Trauma Center: New Blood

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Trauma Center: New Blood

Developer(s) Atlus
Publisher(s) Atlus
Distributor(s) Nintendo
Designer(s) Kiro Shakamoto
Engine Trauma Center Wii engine
Platform(s) Wii
Release date NA November 20, 2007
JP January 17, 2008
EU TBA 2008[1]
Genre(s) Medical simulation
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: T
CERO: B
Input methods Wii Remote, Nunchuk

Trauma Center: New Blood (カドゥケウス ニューブラッド Kadukeusu Nyū Buraddo?) is the third game of the Trauma Center surgery simulation video game series, only available for the Wii.[2] New Blood is a new installment with features not seen in the previous title, including CPR, a cooperative mode, online leaderboards, full voice-over dialogue and a 16:9 widescreen mode.[3]

Contents

[edit] Plot

From left to right, Markus Vaughn, Valerie Blaylock, and Elena Salazar.
From left to right, Markus Vaughn, Valerie Blaylock, and Elena Salazar.

Trauma Center: New Blood follows doctors Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock, two surgeons with the "Healing Touch" ability who worked at the Concordia Medical Institute in Los Angeles. Dr. Vaughn moves over to Montgomery Memorial hospital in Alaska and is followed by Dr. Blaylock. When the hospital closed down, the director of Montgomery Memorial, Miles Hoover, tells them to return to Concordia. Once there, they learn from Professor Wilkens, an old acquaintance of Markus's, about a new and mysterious parasite called Stigma.

After Markus and Valerie operated on Wilkens, who was infected with Stigma, the professor is kidnapped and all of his data regarding this new disease is stolen. Fearing for the worse, Dr. Vaughn and Dr. Blaylock are invited to join Caduceus, the first couple of cases were mostly kept from the public eye, but shortly after appearing on Miracle Surgery to take the show off the air. They were soon kidnapped by the Kidman Family, a criminal organization who have seen their skills and the profitability of Stigma, here it was revealed that Markus was responsible for the creation of Stigma, which was from an accident from when Markus was working with Professor Wilkens, whom had the intentions of becoming famous with the research. Markus however rejected the idea of using a potential threat to become famous and left for Alaska. After travelling to South America to find Kidman and Wilkens (Which ended with the death of the former), they discovered Cynthia was in league with a man named Master Vakhusti, who planned to give a similar implant to Elena that Cynthia has (The implant in question Cythia has had a remote control which could stop the bloodflow, likewise, he planned to use it on Elena in order to coerce Markus in continuing stigma research for him.). After removing the device from Cynthia, they encountered Vakhusti, who carries Cardia, Valerie and Markus deals with the final Stigma and finds out that Cardia was meant to be used a treatment for a terminal illness, but in doing so has made him sociopathic and insane. He dies acknowledging his sins shortly after the operation. As life returns to normal, Valerie, Markus and Elena contemplates on how it is up to them to save a life when needed.

Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson from the previous TC games make a cameo appearance in Episode 7-4 and the 4th Challenge mission, in which the player must combat both Stigma and GUILT on VR simulation.

[edit] Stigma

A series of highly dangerous man-made organisms. The main objective in many stages through the game is to save patients infected with them. Initially, for a strain of Stigma to become active, it needs to get in contact with a rare metal named "Culurium", which is used in many artificial materials employed by the medical industry. However, later there are reports of people being infected by Stigma despite not having any trace of Culurium in their bodies, indicating that it was evolving into a much greater threat.

Cheir (The Hand): Appears in pairs, making lacerations and tumors. They also have the ability to fuse into a larger version who can create multiple lacerations at each strike. An advanced version of Cheir can create tumors as well as cause lacerations. An even more advanced version, seen only near the end of the game, can burrow into an organ in order to create massive gashes.

Soma (The Body): Large blue mass of tissue. Spreads parts of its cytoplasm which, in turn, become tumors. Also splits into two copies of itself. One fake and one real. The fake one, if left alone, will turn into many tumors.

Ops (The Eye): Creates tumors. Two other bodies supply it with nutrients.

Onyx (The Claw): Makes multiple lacerations and hides in tissue. If threatened, it can create copies of itself as a means of protection. Some types can release toxins into the bloodstream, obscuring the Onyx's position.

Brachion (The Arm): Attaches itself to an organ by the use of its "grapplers" and releases toxins through them.

Cardia (The Heart): An organism that creates a membrane on the heart, from which it decreases the patient's vitals over time. If the membrane is removed, its shell breaks, and it starts to create lacerations and releases bomb-like tumors throughout the heart.

[edit] Gameplay

The "X-missions", available after beating the game once, also make a return. New features include the possibility to play with both characters throughout almost every stage in a new co-op multiplayer mode, and the "Challenge Missions", where a player must perform on a set number of patients in a limited time.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Development staff

  • Character design: Masayuki Doi
  • Scenario writer: Shogo Isogai
  • Chief programmer: Takaaki Ikeda
  • Composer: Atsushi Kitajoh
  • Director: Datsuke Kanada

[edit] Reception

Reviews
Publication Score
IGN 8.5/10
Nintendo Power 8/10
1UP.com 5/10
Gamespot 8/10
Game Informer 7.5/10
GameSpy 2.5/5
Aggregate Scores
Metacritic 75%
Game Rankings 77%

"New Blood" received mostly positive reviews. Some praised the new features introduced in the series, while others pointed out the unbalanced gameplay for the single-player campaign as its weakest spot.

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] References

  1. ^ Videogameszone.de, retrieved 2008-03-18
  2. ^ Kato, "Review of Trauma Center: New Blood," Game Informer 177 (January 2008): 95.
  3. ^ Nintendo Wii Fanboy, 2007

[edit] External links

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