There aren’t that many games that can put you in a doctor’s perspective, saving lives by operating on the sick or injured. Sure you could pull out that old game of Operation and hide in your closet to test how steady your hand is. But really, it’s time to wipe off that Wii that hasn’t been used in awhile (unless you bought Mario Galaxy 2) and check out Atlus’ new medical simulation game Trauma Team.
The Trauma Center games began on the DS, using the touch screens to treat patients for diseases, wounds and mysterious epidemics. The game then took a step forward and was released on the Wii, which required a more steady hand for operating. Now in its 3rd Wii installment, a whole new set of challenges awaits.
Previous Trauma Center games’ main focus were on operation and emergency treatments around 2 main characters. Trauma Team ups those numbers to 6 playable doctors, each with their own specialty in treatments. The game will focus on introducing the characters and their separate personalities while helping their patients. These doctors include:
Gabriel Cunningham – specializing in Diagnostic with his partner RONI, they work to help all patients no matter who they are.
~Life is a beautiful thing~
Hank Freebird – an orthopedic surgeon with an alter ego, “Captain Eagle,” who loves life, but questions himself since his alter ego isn’t as popular as he would like. Hank focuses on Spinal Cord damage and broken bones, who has to be very careful when operating.
~The truth never dies~
Naomi Kimishima – a returning face from Trauma Center: Second Opinion, she operated many times to fight the Guilt virus, but she is now infected with an incurable disease. This time she doesn’t operate, but instead works forensics for the Cumberland Institute of Forensic Medicine. Her impressive skills got her hired by the FBI to solve some strange and mysterious murders. She mysteriously has the powers to hear the final words of the dead through her phone.
~Ignoring the smallest things is not the path to honor~
Tomoe Tachibana – A trained Kunoichi from a wealthy Japanese family, she trains in the art of a ninjitsu and the medical field. Her specialty lies in endoscopy.
~Out of my way you useless Idiot~
Maria Torres – In charge of EMT, she is the first on the scene to treat patients in emergency situations, she is very fiery and believes everyone else around her is useless when it comes to treatment and believes that she can do it all on her own. This causes people to stay away and fear her because she will punch your lights out.
~I will not run way~
CR-S01 – A man who doesn’t even know his own past, including his name. When he woke up, he was arrested and charged with starting a biological attack that killed many people in the Cumberland Institute. He was found guilty and sentenced to serve 250 years in jail. Locked in his frozen cell, the only thing that helped him was his surgical skill and his knowledge of medicine, allowing him to perform surgery for a reduced sentence.
While you can test yourself in surgery with careful precision and a very steady hand, Trauma Team challenges your mind and hands. While you cut, reattach, remove in operations, endoscopy will have you sliding your arms back and forth, as if your arm was the endoscopic tube.
When you play the all new Diagnostic and Forensics mode new to Trauma games, it will test your eyes, ears, and logic skill. Diagnostic will have you listen to your patient’s problems and try to find out what’s wrong with them. Various test results will help you get a better understanding of what’s going on. Forensics will seem familiar for fans of a certain “Attorney” game on the DS. It allows you to search areas for clues, but you will also get some little toys for Naomi to use so that she can search the area, such as dust for fingerprints, a spray to find hidden blood and a blue light to see it all. Naomi will also search the dead bodies and personal attire for clues.
What I really enjoy from this game is the comic book style animation, with over 50 playable missions and many of them featuring co-op surgery, you are treated to a full voice-over game with a compelling story. You get to decide on how the story progresses for you. Completing all the characters’ paths will help you understand the story more. But you can choose whether to complete one story, or intertwine different characters’ chapters.
Overall the story is very well written with laughter, excitement, and a deep understanding of each of the character’s personality. The voice actors of Trauma Team did a really good job. The only downfall is that you’ll want to know more about a character or their ability, but it is left unanswered.
Trauma Team takes roughly about 30 hours to play, with surgeries taking close to maybe 5-20 minutes, depending on the operation, and Diagnostics and Forensics is close to an hour or longer when you play without any help. With over 50 missions, this proves to be a very fun and challenging game. But that’s not all, once you beat the game, you are given the Specialist difficulty, which really puts you in a doctor’s position without being able to screw up. Trauma Team takes everything in the previous titles and expands it with great and amusing characters, an excellent story and leaving you wanting more.
Grade: A+
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