Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Posted on May 1, 2008 by ophilye

I’ve been ogling the Surgery games coming from Nintendo ever since I enjoyed Cooking Mama so much.  If it was that much fun to cut up a mushroom, how could it NOT be fun to remove someones intestines??

So, we picked up Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii.  I wasn’t aware I had picked up the “second opinion” until it showed up at my door, but figured I would give it a whirl anyway.

First, I would like to say .. YES. Yes, it is fun to remove someones intestines with your wii-mote.  Yes, it is also fun to cut them open, stitch them up, and pinch the wiimote to remove large shards of glass, or even a tumor. It is fun to suck up blood, give a shot for more health, and replace bone shards. These things are immensely amusing, and I loved doing them.

It’s not just fun for you.. it’s a gross-out fun factor for the whole family. Even my daughter had a look of awe as she removed her own glass shards. It’s fun to watch others, as well as try for yourself.. and easy to get the hang of in the first 5 or so operations.

What ISN’T fun is tabbing through cut-scenes for “plot,” and doing the exact same thing 15+ times for 1 operation. I’m not sure how I felt about having a “special power” that slows down time if I do something specific, but I gotta’ tell you.. after pinching some blood-clot thing for the 20th time and still failing, I didn’t care if I was going to become a drugged-out has-been doctor. I was taking a “the earth wanted this man back” approach and letting the blood-clot things take him. The banality of the problems was also rather disappointing; if you had ANYTHING that could go wrong with someone in front of you, why choose blood clot things?? Why present tumors over & over?

So.. I say yes.. rent this game. Enjoy it for a rainy weekend with the family. Then don’t feel even a little badly about returning.

I would really like to know if anyone has played the first Trauma Center and if it is any better. Would anyone be willing to give a quick review?

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  • Suzi

    I’ve played a bit of both. Second opinion on my wii and under the knife on my sister’s DS. As far as I can tell, it’s essentially the same game. Most of the operations are the same and the tools you have are pretty similar (although obviously the controls are a little different).

    I think second opinion is more forgiving in terms of accuracy, which makes sense since it uses the wiimote rather than a stylus.

    And I think I know of which level you speak. It’s a total pain in both versions (I had to do that level for my sister, achievement whore that I am!) but the levels after that are much easier. :)