Trauma Center: Under the Knife (Nintendo DS, 2005)

Taking advantage of the Nintedo DS's touch screen, you are thrust into the world of Trauma Center, where you are a Rookie Doctor learning the ropes. You will perform a variety of different surgeries to save the lives of various patients.

Overview - This game is very difficult to review, because quite simply there is so much to it that can't be written about, you just have to experience it. These surgeries are often intense and will get your adrenaline pumping, and when you fail a mission, the heartbreak you feel of not getting it done is something that cannot be described. This game gets incredibly intense at times, and it's rare to find a game where you get so immersed into the gameplay. The bottom line is this is an extremely fun, original game. If you are looking for a quality game that features the touch screen for the Nintendo DS, Trauma Center will show you what the Nintendo DS can do!

Story - The background of this story revolves around Derek Stiles, a new doctor who joins his first hospital. He immediately finds himself in sticky situations with regards to doubts about his own abilities, getting into trouble with others, and even morals in the medical profession. Derek finds he has a special gift, and he will need it as biological warfare begins to take place. The story gets fairly deep, and will definitely keep you wanting to know more as you progress through the game.

Gameplay - The design of this game is excellent. You are quickly thrust into doing surgeries, and the game does a great job of integrating tutorials in your early surgeries so that you can learn how to play without having to go through boring reading. You are given menus on the touch screen so that you can do different actions during your operations, such as closing wounds, cutting open patients, tweezers to pick out objects, and much more. Despite having specific actions, the game does a great job of giving you a variety of differnt operations so that you are always doing something different. Plus there are a ton of levels that will keep you busy for quite awhile.

Replayability - After completing each level, you are given an additional mode where you can try to get the highest score you can. Based on your score, you are given grades, and getting an A or S rank score is incredibly difficult, and will keep you playing this game eveb after you beat it, if you like getting high scores or challenges.

Graphics - The graphics are modest, but it fits the mood of the game perfectly. The characters are simple still cartoons, but it still gives the feel of emotion because of the story and art. The actual operations are very good to look at, so much so that someone I know was "scared of the blood and organs."

Sound - The sounds on this game are modest. The music is not fantastic, but it certainly goes with the setting of the game, although there is not much variety. There will also be the occasional voice such as the shouts of "doctor!" Nothing to get excited about here.

Difficulty - Above average. This game starts off very easy, and gradually increases in difficulty as you go along. It does a great job of getting harder as the levels increase. Some people will have quite a hard time finishing this game, while hardcore gamers will likely be able to finish the game in a fair amount of time.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife is an interesting, unique and mildly challenging game that tests your accuracy with your stylus much more than your accumen as a rookie surgeon. The cases range from accident victims to patients suffering tumors and such, all in need of surgical intervention.

Your sometimes friendly, sometimes cranky, surgical nurse guides you through the required tasks of the procedure, instructing you to use the game's various tools (magnifier/ultrasound, scapel, laser, drain, forceps, hypodermic needle, bandaging, etc.). You are judged on accuracy and alloted a number of "misses" for each surgery. Be careful when bandaging the patient following the procedure. You'll be harshly judged on whether you use too much, too little or crooked bandaging tape/gauze. This can be especially frustrating if you've made it through a tough surgery with one miss left, only to "fail" the operation because you used too much gauze.

The cut-scenes are a bit tedious, but help move the story along nicely. Graphics are average, but that's probably a good thing considering the semi-gory subject matter of the game. After a few operations, you'll learn "the healing touch" which will allow you to slow the game enough to get through some of the tougher, fast-paced surgeries.

Overall, Trauma Center offers a nice change of pace from your run-of-the-mill RPGs. It's not bloody enough for the faint of heart, but the medical terminology and explaination of procedures, while simplistic and a bit dumbed down, is enough to set the stage for an entertaining medical drama worthy of network television.

This game is good for fans of anime/manga art.

This is definitely no surgeon's simulation but it is definitely a great game to have. The concept is very ingenious for a video game. You have some normal surgeries and others that are expected from a good anime drama.

Not every chapter has surgery. The filler story chapters are nice but sometimes annoying if you want to stay in you groove. The story itself definitely has some depth and meets anyone's expectations of an anime storyline.

I definitely would recommend this game for one of the first games of anyone's DS library.

I bought this game on ebay because it wasn't available retail. I see now that they made so many copies for the retail holiday season. Happy gaming!!!

when i was looking to purchase a handheld system, i went to my local game store and the employee graciously let me use his DS, this game happened to be in it. 5 minutes into it i was already sold, this was one of the most unique gaming experiences ive ever had- and it was barely getting started. so i bought my DS and went looking for this game.

it features a unique way of using the touch screen and you feel very involved with the game. it has a quick learning curve since the 1st few missions get you accostomed to O.R procedures then after that its nonstop heart racing action(truth!) its definitley not for smaller kids since it does get suprisingly difficult at times and i cant imagine a smaller kid playing it without breaking their DS in frustration. i love this game, im almost done with it, and my girlfriend fell in love with it too, so it is enjoyable to a wide range of audiences.

the story is deep and the gameplay is one of a kind- i give trauma center an A+ one of the MUST HAVE applications for the nintendo DS.

-jon

We have a fantastic game here in Trauma Center. It is a fun and unique way to use the DS and a pretty good story to boot. You start of the game as a doctor named Derek who must complete various operations to proceed throught the story. Each operation (over 30 in all) is slighty harder than the last and each one a good time. This game will last you around 7 hours or so. But this game is well worth the money for the great time you will have with it and also to play one of the best games in a while is an advantage too.