You play the game as Dr. Stiles, a 26-year-old surgeon who just completed his residency. You’ll use the touch screen to perform all sorts of surgeries with ten different instruments ready and waiting. Before each operation you will be briefed by the nurses or other staff on what procedures need to be performed. The first few surgeries are pretty easy, but they quickly become more advanced with each one building upon skills you learned previously. The top screen displays important information and clues from your nurse. Your operation score, miss limit, and time limit are all displayed here. Anytime you mess up a part of the operation you will lose a “miss” mark. If all of these marks are used up in a surgery it’s game over. Likewise, each surgery must be performed in a timely manner. As the time ticks down the music seems all the more urgent and your nurse will yell at you to hurry up. In addition you’ll have to keep on eye on the patient’s vitals. If they drop to zero the game ends. Some procedures can be quite tricky and even stressful. It’s hard to imagine how real world doctors operate under the pressure.

The game is controlled entirely with the touch screen. There are icons on the screen that represent the medical tools you can use. For example, say you have to remove a tumor on the kidney. You’ll tap the scalpel and make an incision where indicated on the boy. This opens the body up and zooms inside the body for you to get a better view of the target area. You may then need to slice a section open even more to see the tumors, but blood will often pour out of the incision. At this point you’ll need to use drain, which a long tube that you pump to suck out the excess fluids. As you progress through the surgery you’ll have to use tools like the ultrasound and a portable laser. There are often many complicated steps to complete a surgery and you’ll be rewarded for efficiency as well as accuracy. Luckily the touch screen controls are extremely accurate so if you do mess up it’s because of your hands, not the input method.

The game deals with some serious issues, but keeps up a more light-hearted atmosphere thanks to many of its characters. Some will be extra tough on Dr. Stiles, but it’s for his own good. The game does have some obvious fake elements to it, but it’s all in good fun. The graphics are fairly gruesome and bloody, but not bad enough to earn an “M” rating since the viewable area is often zoomed in you’d never know what you’re looking at. The music made me paranoid while playing. The intense sounds during operations made me so nervous I wasn’t going to succeed that I sometimes turned the volume down, which is a sign of a great soundtrack.

Trauma Center is a great game. I have no interest in the medical field and still had a blast playing through it. The learning curve seemed a bit steep at first. I was like, “Wait a minute, what was I supposed to do after I…oh yeah!” and that gives the game more of a realistic feel to it I think. The game sucked me in and made me feel like these patients’ lives really depended on me. The anime characters and conversation between characters creates a great atmosphere and brings the story together quite well. If you’re looking for a truly unique game on the Nintendo DS that is not only fun, but also exhilarating to play, be sure to pick up Trauma Center. It’s well worth your money.