Atlus Software's newest release, Trauma Center: Under the Knife is an interesting and unique title that DS owners should take notice of. Since the release of the Nintendo DS, we have seen all sorts of software that illustrates many new, crazy, unique, innovative, and fresh ways to enjoy gaming. Early titles like Feel the Magic: XX/XY taught us that we can expect just about anything to show up on the handheld while more traditional titles such as Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow have proven that more familiar experiences can also be expected to grace the DS library. Trauma Center is another one of those titles that give as a new way to play and experience games while reminding us of the good times we had as kids while playing the popular board game Operation.

Presentation
As Dr. Stiles (get it? D.S.), you'll operate on many patients to save lives and combat a dangerous plague in the year 2018. Several medical advances over the past few years have improved medical procedures dramatically. As a rookie doctor, you'll be out to not only save lives, but to also gain a reputation as a great doctor. The story is a bit silly, but it gives you a reason to get from patient to patient as the game progresses. The fact that the storyline isn't a major player in the game is actually a bonus in this title since it makes it easy to come back to randomly without having to worry too much about remembering what's exaclty going on.

At times the dialogue is witty and fun, but in most cases it's a tad cheesy. Whether this is by design or unintentional, it's not a big enough factor to matter much. If the story doesn't interest you much the length of conversations can become tiresome; but skipping them won't disorientate to the point where your enjoyment of the game is hindered. I'd recommend that you hold off skipping the drama though. Overall, the presentation is nice and clean; something that a few developers have struggled with in other DS titles at times.


Yeah, that's a lot of blood he's losing there...

Gameplay
With Trauma Center, you are guaranteed to have a fresh and interesting gameplay experience. The pacing of the game is quite fast, so you will have to learn how to use your surgical equipment quickly and efficiently. The action takes place on the bottom screen while the top screen is used to receive advice and hints from your assistant and to monitor your time limit. When crucial messages appear on the top screen, the time limit countdown pauses so that you can read the messages at your leisure; something that will be appreciated by all, especially in the harder stages.

The first couple of operations do a great job of orientating you within the game and teaching you proper technique and when is the best time to use each tool. After these initial two or three simple operations to begin the game, the difficulty begins to pick up. Operations become longer, more delicate, and more complex in technique. After a few operations the gameplay can become a bit repetitive, but the operations are unique enough to avoid bogging things down too much.