Trauma Center: New Blood

"Looking for a good Wii game not named Mario, Zelda, or Metroid? Then this is exactly what the doctor ordered."

Nintendo has always been one to lean on its big three franchises: Metroid, Zelda, and of course, Mario. Due to this, they have not exactly been on top of the world when it comes to third party games, and this is the sad case for the Wii. While a few of them are decent, such as Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, Zac and Wiki, and Umbrella Chronicles, many of them are just lame minigames that are poorly designed and especially poor control with the Wii Remote. This is part of the reason why I enjoyed Trauma Center: Second Opinion so much. Atlus put forth a wonderful control scheme for the Wii Remote based on performing different operations. It was one of the best launch titles for the system. Now, one year after its release, Atlus has decided to continue the series with Trauma Center: New Blood, and it improves on Second Opinion in almost every way.

You take the role as one of two doctors: Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock. The game begins in Alaska, where Valerie has traveled with Markus in order to learn the Healing Touch, which you may remember from the first game. Eventually, the two stumble upon a mysterious pathogen known as Stigma, very similar to the GUILT in Second Opinion. Using their expertise and the Healing Touch, it's up to them to learn the mysteries of Stigma, and then eradicate it. It's a decent setup, but I can't help but think that the Healing Touch is starting to gain Super Saijin Syndrome, in which only a select few are able to use it, then pretty much a bunch of doctors are able to. There are a few story issues as well. Some operations end with you supposedly having to check the patient later, but you don't. Other times, you'll think that there's a point that the game is building towards, but then it doesn't. I don't want to explain in more detail, but you will most likely see what I mean as you play the game.

Similar to Second Opinion, New Blood is split up into chapters, each with a number of episodes. Unlike Second Opinion though, there are no episodes of just cutscenes; each episode has you working on an operation. After getting the story sequence and procedures, you will be able to select one of the two doctors (though the only major difference is in their Healing Touch) and you'll begin the operation. The operations are much more varied than Second Opinion. Unlike there, where you were dealing with GUILT almost every mission, New Blood has you doing things such as treating burns, removing bullets, and even performing brain surgery. You will very rarely be doing the same thing for too long. Even the Stigmas that you will be fighting change and adapt in different operations. After completing the operation, you'll be given a score and rank. These ranks can be checked on Nintendo Wi-Fi, where you can see all the high scores for that mission, but that's the only Wi-Fi compatibility that New Blood offers. Once you complete the story, you can go back and try operations again to improve your score, or deal with the new challenge missions. There's definitely a bit of replay value here, albeit not a large amount.

If you're familiar with the control scheme from Second Opinion, then New Blood's controls will be right at home to you, because they're largely the same thing. All of the tools have the same functions as before, and you will not have to adjust very long to the controls. The ultrasound is a bit different though, as it will show you what's buried as you pass over, instead of having to constantly press A to use the device. It also doubles for magnification, which this time allows you to move all around the organ to proceed with the operation. The controls are still as razor sharp as you remember them, and performing tasks comes naturally after a very short amount of time for new players.

The Healing Touch also is the same, and has different effects depending on the doctor you choose. Markus can slow down time just like Derek could in the first game, and Valerie can stop vitals from moving for a short time. Choosing the right surgeon for the operation can be critical, and it's nice to know that for the majority of missions, using the Healing Touch will not penalize your score as it did in Second Opinion. It also seems to me that the game is a bit more forgiving on your star than Second Opinion was. I had some trouble at times getting the Healing Touch to work in the first game, but not this one. Maybe that's just me though.

The big selling point for Trauma Center New Blood is the Co-op. You and a friend can work on operations together as the two doctors. This really aids in strategy, as one person can keep an eye on vitals while another works on the operation, or you can have one person perform one task while the other performs another. It's also quite fun, and the teamwork keeps the pressure high.

For some missions, you will probably need that second pair of hands. New Blood is very hard. Some operations you can do with your eyes closed, but others may have you attempting to put a scalpel through the Wii Remote. One operation has you dealing with a bunch of cuts along with blood pools on a spleen where your patient has very low vitals. Another, and this one's a killer, has you trying to perform a liver transplant, which has specific steps WHILE BATTLING TWO STIGMA STRAINS AT ONCE. Some of these operations can get quite insane, and may have some players knocking the difficulty down to easy (which you can still do here) in order to complete the operation. For a family friendly system like the Wii, it is quite odd for a game of this difficulty to be out there. That being said, it is also nice to not have a Wii game that one can complete with minimal effort, and thankfully, none of the missions are impossible on higher difficulties, though one may need a bit of practice.

New Blood looks better than Second Opinion, with much smoother textures and more colors. The game is displayed in widescreen as well, so it will look nice on your television as well. Sadly, the voice acting is a bit...bleh. This time, the characters actually speak their lines, instead of you constantly reading text, but the acting is not very good. Characters rarely show emotion in their voices, and some of them sound a bit awkward at times. That being said, it is nice that Atlus tried to put some voice acting, but it was not that great.

Trauma Center New Blood improves on what Second Opinion did in practically every way. The more varied and intuitive operations, co-op, and smoother graphics really allow this game to stand out from its prequel. It's the best out of the three Trauma Center games by far, and despite its difficulty, it is incredibly fun to play. Couple that with the amazing control scheme that Atlus has kept up, and this operation is a complete success.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/07

Game Release: Trauma Center: New Blood (US, 11/20/07)