By Gaetano Prestia
Who would have thought that a game series based on an emergency ward would do so well? Developer Atlus has given us three games in the critically successful Trauma Center franchise, a series of games that pit you against the clock to save a gruesomely injured patient from death. Each of the titles have so far taken advantage of both the Wii and DS controls, using motion-sensoring and touch-screen gameplay mechanics respectively to create a realistic virtual operating table. With the fourth entry to the series, Trauma Center: New Blood maintains many of the same successful aspects of its predecessors, but is it good enough to survive major surgery?
Exactly like the three before it, New Blood is a surgery simulator. You’re pitted in a race against the clock to save an admitted patient who has an injury that is slowly killing them. You have to manage your time side-by-side with the health of your patient otherwise you’ll end up leaving them with nothing more than a stationary heart. You’ll engage in all types of different surgeries, from removing tumours, to stitching up wounds and removing pieces of glass or bullet. While these actions might sound like the complete opposite of an engaging and fun title, New Blood is exactly that, offering a thoroughly enjoyable experience, even if it has a pointless and horrendously bad story.
The story in Trauma Center: New Blood (yes, there is a story) is just about as bad as you could imagine a story would be in a simulation. It follows surgeons Valerie Blaylock and Markus Vaughn as they help deal with a sudden influx of patients in “the frigid northern extremity of America”, otherwise known simply as Alaska. One can’t help but wonder how, in such an isolated and small town, there are major surgeries taking place of which you probably wouldn’t even see in a major city hospital. Even if this is explained in the tedious and frustrating animated dialogue sequences that appear between surgeries, you won’t care. A quick tap of the A button about 47 times will finally get you through the banter between the characters that you won’t even remotely care about. The developer probably should be applauded by trying to give the game some charm and character, but it’s somewhat backfired by giving gamers a plotline that is incomprehensible and poorly executed.
However, once you get through the overly long dialogue sequences, you’ll finally get through to the surgery. Trauma Center should definitely be applauded for being one of the few Wii franchises that takes full advantage of the hardware's gameplay capabilities. The control scheme is incredibly challenging at times but makes good use of the Wii-mote and nun-chuck, both of which are needed in order to get the best experience out of New Blood. You’ll need a couple of times to get through the first few surgeries, but once you master the tricks of the trade and better understand the control scheme, you’ll be cutting through lungs and removing pieces of shattered glass like Dr. McDreamy.
In what is a humours direction for the title (and one that unfortunately incorporates the storyline) is that if you fail a mission, you’re informed that both Markus and Valerie have quit the surgery and gotten on with their lives elsewhere. What a bunch of cry babies! If surgeons quit every time a patient died on the operating table, there probably wouldn’t be any surgeons left. This is a perfect example of how poorly executed and pointless the story is, especially considering you can just easily restart the mission, magically bringing back both Markus and Valerie to the hospital. A major downfall of a surgery failure though is that if your patient dies half-way through a surgery that would probably take 8-9 minutes to complete, you’ll have to start right from the beginning again. It’s frustrating, especially when you’re travelling really well and a slight move with the Wii-mote in the wrong direction sends the patient flat lining. However, it adds a bit of realism to the gameplay and always keeps you on your toes and focusing on what’s happening on screen.
The different injuries themselves each offer their own challenge, with you having to figure out which tools you have to use and in which order to heal the patient. Draining blood, disinfecting the cut area, removing the glass and then stitching the area in that order isn’t quite as easy when you have to keep an eye on the patient’s vitals.
New Blood, while it starts off fairly easy, gets incredibly difficult after 5 or so hours. There are plenty of patients to get through and you’ll definitely get your value from the title, but don’t expect an easy ride. Some of the later injuries, as well as a Stigma virus that infects the town, make things extremely tough and hopefully by then you’ll have mastered the gameplay and be able to pinpoint areas that need attention before others.
The game offers fairly decent visuals, but don’t expect an overly realistic title. The cut scenes are all hand-drawn and the surgeries themselves have more of a cartoony than realistic feel about them. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and it doesn’t dampen the gameplay at all.
The music and voice-acting is probably the only major downfall of the entire title, coupled with the story, but you really shouldn’t care about the audio considering this is a game that relies on precise decision-making and steady hands.
The Final Verdict
Trauma Center: New Blood may very well be the best entry in the popular surgery simulation series. The game offers plenty for casual gamers and still has plenty of challenge for those looking for a lengthy title. It takes advantage of the Wii-mote and motion-sensoring like few others do and with the variation in different injuries, it’s hard not to get obsessed in its intuitive and innovative gameplay.
Gameplay
8.5/10
It’s not simple by any means, but it’s original, innovative and fun. It gets more challenging as you progress.
Graphics
6.5/10
Nothing too spectacular but they get the job done. Presentation wise, the game looks fine.
Sound
4.5/10
Terrible music and voice-overs make for the most disappointing aspect of the entire game.
Value
9.0/10
Plenty of operations, the ability to play with a friend and plenty of challenge for the hardcore and casual gamer alike.
Overall
8.3/10