Hey there, tourists of Lemmy’s Land! It’s me, Your Twin the Fourth, writing my second Review. It’s about the first title in a series of surgical simulation games called Trauma Center: Under the Knife for the DS. As in my last Review, I’ll be rating on a scale of 5/5 for the regular ratings and a scale of 10/10 for the overall rating.

Story: 4/5
It’s the year 2018, when diseases thought to be incurable are things of the past. You play the role of Derek Stiles, a young and inexperienced surgeon at Hope Hospital. You’ll soon discover that you have the power to use an ancient medical skill known as the “Healing Touch”. You’ll then have to use this ability to take care of a mysterious disease known as GUILT (Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin). Pretty good plot.

GUILT: 3/5
This may sound weird, but since I mentioned it in the plot I might as well include it in the ratings, since it’s one of the main points of the game. GUILT comes in the form of seven man-made parasites or “strains” that inflict various problems in their victims. Some “strains” have different forms; an example of this is the first strain, which comes in mature and immature forms. The strains, in order of appearance, are:
Kyriaki “Invisible Blades”
Deftera “Creeping Tumors”
Triti “Contagious Nightmare”
Tetarti “Synchronized Venom”
Pempti “Armored Bacteria”
Paraskevi “Arrow to the Heart”
Savato “Faceoff with Death”
Judging by the caption “Faceoff with Death”, you may think that Savato is pretty hard. Well, it is. VERY hard. But then again, it’s the seventh strain off GUILT. I took off points because the only way to kill most of these is to zap them with your surgical laser, which can get really annoying, particulary when the strain keeps dodging or when it takes so many darned zaps to score a “hit”. The other reason is because you often have to face more than one strain at a time, which can be tough.

Gameplay: 5/5
Wow! The gameplay is one of the best I’ve seen in a DS game. You have lots of tools to use, too, like:
Antibiotic Gel
Surgical Laser
Your hands (really, you use them)
Forceps
Scalpel
Sutures (needle and thread)
Ultrasound
Magnifier
Syringe
Drain
Bandages
This is really a touchy-feely game. For example, after you finish excising a tumor, you’ll have to use the forceps to place a synthetic membrane on the hole where the tumor used to be, apply antibiotic gel on the membrane, and use your hands to rub the gel in and cement the membrane in place- all with the stylus. Cool.

Healing Touch: 3/5
The Healing Touch is an ability you can use once you’ve advanced to a certain point. To activate it, use your hands to draw a star with the stylus. By star, I mean those that you can draw without raising your hand and have an upside-down pentagon at the center. If you draw the star correctly, time will be slowed down temporarily (yes, operations have a time limit). This is useful when too many wounds appear at once or when you are facing multiple GUILT strains. You can use the HT once per operation (except in certain cases). It’s annoying when you really need it and you have already used it or you can’t draw the star correcty, though.

Graphics: 2/5
One word: BAD. I really expected more from a DS game. I’ve seen 3D in other DS games, and this game hardly looks it. Everything’s just so sketchy and squarish and flat. Even Savato looks like a weird ladybug of sorts. You may think differently, but this is my Review, and this is what I think.

Operation: 4/5
During the actual operations you get to use the cool touch screen controls while operating on your patient so that he doesn’t die. You also have a limit of how many times you can perform a move incorrectly or miss. If you exceed the limit, time runs out, or the patient’s vital signs reach zero, you fail the operation. It can be frustrating at times, but it’s fun.

Fun Factor!: 4/5

Overall: 7/10
Atlus made good work out of this game by making it with an unusual theme- surgery. It’s difficulty might get you down, but it’s a fun game. Enjoy!

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