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Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 Review
Written by Chris Buffa on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Same addictive operating gameplay, nurse Angie's hot, it takes place in Africa (hey, Africa's hot), you can change difficulty levels before each operation, excellent touch screen controls.
Anti-war story gets preachy, cut scenes drag on, no one takes Viagra.
Slap on some gloves, put on your scrubs and save lives in Atlus's Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2. Armed with gallons of antibiotic gel, his trusty scalpel and a host of other goodies, Dr. Derek Stiles and his assistant, the gorgeous Nurse Angie leave the good U.S.A and bring their medical talents to Africa in the hopes of curing people threatened by war. Its story is preachy and some characters ramble on, but this game is just as sweet as its 2005 prequel, making it a must play.
Under the Knife 2 lets you play as a virtual Doogie Howser, as you slice open patients, fix broken bones, drain tumors, cure diseases and bandage wounds using the system's touch screen. Simply select your instrument (scalpel, laser, drain, antibiotic gel, forceps, and other cool stuff) from the menu and use it to operate on the victim. Each operation has unique challenges, all of which are fun to complete. One has you repairing a broken leg by gathering the detached bones and then piecing them together, while another tasks you with using an ultrasound to detect tumors and then zap them with your surgical laser.
In addition, the game has a somewhat interesting story that takes place in Costigar, a fictitious African country ravaged by war. Stiles must not only deal with his own struggles, but also those of Adel Tulba, an inexperienced doctor that doubts his own skills. Other characters join the story, which is told through attractive drawings. We yawned at the whole anti-war stuff, and cut scenes tend to drag on (enough chatter, let's operate), but for the most part, we found ourselves happily immersed in Trauma Center's tale of guerillas, crocodile attacks and assorted medical drama.
Once again, Atlus delivers an excellent operating game for DS. Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 isn't 100 percent realistic and its story gets crazy, but it's another unique and addictive video game that offers emergency room shenanigans everyone can enjoy, so go ahead and write yourself a prescription and remember to use that antibiotic gel liberally.
