Trauma Centre: Second Opinion
Nintendo Wii
Rating: 3/5
NURSE! Pass the scalpel! It’s an emergency! Trauma Centre: Second Opinion for Nintendo Wii is a motion-sensitive surgery simulator that allows you to stitch, remove, and manipulate the body in order to save patients’ lives.
Trauma Centre was previously released on the Nintendo DS, so many of you may be familiar with the mechanics of the game.
The difference in the Wii version is that you use the Wii remote to point at the parts of the body you want to operate on, and in most cases perform drawing motions to simulate surgical procedures such as incisions and stitches.
Using the nunchuck you can quickly change instruments – one of the improvements in Trauma Centre’s move to home console.
There is a story – not that I could be bothered with i – as Trauma Centre is dialogue intensive, with very little to stimulate the senses while trying to create a sense of drama.
And the gameplay can, at times, seem like a puzzle game, rather than a surgical simulator.
The graphics are also simplistic in nature, and will elicit a mixed reaction from gamers. Some will like this approach, others will wish Nintendo had have added more flair to the title.
But there is something undeniably cool and unique about performing surgical procedures on a home video games console, and Trauma Centre certainly highlight’s the Wii console’s point of difference from its competitors.
Motion sensing gameplay is here to stay, and if you grew up enjoying that classic board game Operation, then Trauma Centre is your new, virtual playground.
Just be warned that the novelty will wear thin, and that you may have to make an incision into your Wii to extract the game – and go back to playing Smash Brothers or Mario Kart.
