
When you're not experiencing the melodramatic storyline, you'll be in surgery, viewing the patient from a first-person perspective. Typically, you'll need to make an incision, fix the patient on the inside, and then close him up. As you might expect, though, operations can be quite different from one to the next. You'll have access to a wide variety of tools for getting the job done, including a scalpel, a drainage hose, sutures, a precision laser, an ultrasound machine, forceps, and more. On the Nintendo DS, you selected these by touching the edges of the screen, which resulted in a lot of back-and-forth tapping (unless you were crazy enough to try to play with two styluses). On the Wii, you use the nunchuk attachment's analog stick to access tools from a radial menu while keeping your other hand steady, concentrating on the operation. This is a significant reinvention of the Trauma Center control scheme; by requiring you to use both hands, it seems like a better simulation of the surgical process. Some well-placed rumble effects make the control scheme even more convincing.
Trauma Center proves that a game about surgery can be fun and exciting, and have a good story.
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii):
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