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Trauma Center: Hands on the Knife 2

Posted Jun 12th 2008 11:45AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Reviews, Features

Good news for Trauma Center fans -- if you liked the first game, it stands to reason that you'll enjoy Under the Knife 2. All the slicing, stitching, and ass-kicking potential of the first is here, and with more options lifted from the Wii version. But if you didn't like Trauma Center the first time around, the Easy mode may not be enough to tempt you into this one.

Of course, if you didn't like Trauma Center, you're probably more interested in spending your time kicking puppies, or otherwise engaged in some horrific habit. Honestly, the pain of (repeated, egregious) failure aside, it remains one of the best and most intense experiences on the handheld. Can a sequel hope to measure up? We spent a little time with the upcoming title in an effort to find out.

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

Continue reading Trauma Center: Hands on the Knife 2

Cutting open Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 videos

Posted Jun 6th 2008 9:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Video

Want to see the gameplay that Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 has in store for you? IGN came up with some videos, which we've put here for your viewing convenience. The one up top shows an instance of performing surgery on an African plague victim, which looks difficult -- but seeing as this is Trauma Center, we'd expect no less. Fortunately for those of us in North America (and for the rest of you who don't mind importing), we have less than a month to wait before we can try it out for ourselves.

The videos after the break include some of your ordinary surgery fodder, as well as Dr. Styles trying to save a land mine victim.

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

Continue reading Cutting open Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 videos

Latest Simple DS shots show off firefighting, surgery

Posted May 7th 2008 2:15PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens, Imports

The latest two offerings in D3 Publisher's Simple DS line-up manage to look both gross (Simple DS Series Vol. 40: THE Gekai) and dramatic (Simple DS Series Vol. 39: THE Shouboutai) in these new screens.

More ER than Scrubs, THE Gekai (The Surgeon) takes a far more serious approach to surgery than Trauma Center. It might be worth a closer look come June, but for now we're far more interested in THE Shouboutai (The Firefighting Crew), partially because there's nothing quite like it on the DS (there should be more games about firefighting anyway, given that it oozes with the potential for drama and heroism), and also because our addled memories still fondly recall Burning Rangers on the Saturn. Actually, Burning Rangers is the main reason we're interested in this. Okay, the only reason. We wouldn't count on D3's firefighters carrying jet-packs, mind.

Head to our new galleries for the fresh screenage, though don't be expecting either of these to make the journey west.

Gallery: Simple DS Series Vol. 40: THE Gekai

Gallery: Simple DS Series Vol. 39: THE Shouboutai

Trauma Center's Healing Touch returns, along with stress

Posted May 5th 2008 9:45AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Screens

We're looking forward to applying a little more of that Healing Touch while spending some quality time with Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, but this latest batch of screenshots has reminded us that the last game was, y'know, kinda hard. Perhaps even punishing. Why? Because so often you'd be on the brink of finishing an operation -- or so you thought -- and suddenly, 834 new challenges (we counted) would emerge from the depths of the patient's flesh. Who knew the human spleen could hold so many bone fragments? Check out the latest screens in our gallery below if you'd like to see some of the new challenges that await you with the Trauma Center sequel.

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

Trauma Center: Under our Studied Gaze

Posted Apr 21st 2008 8:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens

Trauma Center did a swear!

It's common knowledge that Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2's setting and storyline is to involve disease, civil war, and refugees, but now swearing has been added to this gritty mix. Shocking! We'd expect disease in a game about making people feel better, but we hope that Atlus' game doesn't start taking itself too seriously. For this blogger, the otherwise excellent Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was a little too dark for its own good, and yours truly missed some of the inherent silliness of previous games. Here's hoping Trauma Center 2 retains its sense of humor.

On the other hand, we appreciate that some of you couldn't give two hoots about the story. Regardless, make a careful incision and enter the gallery below for six new shots.

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

[Via press release]

Perform simple surgery, fight simple fires

Posted Apr 19th 2008 6:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Imports

In June, Japan will have two more additions to D3's Simple DS series. One will be a Trauma Center type of game, but with more realistic looking organs. Also, you'll be operating to cure actual conditions, like appendicitis, rather than mysterious, made-up outbreaks. We'll squeamishly take our cartoon organs, thanks, but should you have a stomach for that sort of thing, Simple DS Series Vol. 40: The Gekai might be the game for you.

The other simple software, Vol. 39: The Shouboutai, deals with the heroic task of firefighting. Since poking at fires with your stylus is less dangerous than dashing into burning buildings, D3's game probably sounds more appealing than the real-life task.

Trauma Center: Under the Screens

Posted Apr 11th 2008 8:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Screens

July 1st can't come fast enough for people like us, who enjoy using our styli in virtual worlds to perform various surgeries. Although we love playing Trauma Center on the Wii, too, we can't wait for its return to the DS -- the little handheld that we never leave home without.

Until we can actually play it, though, we have no choice but to look at screens and other media to ease the pain of waiting. So, if you need a Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 fix, just check out our updated gallery below. The new pictures include some dramatic pre-surgery gestures that Trauma Center characters love making, the African refugee camp locales, and some of the surgeries that you'll be involved in.

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

Old familiar faces appear in Trauma Center sequel

Posted Apr 8th 2008 10:30AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Screens

It's only been a week since the news of Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 broke, and already we're awash in news of the upcoming title. We're not complaining, either; the original is the game you love to hate and hate to love, thanks to the fantastic concept and brutalizing gameplay.

The screenshots (found in our gallery), aren't the best news of the day, however -- the real kicker is that we'll see Under the Knife 2 in July. July 1, to be exact, and yes, that's before it's due in Japan. Rejoice!

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

[Via press release]

First Trauma Center 2 trailer quickens the pulse

Posted Apr 7th 2008 2:15PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Video

Trauma Center 2 has a storyline

Posted Apr 4th 2008 7:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Screens, Imports

Yeah, we know that all the other ones did too, but all we ever remember of the story for any Trauma Center game is "surgery happens." Some guys perform surgery on some other people, because they are sick or injured. Trauma Center 2 is no exception: Atlus has gone to the trouble of crafting a narrative for the surgery game, and we guarantee it'll stick in our minds as "a guy gets glass in his leg for some reason."

This latest entry takes place in a refugee camp in an African country called Costiga, where a civil war and an outbreak of disease have led to an overload of patients and a shortage of doctors. Derek Stiles and his nurse Angie Thompson are in the area doing research, and are contacted by a young surgeon named, uh, Adel Chilba (or something like that) to help. Or at least that's how we understand it based on the translation. The point is (and remains): surgery happens.

LifeSigns: Surgical Unit has a nicely timed sale

Posted Apr 2nd 2008 5:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

If you're itching to unleash your inner surgeon onto your DS after all this Trauma Center brouhaha, you might want to consider picking up LifeSigns: Surgical Unit in the meantime. Since we haven't played it, we can't recommend it ourselves (although some of our readers seem to be fond of this title), but it happens to be on sale this week at GameQuest Direct.

The sale will last until April 8th, giving you plenty of time to consider whether or not you need another surgery-sim-meets-soap-opera in your life, but an $11 markdown is a pretty nice deal. Also, thanks to CAG, you can use the code CAG1SHIP in the bottom left corner for free shipping.

Yet, the game did end up on some worst lists of 2007, so caveat emptor.

[Via CAG]

Create a LifeSigns manga, (maybe) win a DS (probably not)

Posted Nov 2nd 2007 6:40PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Fan stuff

Remember LifeSigns? No?

Well, for those of you angry at Trauma Center for breaking up with the DS, LifeSigns: Surgical Unit (which is being released this week) is a welcome substitute.

You also might want to know that the folks behind LifeSigns are giving away ten DS Lites (with copies of the game, of course). All you have to do is make a manga on the LifeSigns website, advertise send it to some friends, and hope yours gets picked to win. It's similar to the Phoenix Wright and Harvey Birdman contests, but it's a trend we don't mind spreading. Make stupid comics and get free stuff? Fine by us.

The Trauma Center sequel is going where?!

Posted Jul 10th 2007 6:05PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News, Features

Okay, we were cool with our new big brother-in-arms -- after all, we had some sweet connectivity to look forward to, and it just gave us more excuses to crow about Nintendo taking over the world with devices what print crisp new bills. But today's announcement ruins everything. We hate you, Mr. Johnny-Come-Lately Wii, because you stole our Trauma Center.

Listen, we think it's keen and all that Trauma Center: New Blood is going to do what the first Wii port didn't -- that is, feature actual character voices and video. Y'know, the sort of things one expects from a console game. The text adventure style of the DS game suited the DS just fine, but once the game made the jump to the Wii, we expected a lot of things we didn't get. We also think the Iron Surgeon new coop play mode is pretty keen. But why can't we have a little piece of the action on our handheld? Are we supposed to be satisfied with Lifesigns? We're certainly pleased about the localization of another medical-themed game, but we want our Trauma Center! We require gut-wrenchingly difficult gameplay and the satisfaction of touching during surgery.

We know it's a bit rich to complain about Atlus, considering the flood of announcements today. But really, why have they taken away our surgery game? We're so sad. You've cut out our hearts, Atlus ... and the healing touch of other new games just isn't enough.

Confirmed at last: LifeSigns headed to the US

Posted May 18th 2007 6:02PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

Way back in March, rumors surfaced regarding the long-overdue localization of LifeSigns: Hospital Affairs, and it looks like Siliconera's detective work was right on the button: the doctor sim is due this summer.

Now here's where it gets confusing. Our original reports had Hospital Affairs coming out this week and Surgical Unit at the end of June. Now, as of this new announcement, Hospital Affairs, based on the Japanese DS launch title Kenshuui Tendo Dokuta, is coming sometime this summer. We originally assumed, based on the separate GameStop listings, that Surgical Unit was a localized version of the second Tendo Dokuta game, but according to an interview with one of the game's producers, they're two different names for the first game.

During the interview, the producer asserted that the US-released LifeSigns game was going to be called Surgical Unit, but all the promotional material (including the website) uses the title Hospital Affairs. Yikes. We think this is because the promotional information is for the European release.

Okay, we're getting mixed up ourselves, so here's the final breakdown in bullet-point form:

• There is only one LifeSigns game announced for the US so far, with some kind of subtitle.
  
• It is coming out some time this summer.

Gallery: Lifesigns

Lifesigns schedules operations for June

Posted Mar 20th 2007 3:43PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

We hadn't heard anything about the US localizations of the two Tendo Dokuta games since November. Siliconera is reporting today that the two games, called Lifesigns: Hospital Affairs and Lifesigns: Surgical Unit are being published by Dreamcatcher Interactive and released on May 15 and June 28 respectively. A quick jaunt over to EBGames' webpage confirms this information for Surgical Unit (if EB is to be trusted), but Hospital Affairs is nowhere to be seen.

Tendo Dokuta was a launch title for the DS in Japan. It's amazing that someone's just now getting around to localizing it!

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