Trauma Center: New Blood

Trauma Center: New Blood (カドゥケウス ニューブラッド, Kadukeusu Nyū Buraddo, literally "Caduceus: New Blood") is a medical simulation game developed by Atlus for the Wii video game console. The third entry in the Trauma Center series, it was first released in North America on November 20, 2007.

Plot

New Blood starts off ten years after the events of Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 in the year 2028. The game features a story independent of previous installments in the series. The storyline 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. They perform a few operations here, including one on Dr. Hoover, the director of Montgomery Memorial. In one episode at Montgomery Memorial, a man was shot with a rifle, and a young woman brings him to Montgomery Memorial, and she actually turns out to be a nurse, who then helps them in the operating room. Later, they find out that this nurse is from Concordia and her name is Elena Salazar, and she had come to ask Dr. Vaughn to perform an operation to replace an implant in her pancreas. Later in the plot Elena becomes a permanent nurse for Blaylock and Vaughn. When the hospital closed down, Dr. Hoover tells them to return to Concordia. Markus is reluctant to return to Concordia, but realizes that he must go back.

Once there, they learn from Professor Wilkens, an old acquaintance of Markus's, about a new and mysterious Virus called Stigma. After Markus and Valerie operate on Wilkens, who is infected with a strain of Stigma, the professor is kidnapped and all of his data regarding this new disease is stolen. Fearing for the worst, Dr. Vaughn and Dr. Blaylock are invited to join Caduceus, because of their valuable knowledge on Stigma. The first couple of cases, including a second strain of Stigma, are mostly kept from the public eye, but shortly after appearing on Miracle Surgery to take the show off the air, they are soon kidnapped by the Kidman Family, a criminal organization who have seen their skills and the profitability of Stigma, and forced to operate on patients intentionally infected with Stigma. Markus then confesses to Valerie and Elena that he was responsible for the creation of Stigma, which was from an accident from when he was working with Professor Wilkens. Professor Wilkens wanted to continue his research to the world with 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 escaping from the Kidman Family, the three are ordered to the fictional country of Culuruma, a politically unstable country where an outbreak of Stigma had occurred. During their investigation in Culuruma, the rebel forces launches an attack on a government military base, during the government operation to reclaim the base, the three are requested to operate on wounded soldiers. After, they discover the Kidman Family who was supporting the rebels.

When they return to Caduceus, they discover that Cynthia Kazakov, a close friend of Valerie's, was in a relationship with a man named Master Vakhusti, who planned to give a similar implant to Elena that Cynthia has (The implant in question Cynthia 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.). When they travel to an abandoned monastery near Caucasus, they remove the device from Cynthia. They also encounter Vakhusti, who has the Cardia Stigma, Valerie and Markus deals with the final Stigma and finds out that Cardia was meant to be used as 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.

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

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 Derek and Angie introduces to Markus and Valerie a VR simulation designed to simulate treating patients infected with both GUILT and Stigma.

Stigma

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

Gameplay

The gameplay of Trauma Center:New Blood, like previous installments, focuses on performing surgery. Players use the Nunchuk control stick (or alternatively the D-Pad) to select tools and move the Wii Remote to aim the pointer, using it to suture patients, inject medication, remove glass fragments, make inscisions and more. The game can be played in 3 difficulty modes: Easy, Normal, or Hard. 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.

Ranking

At the end of each operation, a rank is assigned based on the style and accuracy of the player. The rankings are:

• C - Rookie Doctor
• B - Specialist
• A - Senior Surgeon
• S - Master Surgeon
• XS - Medical Prodigy

The XS rank can only be achieved in Hard or Extreme difficulty.

Healing Touch

The Healing Touch is a rare ability that can only be practiced by select doctors. It can be used only once per operation and requires great mental concentration. It is used so that in the surgeon's mind, it can do superhuman things that would otherwise be impossible. Both Healing Touches can only be used for a limited amount of time before returning to normal. By using the Healing Touch, Markus can temporarily slow down time during a procedure (Similar to Derek Stiles'). This allows him to accomplish things more easily. Valerie can prevent a patient from dying by using the Healing Touch. When she uses this technique, the patient's vitals will temporarily stabilize. The player can continue the procedure without having to worry about the patient's vitals dropping. However, the player cannot improve the patient's vitals during this time.

Voice cast

English

• Troy Baker - Markus Vaughn
• Kimberly Brooks - Valerie Blaylock
• Dan Woren - Miles Hoover, Guy Davidson
• Derek Stephen Prince - Leonardo Bello, Master Vakhushti, Hans Nilsen, Sergeant Major Lopez, Eugene Carlton
• Doug Erholtz - Kidman, Luc Rousseau
• Karen Strassman - Elena Salazar, Kanae Tsuji, Isabella Vazquez, Maria Estrada
• Kirk Thornton - Robert Cromwell
• Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - Irene Quatro
• Michael McConnohie - Lloyd Wilkens, Narrator, Thor Gunderson
• Mona Marshall - Marcy Bloom, Sister Catherine Jackson, Chandler Forbes
• Wendee Lee - Cynthia Kazakov, Tutorial Voice, Angie Thompson
• Yuri Lowenthal - Erik Hayes (helicopter pilot), Derek Stiles, Leland

Japanese

• Rikiya Koyama - Markus Vaughn
• Yumi Toma - Valerie Blaylock
• Ryoka Yuzuki - Elena Salazar
• Shozo Iizuka - Lloyd Wilkens
• Gara Takashima - Irene Quatro
• Tomohisa Asou - Robert Cromwell
• Masuo Amada - Justin Everett
• Hochu Otsuka - Luc Rousseau
• Sanae Kobayashi - Leslie Newman
• Kaori Akashi - Kanae Tsuji
• Mamiko Noto - Cynthia Kazakov
• Ikuya Sawaki - Miles Hoover
• Shinobu Sato - Marcy Bloom
• Takayuki Kondo - Kosuke Tsukimori
• Ayako Kawasumi - Ange Tonegawa
• Kenji Hamada - Leonardo Bello
• Otoya Kawano - Zakaria Kidman
• Daisuke Kiri - John Paul Mercy
• Chafurin - Guy Davidson

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 77% (40 reviews)[2] Metacritic 77% (43 reviews)[3] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com C[4] AllGame [5] CVG 8.4/10[6] Eurogamer 8/10[7] Famitsu 31/40[8] Game Informer 7.5/10[9] GamePro 4.25/5[10] Game Revolution B−[11] GameSpot 8/10[12] GameSpy [13] GamesRadar [14] GameZone 8.6/10[15] IGN 8.5/10[16] 8.1/10 (Australia)[17] Nintendo Power 8/10 Nintendo World Report 8.5/10[18] ONM 67%[19] Play 7/10[20]

New Blood received generally positive reviews. Some praised the new features introduced in the series (mainly the voice acting throughout cutscenes), while others pointed out the unbalanced gameplay for the single-player campaign as its weakest spot.

References

External links

• Official website
• Trauma Center: New Blood at MobyGames