Published by: Atlus Software
Developed by: Atlus Software
Genre: Simulation
Players: 1-2
Rated: T (Teen)
Release Date: November 19, 2006
Written By: Zach2387
Screenshots: Link











Trauma Center: Second Opinion is a reinvention of the incredible game for the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, Second Opinion is basically Trauma Center for the DS, only on the Wii. This means that it is essentially the exact same game, with the same story and the same surgeries. Luckily, there are a few new surgeries and characters to play through. And just because you have played the DS game, does not mean that you will not enjoy the Wii game, seeing as how it is a completely new control scheme.

Ok, so if you did not already know about Trauma Center, let me introduce you to a few things. You play a new doctor in Hope Hospital, straight out of your residency. You work through a few surgeries and discover an amazing ability to slow down time and save lives. Later on, you discover that there is some new biological disease striking called GUILT. So you must treat several patients in multiple surgeries. And trust me, it is no cake walk; this is some difficult stuff. There are actually three different difficulty settings, and you can set these at each surgery. So you can beat the surgery on easy the first time, and go back at any time and play it through at either normal or hard. You can also play the surgery on hard the first time if you think you have what it takes. This adds greatly to the replayability.



You play Derek Styles, an immerging young surgeon. And yes, he does still do that awesome hand gesture thing that I replicate before each surgery.

You are graded on each surgery in various ways. Firstly, you are given a minor rating on every move you perform. You either get an "ok" or a "miss" merely for doing a correct step. From there, you are given a "cool", "good", or "bad" rating depending on the speed and accuracy of the move performed. At the end of the surgery, if you are successful, you will receive Vital, Time, and Special Bonuses depending on how well you did. When these points are combined, you will receive your ranking for that surgery, from C, B, A, and S; S of course being the best.

You can fail any surgery by either allowing the patient's vitals reach 0, or if you run out of time. Luckily, you can revive a patient's vitals by giving him a shot of a special serum. However, you can and will get caught up into things sometimes and not have time to revive vitals, so just be aware of everything that is going on.

The look and feel of Second Opinion is what really encompasses the player into the experience. You are the doctor, trying to save a patient's life. To put you into this environment, the game relies heavily on dialogue. There are a ton of scenes, even entire chapters, that help to develop the story that try to get you involved mentally and have a relationship with the characters. I find this to be a bit of a problem as I would prefer to simply cut some people up in the OR, but the story is needed, although draining. Fortunately, you can press the "-" button and skip through a scene in the matter of seconds, although you will miss out on the entire story. But the operations are the meat of the game, and these are presented supremely. Before stepping into the surgery, you are put through a briefing where the nurse tells you about the patient and what you will be doing in the operation. Then during the operation, your nurse will help you out by telling you some steps you should take. It really makes you feel like a doctor, as you work your way through these operations, saving people's lives.



One of the cooler uses of the Wiimote in a surgery; you use the forceps to grab a piece of bone, and then rotate it and find its place to reconstruct the entire bone.

The graphics are very good, and you can sometimes, if you have any knowledge of such things, tell what part of the body you happen to be working on. There is not blood and other fluids all over the place or anything, but when you expel a tumor or use your scalpel to cut into something, there will be some blood spraying here and there, all of which is done very nicely; if...uh...if you're in to that sorta thing...But it is all sleek and anime-ish, while still keeping in touch with reality.

The controls are rather simplistic and easy, while at times being a bit frustrating. First you must become familiar with your tools. You have at your disposal, a scalpel, laser, syringe, magnifying glass, sonar, forceps, stitches, suction, and anti-bacterial gel. To change from tool to tool, you simply move the analog stick on the nunchuk to select the one you want. Unfortunately, this can be a bit touchy and have you picking the wrong item, which cuts back on your time and can mess things up when blood oozes everywhere and things are scurrying about. However, it is not that big of an issue and can easily be overlooked. Then you simply push and hold the "A" button on the Wiimote to use the item you have selected. You have a little dot/cursor on-screen to show you where you are pointing. There are a few other cool things that you can do with the controls, such as using a defibrilator. So you move both the Wiimote and Nunchuk forward as if you were using the paddles; it is cool. There are other cools and inventive ways in which you can manipulate the Wiimote to show progress on-screen. For instance, if there is glass, you need to press A and B on the Wiimote as if it were forceps, and then flick up to remove the piece, and other such cool things that make you feel as if you were actually performing the surgery.



Oh boy...you've got some work to do. Get crackin'.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion is a great game, with tons of surgeries that you can perform. It is a little text heavy, but the actual gameplay is exciting and intense. You really get into the operations and have fun changing tools and saving people's lives by destroying viruses and little creatures, or just taking out some glass and suturing wounds. Unfortunately, Second Opinion is almost a complete remake of the DS game, which is a shame, although there are a few new operations and a side story, but over 70 or even 80% of the operations are the same, so if you have already played the DS version, you may not want to shell out $49.99 for what is essentially the same game, however, Second Opinion does bring a new way to play, which is easier and more fun. Second Opinion is a game that you will still have a lot of fun playing, as well as showing off to all of your friends and family just what the Wii can do. So if you are studying or desiring to be a surgeon or a gamer looking for something different, then you should definitely look into Second Opinion. I have the DS game, but have had just as much fun, if not more, with Second Opinion.

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