GENRE
	Simulation
	DEVELOPER
	Atlus
	PUBLISHER
	Atlus
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	Yes
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

The Trauma Center franchise began its life on DS, a cult hit simulation that was one part ER, one part Outbreak and one part anime melodrama. The DS title subsequently got a remaking for Wii’s launch, and once again Atlus struck gold -- in Trauma Center: Second Opinion was one of Wii’s best launch titles. Now, a little over a year later, Atlus brings us back to the OR yet again for Nintendophiles. Trauma Center: New Blood is an evolutionary improvement over it’s predecessor, sporting tweaks across the board. Whether you missed out on the launch title or whether you've been a big fan from the start, you won’t go wrong with one of the better Wii-specific titles currently available.

visuals

The visuals in New Blood come in two flavors. The first comes from the in-game surgery action itself, and those graphics get the job done nicely. Granted, the game isn’t going to blow away a player on its visual merits, but the various body parts and the tools to operate them look sufficiently good that it does not distract from the experience. The framerate, likewise, seems to run around 30 frames a second -- again, sufficiently high to not distract from the experience.

The second class of visuals comes during the game’s cutscenes, which don’t exactly scream next-gen. The game’s storyline unfolds in the sort of storyboards familiar to anyone who has played the GameCube or Wii versions of Fire Emblem; character cutouts are superimposed over a static background with text flowing at the bottom of the screen. While some might defend the practice as stylish (and to a certain degree it is), the more likely reason for it is to allow extended plot to unfold without creating lengthy (and costly) CG or animation. Atlus has to think business here, especially given the sketchy record of Wii third-party sales, but a bit of actual animation here and there would have been welcome.

Fortunately, where the game lacks in raw technical power, it makes up for it in excellent art direction. The characters are all excellently drawn and that alone gives them a sort of memorable quality that one does not find in the first year of Wii titles. Backgrounds are varied and equally-memorable, showing a lot of creative variation.

audio

The sound is not only excellent, but is a dramatic improvement over Trauma Center: Second Opinion. The biggest change fans will spot is the inclusion of full-on voice work for every single line of dialogue in the game. The voice work is competent and the cast features several well-known voiceover veterans. Far from being a cosmetic upgrade, the voice work actually helps in the gameplay. In the first Trauma Center, a player had to pull their eyes away from the action to read instructions and warnings, but in New Blood that’s no longer a problem. The player can now listen to instructions and exclamations without looking away from the action, and the difference in the game experience -- both on a practical level and in terms of pure immersiveness -- is substantial.

New Blood also boasts a fantastic soundtrack. For this game Atlus moved away from the plodding, rather throbbing sonatas that dominated Second Opinion and replaced them with upbeat, more pop-inspired tunes. The change really is for the better, as New Blood serves up some memorable music, including a catchy main theme, a couple of nice cutscene licks, and an absolutely gorgeous piece during the game’s final operation. Sound effects are one part of the franchise that remains largely unchanged from the first Wii Trauma Center, although in this case that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as they get the job done both informatively and in terms of setting the mood.

gameplay

From start to finish, the main quest in Trauma Center: New Blood runs about ten hours. The game leads off with a robust tutorial that wisely forces the player to master certain basic operating tasks before diving into the game’s 40 or so main operations. Multiple difficulty levels, several bonus challenge stages, and Wi-Fi accessible online scoring leaderboards add some replay value to the game, as do a collection of (extremely) difficult operations that are unlocked upon beating the main game.

New Blood is unabashedly a story-driven game, which may polarize gamers. During our multiplayer playtest, one of our reviewers reveled in the depth of the storyline, while another finally blurted out "just let me cut someone open already" after several minutes of dialogue. Players who gravitate toward the latter point of view will be pleased to know that they have the option to skip the dialogue and dive directly into surgery.

For fans of story, meanwhile, New Blood is a welcome entry, especially given how few true story-driven games have been on Wii to date. The game is set ten years or so after the events of the first Trauma Center, and the storywriters were wise enough to create a standalone story that nevertheless acknowledges the events of the first game. In other words, playing Second Opinion is not at all necessary to understand New Blood, but those that have played Second Opinion will enjoy some of the references to GUILT and Dr. Stiles (to say nothing of a couple of unexpected cameos) that come up during the game.

The plot is great anime melodrama, with colorful characters, wild world conspiracies, several rather improbable (but entertaining) scenarios, duplicitous figures, and some cool plot twists to shake things up along the way. The game begins in Alaska in the most humble of surroundings, which serves as a perfect start to a quest which proves to be far more global. Throughout the story, there are a few moments -- both during the cutscenes and on the operating room table -- that are powerful enough to warrant a second run-through, just to experience the scene over again. The main characters, especially the two doctors, are the sort of understated, grimly-determined protagonists that make for classic action heroes, even in a situation where the action is merely surgery. This is most evident in the game’s closing chapters, which are both difficult and emotionally rewarding.

Much like with the plot, Atlus also nailed the game’s action. The surgery sequences are not exactly the most realistic, per say, but they are excellently realized and a blast to play. The use of the Wii Remote’s IR is spot-on and facilitates a very immersive gameplay experience. The button mapping is also nicely realized; requiring use of the A and B buttons together to use forceps, for example, is very intuitive. The game supports play both with and without the nunchuck, although nunchuck play is strongly preferable, as it conveniently maps the surgical instruments to the nunchuck analog stick.

The types of surgical operations available to the player is varied enough to keep things interesting throughout the campaign. Bone repair, tumor extraction, heart surgery, electronic assistance device repair, and bullet wound surgery are just the tip of the iceberg of what proves a diverse and rewarding experience. Some of the operations are admittedly a little more gimmicky than others, but even those operations help keep the game fresh from start to finish, especially toward the end when things get more focused and serious.

Criticisms of New Blood are few but should be pointed out. Level difficulty can be uneven, with some of the operations proving a breeze, while others are extremely difficult without assistance from a partner even on the easy difficulty. The production values are below AAA titles like Resident Evil 4 or Metroid Prime 3; while this is a small price to pay for having the game, the use of storyboarding sequences rather than full-on cutscenes does take a bit of the experience out of the plot. Finally, medical purists may rue the increasing role this game’s “big disease” has in the operations you do toward the end of the game; like GUILT before it, Stigma proves to be something less than a realistic illness.

multiplayer

For the first time in the series, Trauma Center now features multiplayer in the form of co-op. The co-op setup is a seamless one, with both doctors operating on the same screen with their tools located at opposite ends of the screen. Most of the time the two players operate simultaneously, the exception being resuscitation, where players then take turns using the defibrillator or massaging the heart.

Trauma Center proves an engaging co-op experience for a wide variety of gamers. Nintendojo playtested the co-op portion of the game with both a casual gamer and a veteran of the first Wii Trauma Center. Thanks in no small part to the game’s excellent tutorial, the casual gamer was up to speed in about 15 minutes or so and held her own nicely during the co-op play. (Make no mistake, though -- this is not really a game for a casual gamer to attempt to solo.) Two veterans playing the co-op together will likely blow through the missions quickly on easy mode, although hard mode is a different matter. There are also a couple of missions that are a bear to beat, even with co-op and even on easy mode, so if you’ve got a friend to play with, so much the better.

overall

Trauma Center: New Blood has not been as well-received to date as its predecessor, which is baffling because it improves upon Trauma Center: Second Opinion in several key ways, including music, sound and the addition of co-op and online leaderboards. At the same time, it retains many of the core gameplay elements that made Trauma Center: Second Opinion such a great launch title. It’s not a perfect title, as is noted above, but it’s one of the best third party offerings Wii has seen so far, and is a rewarding gaming experience. Much was made of IGN’s Buy Zack and Wiki campaign, in large part because of how important innovative third party titles are to a system. New Blood represents third-party innovation at its finest and is a solid buy or, for the more cash-strapped, an absolute must-rent.

8.5/10