Tech: Trauma Center: Second Opinion

"Trauma Center: Under the Knife" must have been a tough sell for localization. "Hey, Bob, here's a Japanese surgery action game! Let's bring it to the U.S. market!" Nevertheless, the DS game sold fairly well, so it was no surprise that one of the Nintendo Wii launch titles was a remake of "Trauma Center."

You take the role of Derek Stiles, a rookie surgeon who has a knack for healing patients. In the virtual OR, you'll cut, suture, and inject your way to victory. The Wii Remote does an excellent job here of approximating the surgery experience. The pinching motion you do on the Wii controller feels a lot like real forceps, and the shaking hands and sweaty palms you get while playing the game actually increase the difficulty of the operations.

Eventually, you'll be called upon to perform seemingly impossible surgeries - excising tumors, handling transplanted organs, and battling viruses. The storyline that accompanies all this is pretty good, with suitable anime pathos drenching most of the proceedings. It's almost like "Operation" meets "24" (Hell, you even defuse a bomb in this game).

The production values are improved from the DS game, but nothing here's gonna blow you away. One big disappointment is that the game lacks 16:9 support (one of the main reasons the score isn't higher). And, for all the game's strengths, you're essentially pointing and clicking most of the time. All in all, though, this game provides hours of surgery fun. :-)

Rating: 81/100