Trauma Center: Under The Knife Review (DS)

Age Rating: Teen (ESRB). PEGI rating not yet available.

What is it?

A thoroughly frustrating yet totally addictive hospital surgery sim.

Is it fun?

Undoubtedly.

It is worth the money? £24.99

Oh, yes. UK release date is 28th April 2006.

Why?

Coz it’s addictive and you get to walk around going “I saved people’s lives today. Bow down before me, menial desk drone!”

Some of the missions are a real challenge and the simple gameplay and easy learning curve makes it really hard to put down. Oh and there’s a magic cure-all serum that mirculously brings your patients back from the brink of death!

Basic premise: You’re a doctor and wherever you go, people need surgery and they need it now! You can’t take a plane trip, go to a conference or even walk down the street without having to operate. Go Hero!

Everything comes in 2-5 minute chunks which makes it great for casual gaming but when you succeed in a mission there’s always the temptation to do “just one more!” Before you know it, it’s eaten an hour of your life without you even noticing which I reckon is the mark of a great game :)

It has its flaws – the missions jump from being really easy to mind-bogglingly hard but at least the storyline is entertaining. Plus, by the second or third time you replay a mission, you’re thinking “There’s no way I’m gonna let this damned game beat me. Grrrrrrgh!!!” Each mission gets a final rank as well so you can replay the ones with low scores: C is rubbish – you could deliberately hack on your patient and if he survives you still get a C. B is okay, A is pretty kick-arse and S is Super-Special Surgeon! Well, maybe not, but it’s bloody hard to get!

I had a few problems with the screen – dunno if it was overheating after three solid hours of my jabbing it but after a while it got quite difficult to operate on any bits near the edges of the screen. Haven’t noticed that in any other games. There are also the usual annoyances with repeated cut-scenes when you fail but you can skip the worst of that with the Select button.

Despite its flaws, this game is well worth buying for that feeling of immense satisfaction when you finally bandage up your patients. Let’s Begin The Operation!

Screenshots:

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