Health Care Reformed-Trauma Team Review

Mirroring their Hollywood counterparts, game development studios rarely tamper with success. Sequels grudgingly offer a modicum of innovation, favoring the safe trajectories forged by a predecessor. Beyond a two player co-operative mode and online leaderboards, 2007’s Trauma Center: New Blood presented the same gameplay mechanics shown by the title’s forebear, Second Opinion. It might be reasonable to assume that the third entry into the Wii franchise would follow this precedent. Yet, Altus’ latest release- Trauma Team, radically changes the structure. In the process, the developers have given the franchise a healthy revitalization similar to one of the life-saving procedures depicted in the series.

Franchise enthusiasts will immediately note the absence of reoccurring protagonists Drs. Derek Stiles, Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock, as well as the removal of the incredulous Healing Touch. Whereas, previous games focused on the relationship between two surgeons, Trauma Team presents an interweaving ensemble of six separate characters. From bumbling superhero/orthopedic doctor Hank Freebird to Japanese princess/endoscopist Tomoe Tachibana and even an amnesic criminal with prodigal surgical skills, the title’s offbeat roster is wonderfully loopy. Skillfully, Trauma Team allows gamers to select and play through each storyline in any order, permitting players to freely switch characters and specialties at any time. With five or six stages for each team member, as well as a number of unlockables, and additional difficulty level once the game is completed, Trauma Team offers player at a solid twenty-five hour playtime.

While convict CR-S01’s operations will recall classic Trauma Center elements, as players select different tools with the nunchuck and implement them with the Wiimote, other characters present varying amounts of deviation. Freebird’s stages forgo the instrument selection, allowing sim-surgeons to focus on the free-flowing tasks. Maria Torres’ first response duties require her to aids victims with urgency, and often tasks player with working on multiple patients simultaneously. Tachibana’s stages require players to snake through intestinal passages, repeatedly moving the Wiimote toward the screen to imitate a penetrating probe.

Most dissimilar are both Gabe Cunningham and Naomi Kimishima’s duties. Instead of reflex-based tests of skill, both doctors are required to perform more cerebral undertakings. As a diagnostic physician, Cunningham studies CT scans, X-rays and MRI results, meticulously scanning each image against a standard image. Alternatively, Kimishima gathers forensic evidence in a manner not unlike Capcom’s Ace Attorney series as she conducts postmortem examinations. Players comb crime scenes, scrutinize testimonies, and examine corpses in an effort to build enough data to accurately determine a cause of death. Both vocations vaguely recall the protracted pace and thought provoking design of a point and click adventure.

When performing surgery, the title maintains the co-op mechanic of New Blood, elevating the challenge slightly to offset the assistance of a second physician. Orthopedics requires gamers to take turns, while the title’s investigative stages constrain the fact-finding to a single, active participant. I longed for a more a collaborative effort in these stages; ideally Trauma Team would have offered an option where examiners raced to spot an abnormality on two side by side images. Inexplicably, online leaderboards have been omitted from the game.

The Trauma Center series has consistently sidestepped the gristle and gore that might be expected from a surgical simulation. Trauma Team furthers this trend, transforming globular tumors into innocuous abstractions, suitable for a widespread audience. When players aren’t wielding a scalpel, the game offers an accomplished comic book aesthetic, where carefully drawn panels come alive with flourishes of animation. Sonically, the game’s voice over is competent, while the quirky soundtrack endows Trauma Team with indispensable eccentricity.  

Trauma Team, the latest entry into the popular Trauma Center series has made to substantial changes to its formula, ensuring the vivacity of the series. With franchise faithfuls will find a substantial amount of panacea providing, the title’s new investigative and diagnostic components have the power to lure in a new audience. Coupled with the title’s attractive $39.99 MSRP, Trauma Team is the type of health care plan convincing enough to garner support from all audiences.