| Trauma Center: Second Opinion | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Atlus |
| Publisher(s) | North America Atlus |
| Distributor(s) | Nintendo |
| Composer(s) | Shōji Meguro |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Medical simulation, visual novel |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
Trauma Center: Second Opinion known as Caduceus Z: Two Super Surgical Operations (カドゥケウスZ 2つの超執刀 Kadukeusu Zetto Futatsu no Chōshittō) in Japan, is the second game in the Trauma Center series. Second Opinion is the first to be available on the Wii, was a launch title for the system in North America and Japan, and made full use of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment. This version is a remake of the game Trauma Center: Under the Knife for the Nintendo DS, although its graphics and mechanics were completely redone to take advantage of the Wii's motion-sensing controls. The player takes control of Doctors Derek Stiles and Nozomi Weaver who is a new addition to Second Opinion. The game also features more voice acting than the original, difficulty levels, a new "Z" chapter that focuses on Doctor Weaver, and a sixth chapter that is different that takes place after the original chapter. The remake also changes several of the patient names to names similar to characters or actors who have starred in hospital related dramas or sitcoms such as House MD and {{Scrubs.
Contents |
Up to Chapter 5 of Derek's missions, much of the story remains the same as the DS version, though the Wii version's Chapter 6 assumes the DS version's had already taken place. As Derek's story's progresses, Nozomi's missions are unlocked. During her missions, it is revealed that she was working for Delphi, who knew of her ability and was using it for their own purposes. Nozomi remains mostly unaware of the circumstances of Delphi until just before their raid, and also places their operation in danger at one point by insisting on operating on a reporter wounded after chasing down a car in which Nozomi and a Delphi operative were passengers. Just before their headquarters are discovered by Caduceus, Nozomi escapes with a GUILT sample which she plans to use as a bargaining chip.
After Derek's Chapter 5 and Naomi's missions are cleared, Chapter 6 is unlocked. The plot of the chapter takes place at Caduceus Europe, where Derek and Angie have been invited to provide assistance and Dr. Hoffman has come to attend a conference held under near-total secrecy. There, Derek meets Naomi for the first time, who is now using her original name of "Dr. Kimishima" and granted amnesty in Europe, along with another doctor called Owen. Dr. Miller tells Derek about the Z-Cells, which are fruit of their research on GUILT in order to find a way to use it to help people.
After Derek eliminates a somewhat stronger strain of Tetarti, his heart becomes infected with a combination of Kyriaki and Paraskevi, which leaves Naomi to heal Derek. Angie volunteered to assist Dr. Kimishima, but at certain moments was unable to see Derek in the condition he was in, crying many times and jumping to severe conclusions. Naomi succeeds, and time passes, during which, Angie described her true feelings to Derek. During the scheduled conference where Dr. Owen explains how a patient has recovered from a wound after a Z-Cell injection, Naomi expresses her doubts, claiming that GUILT was created to kill people, and probably could never be used to save them. Soon after the patient suffers from an injury that causes his blood to spray all over the conference room, infecting all the attendees with various strains of GUILT.
After Derek and Naomi deal with the infected attendees, Owen tries to escape and reveals that he was working all this time for Delphi. Dr. Miller orders him to be stripped of his rank and taken away, and is then told that there is a problem in the lab where Adam is kept. Meanwhile, at the lab, Derek learns that the Z-Cells are taken from Adam himself, and that Hoffman has become infected with a strain of GUILT that is revealed to be a stronger version of Savato. In the final mission of the game, Derek and Naomi work together to take down the upgraded Savato and save Hoffman's life.
Afterwards, Caduceus International proposes a treaty to deal with GUILT research which is quickly ratified. As for Derek and Angie, they are revealed to be assigned to northern Afghanistan, but not much else is revealed in the main game - though Tyler Chase, talking to Leslie Sears and Stephen Clarks, claims that both Derek and Angie deserve a long holiday because lately, they did not have much time to spend together alone... Naomi reveals that she cannot leave Europe without facing criminal charges for her work with Delphi, and parts ways with Derek.
A series of special levels can be played at this point where either, Derek or Naomi is operating on Adam, the leader of Delphi, to remove the last of the surviving GUILT strands within him, to destroy the virus once and for all.
The basic course of gameplay for Second Opinion is the same as the original DS game. But, there are a few added missions towards the end of the game. Refer to Trauma Center: Under the Knife for further details.
Most of the tools are used with the Wii Remote while the Nunchuk allows players to quickly switch between instruments. As well as having all of the tools from the original, the player can also make use of a few situational tools. Some tools have added functionality from the previous game. Other than the new functionality, the main objective of the game remains the same as the DS version. The goal is to treat whatever is wrong with the patient in the allotted time limit without letting the patient's vitals reach zero. There is access to a wide variety of tools, including scalpel, drainage hose, sutures, precision surgical laser, an ultrasound machine, forceps, syringe (which is used to inject stabilizer as well as other needed liquids) and antibiotic gel.
Both Derek and Naomi have the ability to use the Healing Touch, but what it does is different between them. While Derek uses superhuman concentration to operate so quickly that time appears to be slowing down, Naomi's Healing Touch allows her to increase the patient's vitals by ten whenever the player gets either an "OK", "GOOD", or "COOL" rating. Like the DS version, the Healing Touch is activated by drawing a star on the screen, and how well the star is drawn affects how much time the player is given.
The Healing Touch can only be used once per operation, with two exceptions. During operations early in the story, the game automatically activates the Healing Touch. Also, during a certain point in operations with mature Savato, the game will activate the Healing Touch on its own. At this point, the player must create another Healing Touch in order to destroy the Savato (as even in standard healing touch, it's too fast to inject).
For the most part, Second Opinion's levels are the same as they were in Under the Knife; there is a story section before and after an operation, as well as the operation itself. However, completing each chapter in Dr. Stiles' game unlocks a chapter in Dr. Weaver's stage, which are referred to as Z-1, Z-2, and so on up to Z-5. The sixth chapter is only available after completing both Doctor Weaver and Doctor Stiles' storylines.
After completing section six, mission X-1 is made available to both doctors. The X missions are akin to a "super hard" difficulty level. When mission X-1 is completed with either doctor, mission X-2 is unlocked, and so forth until mission X-7 is reached, the last level in the game. Each mission features an extremely hard version of a certain GUILT strain. Which strain is present in a particular X mission depends on what order the strains are introduced in the storyline. For example, Kyriaki appears in mission X-1, because it was the first strain to be revealed; likewise, X-2 features Deftera, X-3 features Triti, et cetera.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 80% (57 reviews)[5] |
| Metacritic | 80% (49 reviews)[6] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | C+[7] |
| Allgame | [8] |
| Computer and Video Games | 8.4/10[9] |
| Eurogamer | 9/10[10] |
| Famitsu | 32/40[11] |
| GamePro | [12] |
| Game Revolution | B[13] |
| GameSpot | 8/10[14] |
| GameSpy | [15] |
| GamesRadar | 9/10[16] |
| GameTrailers | 8.2/10[17] |
| GameZone | 8.5/10[18] |
| IGN | 8/10[19] |
| Official Nintendo Magazine | 84%[20] |
| X-Play | [21] |
Reviews were mostly favorable. GameSpot and IGN both awarded the game with an 8/10.[14][19] Minor criticisms included the lack of a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The game's music was composed by Shōji Meguro.
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