For those not really knowledgeable of the franchise, it may seem very confusing why the gaming community was so excited about Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2’s release. After all, it’s come out around seven months since the last release, and it can’t legitimately be called the first true sequel in the series, as that label belongs to New Blood. Well, the reason why this is such a big deal to many fans is because it’s Trauma Center’s return to the DS after nearly three years.
Anyone that’s played an entry in the franchise will know what to expect, as Under the
Knife 2 doesn’t alter the formula at all. There are a bunch of completely new operation procedures, and some new mechanics here and there, but for the most part it’s a traditional entry. This is a little disappointing, especially considering that its forerunner, New Blood, was able to present a respectable amount of fresh features and ideas. Nevertheless, you’ll find a very good game here.
A lot of it can be attributed to the fantastic controls, which Atlus has once again nailed. No matter the console, no matter the peripheral, they know how to get the schemes down excellently with Trauma Center. It’s fair to say that Under the Knife 2 makes the best use of the DS’s touch screen of any game released for the handheld, even better than the original.
Of course, after playing on the Wii for the last two titles, it’s become apparent that the remote and nunchuk combo has a few advantages. Anything which requires steadiness and pinpoint accuracy is easier to use with the Stylus, such as the Scalpel and Forceps, given that an even slightly shaky hand could cause you to make a mistake on the Wii. However, other tools like the Drain and Serums are much more fluent with the remote. The greater ease in switching between items is decidedly Wii’s greatest benefit, though, as cycling through the tools with the Joystick on the nunchuk is much quicker than having to tap the individual apparatus it on some area of the touch screen. But don’t let this create the idea that the DS’s controls are a step backwards; it’s just that a few things are better with the console counterparts. By all means, they’re superb for what the handheld offers.
Though the actual gameplay hasn’t changed much, the campaign’s design has. This time around there’s 38 operations, alongside a dozen or so chapters of just plot progression, making this the longest Trauma Center to date. Whereas the others took maybe five or six hours, Under the Knife 2 could take you anywhere from eight to fifteen depending on the difficulty you choose. It’s a nice change for there be more focus on the story mode, but it’s even more impressive to see a handheld game take this long to finish.
Unfortunately, that seems to have come at a price. Because while the campaign is larger than before, the game is pretty light on extra content. Other than the three difficulty settings, there’s a few extra operations available once you beat the game, but they’re the dreaded X missions, which means they’re so hard that all of about ten people on the Earth can beat them. Features like side-chapters, challenge modes, Online Leaderboards and multiplayer are sadly absent, as they would’ve added a lot more length to the game and all were probably possible on the DS.
Thankfully, what we do actually get is quite good. As already said, the gameplay is spot-on once more, but one very nice improvement is found in the actual story. If you’ve played any of the previous Trauma Centers, you should know that the plots were usually outrageous and overblown, at times even stepping into the sci-fi realm. Under the Knife 2, though, presents a great story, one that is significantly better than those found in past games. Medical terrorism does return (Delphi, no less), and there’s a bit too much drama here and there, but truthfully the biological warfare takes a back seat to the game’s numerous themes and motifs. You’ll see chapters that focus on the problems of civil war, morality in medicine, the psychological effects of being a doctor, and even political and economic corruption. This time you’ll be far more engaged in the world of Caduceus than before.
If you replay the original Under the Knife, another thing you’ll notice is that 2’s visuals are much improved. The color palette has come a long way from nearly three years ago, and the textures are very smooth by comparison to the blocky imagery found previously. A nice addition is that Under the Knife 2 uses the art-style from Second Opinion and New Blood, which has always looked better than the simplistic and goofy style found in the first game.
Full voice-acting wasn’t incorporated here, but there’s a lot more of it than in the original. Just about every other line has some recorded statement being used. It’s a lot more than even what Second Opinion had. The music, like always, isn’t a serious highlight, but there’s nothing wrong with it, in fact a few of the pieces are very peppy. Manabu Namiki was the composer this time around, and unlike Kenichi Tsuchiya with New Blood, Namiki’s tracks sound more like Shogi Meguro’s (the composer for Under the Knife and Second Opinion), whereas New Blood’s music had a techno-feel to it.
And just because it needs to be mentioned, as always with Trauma Center, this game is hard. For anyone jumping into the series for the first time with this one, don’t even think about trying anything beyond Easy without some experience. Just like its predecessors, Under the Knife 2 really challenges you to be extremely quick and accurate with your actions. On the more complex operations, you have to manage time and your tools almost flawlessly, and even on the Normal Difficulty it’s a serious undertaking. Chances say that you’ll be forced to use the Easy Difficulty to get past one or two missions throughout the story.
