Introduction:

Perform lobotomies, put bones back together, and remove glass from a patient's heart all from the comfort of your living room! Trauma Center lets you perform surgery on patients without medical school, internship, and residency.
Get a dose of this medicine.

Story:

You are Dr. Derek Stiles, an inexperienced but loyal doctor working at Hope Hospital in Angeles Bay. Your assistant who is loved by all, leaves and is replaced with a sassy nurse called Angie who seems to hate you but then warms up to you.
The story goes along normally, with you being disciplined for being lazy, until during a surgery where you remove glass from a patient's heart, time slows down for you and you suture that heart in a second. It is later revealed that you have The Healing Touch, a gift passed down from the Greek G-d of Medicine. Later you control a doctor who has the power as well.
Anyway, terrorists have created a bioweapon virus used to destroy all called GUILT. They tried to use it for good, but naturally it failed, and many people get infected. The effects of GUILT can be lacerations to organs at least, to a giant web that sucks energy from the heart at most.
As Dr. Stiles, you must cure everyone and find out whodunnit.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is superb. You only get to control things in surgeries, which is fun. For the first few surgeries you are guided by your nurse who tells you what to do. You must operate on patients to save their lives.
You have tools to help operate on patients, and they are:
Scalpel- Cuts people open, and can also be used to kill GUILT.
Forceps- Just like little pliers. These can be used to grab and place things on organs, or to pull things together.
Antibiotic Gel- This heals small wounds and disinfects areas before you cut them.
Syringe- This handy tool can shoot up to 4 things, which are present only when needed or available. The blue liquid cures inflammation, the green liquid boosts vitals, the red liquid is a sedative for tumors, and the black is a poison for GUILT.
Sutures- These stitch up cuts and incisions on the patient. You must move them in a zig-zag pattern.
Drain- This drains liquids, such as blood or cytoplasm, out of the way so that you can see things better.
Laser- This can be used to remove polyps and kill GUILT. It burns through human tissue, so it causes some damage as well.
Ultrasound/Magnification- Ultrasound detects tumors and GUILT, and the magnification zooms up on areas.

You will also use a pen light in certain levels when it's dark.

You have to use items with your Wii-Mote, which is incredibly easy, as long as your hand is steady. The controls are astoundingly easy.

Oh, the Healing Touch.
You learn the Healing Touch later in the game, and it seems simple to use but it's a bit tricky until you practice.
As Dr. Stiles, it slows down time so you can move fast. For the other doctor it heals patients if doing well on the procedure. You can activate it by holding the Z and B buttons and drawing a star on the patient (like that star from the Exorcist or something.) You can only use it once per operation.

The patient has vitals which keep him/her healthy. If they drop to 0, they die. Antibiotic Gel helps them a bit, but injecting them with green serum really helps as well. You also have a time limit, which is usually 5 minutes.

Whew.

I give the gameplay: 10/10

Graphics:

The graphics during cut scenes are very good. Everything is Japanese anime, so at least Angie, your new nurse, is hot. They do not move at all, so it's almost like Fire Emblem, except there are pictures of them and their words are at the bottom of the screen.
During surgery, it isn't anime, but the organs look cartoony, and there isn't much blood besides what you need. The darkness of the human body or blood vessels are hardly seen. For surgery, it's not that the graphics are bad, it's just that some more detail would've been better.

I give the graphics: 8/10

Sound:

The music during surgery and cut scenes is mostly the same. A soundtrack would not be very big.
However, during the more drastic surgeries, the music is all deathly and sounds urgent.
There is some voice acting. When the operation starts Dr. Stiles says something like "I will save this patient!" or "Let's begin the operation!" Angie also says things like "Good job, Dr. Stiles!" or "What the...?"
There is not as much sound as I would have liked, and almost no sound effects, but it's not terrible.

I give the sound: 7/10

Replayability:

Yes, yes yes! You can replay anything in the game, even though some levels may be too easy.
Even cutscenes are replayable. Before replaying a game, it even gives you an option of skipping the cutscenes and going straight to the surgery. My dream come true!
Replayability is great in this game.

I give the replayability: 10/10

Challenge:

Oh, yes, there is tons of challenge.
Not only do you need to memorize certain procedures, but there is a time limit, vitals, and complications. On one level you even need to disarm a bomb with your scalpel, foceps, and laser. And it just gets harder. The GUILT has many bars worth of health, and holding the Wii-Mote steadily enough can prove to be a challenge. You also need to have somewhat of an understanding of medicine to know what's going on.

I give the challenge: 10/10

Frustration:

Sometimes the controls screw up a bit and the patients' health goes low too fast, and the GUILT is incredibly hard to kill. Also, some of the levels can get repetitive. I've done a bazillion tumors already! Other than that I have no other complaints.

I give the frustration: 3/10

Value:

This game is from December or so, but it's still on the Wii, so I'd say... $30.00? I don't know how much it costs, so you got me. I'd buy it for $20.00

I give the value: $15.00/$20.00

Extras:

Here's something sorta cool. Most of the patients' names are based off of names from Scrubs, and other doctor shows. For example, your first patient is Kevin Turk, like Chris Turk from Scrubs. Linda Reid and Mr. Cox connote to Elliot Reid and Dr. Cox.
Is that cool or what?

I give the extras: 10/10

Overall:

This game is thrilling, tough, and incredibly fun. I'd recommend playing Trauma Center: Under the Knife for the DS before trying this, but if you get this first then that's good as well.

I give Trauma Center: Second Opinion: 9/10

Conclusion:

Well, that's my review of Trauma Center: Second Opinion. Eat apples, get exercise, and the nurse will give you a lollipop on the way out.

Written By: Adam
E-Mail Address: flashback25@aol.com
Date Submitted: August 7th, 2007

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