Trauma Center: Under The Knife Review

The actual game isn’t without its frustrations either. Sure it’s really cool how you use the touch screen, but a good half of the game really takes a lot out of you. Reason being, you have to work INSANELY fast sometimes. A minor flaw in the system is how you suture wounds. You do get used to how it’s done after a while, but it can prove very annoying. Especially with extremely long wounds that almost span the whole touch screen, trying to make the stitches work can make you fail. That’s because you have to quickly draw a zig-zagging line across the length and area of a wound, and sometimes the game just doesn’t want to accept anything you try. There is a certain technique that can be used to almost ensure it to work every time, but that takes practice.

As stated before, the story is a bit overdrawn with drama, but it’s really not that bad. If you’ve had a chance to play Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, you would be familiar with how this one pans out. Atlus developed this game, but sometimes you could almost mistake Capcom for having done it. The touch screen is used for all character dialogue, and the art style is completely done in an anime-like fashion. There isn’t quite the wackiness of Phoenix Wright though, this is a medical game after all. The medical field tends to be pretty serious all the time, so it would be strange to see something like that in TC. Nevertheless, the story isn’t bad, and proves interesting at points.

There is a supposed incurable disease in existence. It’s been codenamed ‘GUILT’, and unfortunately you don’t really find out why until the near end of the game. Regardless, this is the disease you pretty much end up battling throughout the game. An organization by the name of Delphi has supposedly manufactured this killer themselves in a form of bio-terrorism. There are several different strains of it, each with its own name. They all feature some kind of parasitic organism that attacks a specific part of the body in a certain way. Kyriaki for example, is a tadpole-like parasite that causes continuous internal open wounds. Obviously something like that would kill anyone.

At the beginning of the game, you are assisted with training by nurse Mary Fulton. Unfortunately she is soon replaced because of personal reasons by young Angie Thompson. She’s only 21, but boy does she pack a heated tongue. She NEVER hesitates to tell you how she’s feeling about your performance during an operation. So pretty much, if you’re not darn well perfect, expect to hear from her. You work with her during a majority of the game, operating on patients and trying to eradicate the outbreak of GUILT. Any time you mess up, she will whine and moan at you. She may only have some short one-liners, but one-liners are generally annoying, and therefore she is too. Not only do you have to put up with potentially frustrating operations, but she spares you no confidence downer. She will jump down your throat and make you do well just because you want her to shut up. Unfortunately chances are you’re going to fail a lot simply because of how hard the game can get. Expect to listen to her often.

Trauma Center’s music is pretty ok, but it’s hardly anything special. There is a standard theme for all operations, and an increase in tempo and suspense when things get interesting. Sadly though, only the most dramatic theme that appears towards the end of the game is the most memorable. Everything else is pretty much just there as a filler, serving its purpose. Because of this, you may find yourself turning on extraneous music to help make it more entertaining. That would probably be useful for shutting Angie up too.

There are 35 operations in total that span six different chapters. That means the story is pretty short, and rather predictable. To make matters worse, you can easily finish this game under ten hours. That’s not terrible, but it certainly could’ve been better. You actually do have the option of going back to every single operation to improve your score and rating though, so that’s a nice feature. You also unlock seven hidden operations after completing the game, but actually doing them would take a bit of motivation because they are just as unforgiving as most others.

Trauma Center: Under The Knife is an exceptional piece of software that brings out a great feature in the Nintendo DS. Its immersive controls may have it at the top of the list of games that use the DS’ touch screen the best. While the experience may not be 100% realistic, it can really give you a better sense of what life is like in the Emergency Room. Surgeons are constantly under pressure and have to make it their duty never to make a major mistake. Doing so could cost the patient his or her life and leave a huge psychological scar. Even if Derek Stiles has a special ability in this game that would never be possible in this life, Trauma Center really brings out what heroes in medicine can do. If you’re looking for a big challenge and can deal with unavoidable frustration, Trauma Center’s surgical life may very well be for you.