Trauma Team Review

The Trauma series has begun to feel like a gaming stimulant: effective for the first treatment, with repeat doses having noticeably less impact. Beginner surgeons entering the OR for the first time in Under The Knife 2 will likely have been stirred by the cognitive panic produced by procedures that were simultaneously becoming second nature to experienced scalpel-wielders. Meanwhile, the soapy plotlines, like any long-running television drama, were starting to repeat themselves. For man-made disease STIGMA, read original bio-terrorist body-wrecker GUILT. The thrill of the slice wasn’t quite what it used to be, even as Atlus threw in inventive touches like a bout of surgery by torchlight. Like a flatlining patient, the series needed a jolt to bring it back to life. Atlus’s solution is to split the action six ways, stitching together the disparate parts and hoping the sutures hold. Thankfully, if perhaps surprisingly, they do.

That’s not to say its hand is always so steady. Endoscopy procedures are cursed slightly by an unusual control setup that forces players to thrust the Wii remote towards the screen. Though many games have stumbled over such an idea, Atlus has worked a minor miracle in managing to make the Wii recognise such a motion, and regularly. But while the functionality can’t be questioned, the design can. Constantly pushing forward to thread the endoscope through intestinal tracts while adjusting with the analogue stick to ensure it doesn’t hit the walls is wearisome. Procedures feel drawn-out, not helped by the need to lock onto tumours or blood pools before removing and draining them, or the unnecessarily complicated tool selection process. A regular string of C-ranked operations in this section tells its own story, even if one mission involving patients trapped under rubble makes particularly compelling use of the device.

Orthopaedics is a new discipline which requires a deftness of touch and no small amount of patience, involving as it does drilling into bones and screwing metal plates onto limbs, commonly within tight guidelines. Thankfully, the pointer controls are more than precise enough for such tasks, while exceptional gestural calibration adds tactility, with one procedure accomplishing the rare feat of rendering nunchuk tilt workable. Despite the removal of time pressures, the guidelines which must be adhered to and the steadily-building music raise the stakes. Though more sedately-paced than surgery, the tense atmosphere is maintained, particularly for those aiming for A or S ranks.

Diagnostician Gabriel Cunningham, meanwhile, ushers in a fresh concept for the series, his segments akin to short visual novels with added puzzles. Flavoured with a dash of humour, these sections see Cunningham examining and questioning his patients, pointing out anomalies before comparing symptoms with an extensive computised database. Further analysis involves checking test results, often for minute variations, and while some differences are perhaps too difficult to spot, Atlus is kind enough to inform the player where they might need to look again.

If there’s something of the point-and-click about Diagnostics, then Forensics’ debt to the graphic adventure is even more obvious. Here, players must analyse corpses and their belongings, answering multiple choice questions in summation of what they’ve learned, or to theorise as to potential causes of death. Joined by an FBI Agent referred to simply as ‘Little Guy’ (appearing in Mii form on a computer screen where pieces of evidence are represented in card form), the icy Naomi Kimishima gradually slots the puzzle together to uncover the mystery behind each death. The process is a lengthy one, gradually increasing in complexity, as Kimishima begins to fulfil a secondary role as private detective, together with a scientific toolkit that allows her to collect blood and fingerprint samples from the scene. It’s not unlike Case Five in the original Ace Attorney and the forensic leanings of Apollo Justice, but with a darker tone throughout.

Indeed, there’s a noticeably more serious feel to Trauma Team, even given that the game periodically resorts to type, throwing in samurai, superheroes and, eventually, a synthetic syndrome of sorts. The morally murky story of CR-S01, a prisoner who becomes the Trauma Team’s resident surgeon, takes the franchise into corners it has previously avoided. His procedures are the most instantly familiar of the lot, though they also ably demonstrate that Atlus really knows how to make surgery thrilling, excising the flab for a handful of lean and well-paced operations.

Perhaps more exciting still are the First Response missions. Essentially on-the-hop surgery on multiple patients at accident scenes, each stage throws in new challenges, upping the number of victims to alarming levels. You’re not even expected to save every patient – most missions have a limit to the number of victims you fail to help into the waiting ambulances, but you won’t see a game over if you let a couple die. The idea that one person can’t save everyone is amplified by the story of the character in question, with paramedic Maria Torres reluctant to ask for help, yet distraught at any personal failures: perhaps more so than a simple rank, this encourages players with blood on their hands to try harder on repeat plays.

Though it’s not until the closing chapter that the team really comes together, plot threads intertwine to see doctors making cameos in each other’s episodes, which lends a pleasing sense of camaraderie. A terrific voice cast is given plenty of work, with just about every line of dialogue spoken rather than written. Coupled with the stylish comic-book presentation of the interstitial story sequences, Trauma Team is easily one of the most polished third-party efforts on Wii. And with the remarkably accomplished use of Wii’s unique controllers – arguably more comprehensive than any MotionPlus-ignoring first-party title to date – Atlus has crafted a must-have for any Wii owner with the ability to play US imports.

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