Trauma Center First Impressions

March 12, 2006

So though I'm writing this March 12th, I played it several days ago, for whatever it's worth.

So far... a pretty cool game that would totally not be possible on other current hardware.  I'm no doctor, but it doesn't exactly seem like an accurate conversion of medical procedues... but most games aren't accurate conversions of real-world counterparts.  Trauma Center takes the idea of surgery and gamefies it nicely.

At first I felt over my head.  A dozen icons on the sides of the screen to choose from in surgery?  Luckily the game holds your hand and introduces you to a few new tricks at a time.  I would've recommended a graphical example of how to do things, though; I totally wasn't understanding what I was doing wrong with my suturing until I tried many variants on my stylus movement.  Anyway, at first you'll be pointed step by step through how to do something basic like removing glass from a patient and patching them up.  So when this is just one part of a later surgery, you're already familiar and can do it pretty quickly.

I reached just beyond a pretty big turning point in the game.  I've heard others describe the player character as a Super Saiyan doctor, which is appropriate enough.  Dr. Stiles has the "Healing Touch" and is learning how to control it.  Essentially this means he can move super fast, or to his perception have everything slow down.  Thus even if a shitload of things are going wrong in a patient's body, he stands a good chance of keeping up with various bodily failures.