Product Description

Trauma Center: Under the Knife lets you play as a doctor who must solve a variety of surgical puzzles with precision.

Take your Nintendo DS into the Operating Room!

Trauma Center: Under the Knife lets YOU play doctor, performing increasingly complex surgeries. At first it`s just another day in the O.R., but when a mysterious outbreak sweeps the area, the patients` lives are in your hands--no pressure.

The stylus will be your scalpel as you make incisions, anesthetize problem areas, remove tumors, monitor vital signs, apply bandages, and more! Of course, you`ll also have to deal with human drama between appointments. Keep a cool head, or you`ll be out on the street (and all those years of medical school for nothing).

• Feel the pressure of each tense, challenging operation!
• Operate on a wide variety of patients in story mode, then return later and try to beat your high scores!
• Experience a compelling story with intriguing characters!
• Use your applied skills to solve the puzzle of each surgery!
• Detailed graphics bring the human body to life!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1620 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Released on: 2006-04-28
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Subtitled in: German

Manufacturer's Description
You play doctor in the high-pressure job of surgeon. The stylus is your scalpel, but it's your quick thinking that will save lives. At first it's just another day in the O.R., but when a mysterious outbreak sweeps the area, the patients' lives are in your hands -- no pressure. Keep a cool head, or you’ll be out on the street. You play as Derek Stiles, a doctor who has just completed his residency and joined the surgical team at Hope Hospital, where routine cases are about to become something far more serious. The touch screen is your canvas, and you'll use a variety of medical tools and techniques to make incisions, heal wounds and remove tumours. Because of the urgency of most procedures, you're on the clock. Perform the procedure before time runs out or your patient is doomed. Trauma Center: Under the Knife is a little more forgiving than the real thing so now is your chance to play virtual doctor!

Customer Reviews

Your New Favourite Game
I have to say that this is officialy my favourite game for the DS, well in fact for ANY console at present moving into number one position past Phoenix Wright: Attorney At Law.

You take on the role as a rookie doctor, Dr Derek Stiles at Hope Hospital in Angeles Bay. Here you have to operate on patients in order to save their lives.

In the beginning the operations are minor and simple and you are guided by Nurse Felton and she pretty much tells you what you need to do. However, that soon stops and you are pretty much on your own. Yes, you have a nurse 'advising' you all the way but you need to figure out the actions to take while keep an eye on the vitals all the while. I found the learning curve quite steep as I tend not to pay too much attention when I first play games and this always turns into a mistake (I may need to work on this) but as long as you read the briefings and pay close attention to the first couple of operations and provided you can keep a steady hand you should be fine.

This game fully itegrates the touch screen technology the DS uses and you carry out the operations using the stylus as your scalpel, needles ets.

I've noticed that a fellow reviewer stated there is no skill involved in this game and that is based purely on luck, but this is not true. If you pay attention to the game in the early stages then you will soon work out how to play the game properly and increase the ranking and points you recieve after each operation. My tip is to keep an eye on the vitals and take note early on in the game on how you improve the vitals once they start to deteriorate. It seems to me that 'sarah' doesn't know how to play the game properly as she didn't pay enough attention. If you wildly stab at a patient with a scalpel or needle then your gonna end up killing them aren't you? But that speaks for itself I think.

Yes, the story isn't that good but it's not really why I bought the game. I bought it purely for the fun on pretending I was a doctor. I couldn't possibly be a doctor in real life, firstly I'm not bright enough and don't have the qualifications but secondly what do you do with all those soft bits of the body and all that blood!?

If you want a game that uses the touch screen technology to it's full capability then Trauma Center is the game for you. This game is all about paying attention and keeping a cool head and a steady hand. Get that combination correct and you can't fail to suceed and have fun along the way.

I would recommend this game to anyone.

Hope this has been helpful for you.

They'll survive
There was a time when the closest I came to becoming a doctor was my handwriting. Thanks to Atlus, now I can at least save lives with my stylus. Yes, the library of innovative, interactive DS games doesn't seem to be drying up, and in Trauma Center: Under the Knife, we've another quirky Japanese title that somehow makes playing games fun again.

Assuming the role of Derek Stiles, a rookie surgeon, your task in Trauma Center is to save the world. Blessed with a unique gift only known as the "healing touch", which gives you extraordinary speed and concentration when performing a surgery, you'll take on a group of terrorists who've brought upon a mysterious, yet life-threatening virus called GUILT upon the world.

Of course, as a surgeon, you won't have to take on these people head on, Street Fighter-style. Instead, each attack from the terrorists is sent to you in the form of a patient. The injured parts are revealed as close-ups on the touch screen, while you use a host of items to salvage the situation within a time limit. Obviously, the cases get more and more complicated as the game progresses, and saving the lives of these patients becomes truly a race against time, as well as the strange ailments that befall upon them.

In essence, Trauma Center requires you to perform surgeries after surgeries. While this may sound a little repetitive, you probably won't even notice it in practice. The game is paced so quickly, you'd barely have any time to think about what to do next, and before you know it, you're on the job again. Sharp instincts, quick reflexes and a lot of patience are what will get you through the game. But if you're into unveiling the mystery behind GUILT and its perpetuator, you wouldn't be shortchanged too. The game did a good job of making a simple story interesting, and despite some insanely difficult to perform surgeries (and many lost lives), you'll get great satisfaction out of every soul you save.

Saving lives is not exactly rocket science in Trauma Center. It basically involves selecting an item from the icons on the sides of the touch screen, and applying them to the wounded areas. For example, you can suture a wound by stroking your stylus in a zigzag fashion over a cut, or remove a foreign object from the bodies by lifting it in the correct direction by holding it and slowly dragging it away with the stylus. Your assistant will also give you instructions on the top screen on what to do, so you ought to have some ideas on how to make things work like a real surgeon, even though you may never emulate the handwriting. However, as the action gets thicker and faster, you may simply find the advice being a bother rather than help.

And then they give you some cases when no one else is around to advise you.

Such is the pressure of Trauma Center, I'd only recommend it to gamers who have a strong heart (no pun intended). If you're not into looking at wounds and lacerations, the game won't shock you by the quite unrealistic graphics (for the bodies and blood and what have you - the nurses, I mean, people, are generally well drawn ). But it does have the potential of making you want to throw your DS towards the wall when you fail to save yet another a life, and that's when the real problem comes in. The game is very difficult to play, and as I mentioned, you'll need a lot of patience to engage it. But at least it tries to help you concentrate on the task by toning down the audios, which may not be a plus point for some, but definitely one for me.

And, if after all that I wrote, you still think you've what it takes to seek the truth behind GUILT, you should immediately turn off that episode of ER, and make an appointment with Trauma Center: Under the Knife.

Your game collection isn't complete without......
Trauma Center:Under The Knife is a great new DS game from ATLUS. You play Derek Stiles, rookie doctor at hope hospital, performing simple operations such as removing glass shards and suturing wounds, to fully blown heart-surgery. And all with your stylus! Selcting a scalpel, forceps, syringe and more from a choice of tools at your disposal. When I first bought this game, I was very doubtful. But it sure did prove me wrong! Trauma Center is original and makes full use of the touch screen technology. It's got an intriguing story line (surrounding the development of a new form of terrorism), yet overall enjoyable gameplay, and also manages to make the player feel very pressured and determined at points. It really doesn't matter if you would faint at blood in reality, although the graphics are superb, and the game never fails to dissapoint. Another point though perhaps less important, I really liked the music which greatly complemented the intense feel of the procedures.
Some negative points would be that there is way too much dialogue, which can drag a little, and become rather tedious. Also watch for the occasional uses of 'bad language'. But, all things considered, this game is definately worth the money and I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do, and trust me, thats a lot. Your DS game collection really isn't complete without it! And if you like it, watch for the wii re-release 2007.