Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Ping!

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

A short while ago I said that using a stylus was a great input method for a game like Trauma Center. It'd make no sense to play it with a controller, I said. 

"But what about a motion controller?", says Trauma Center: Second Opinion, the second game in the series, making the leap from the Nintendo DS to the Nintendo Wii. I don't know, Second Opinion. I imagine it makes a bit of sense. Shall we find out?

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

Frustrations

Ah, but you have, whoever you name is. Second Opinion is a remake of Under the Knife, released just a year prior on the Nintendo DS. The graphics have been given a lick of paint, the controls tweaked to make sense on a Wiimote and nunchuck, but the story - what very little I could stomach to play - is identical.

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

The nunchuck selects your tools, from stitches to scalpels and many more, and the Wiimote is delicately waggled within the region you need to do something - make a cut, deliver drugs, bandage and so on. The Wiimote isn't as accurate as the stylus is, but, to be fair to it, it does give you a bit of a better feeling of actually using tools, especially when you're told to press A and B to grab things with the tweezers, for example, which is vaguely similar to what you're doing with the controller.

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

Source // Moby Games / Nintendo

Some new mechanics make use of the extra buttons and sensors the Wii has, but I never got to use them. I didn't make it through the second operation this time around, because I was even less interested as I was last time out.

Final Word

Why are both games on this 1001 list? Have we been told to play the DS original so that someone was able to say that thing about playing on a train, or because it was the first game of a successful, if niche series?

Have we been told to play that DS version so that when we're told to play the Wii version we can understand the differences of the controls? Why? Do we really have to play both? Surely one is better than the other?

"No, no, that's not right. They're different games for different experiences." Ok, so should we be playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on the PlayStation Vita, as well as the PlayStation 2? Not an identical situation, I'll grant you, but there are two different experiences there, no?

One of these games should have been a strong mention in the description of the other. Like gaming outdoors? Pick up the DS original as an alternative. What's wrong with that? It allows us to play another great game instead of a remake with a new controller.

Didn't like Trauma Center? This won't sway you. Didn't like the Nintendo DS? This might sway you, assuming you like Trauma Center. That's all I can say because I don't like Trauma Center. It's a visual novel crossed with a Flash game. I don't need that unless it's bloody fantastic, and medical dramas aren't.

Fun Facts

New characters, rebuilding the entire game from the ground up in a year... Ok, so maybe there's some credit that should be given, but still.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion, developed by Atlus, first released in 2006.

Version played: Nintendo Wii, 2008.