E3 06: Trauma Center: Second Opinion Trailer Impressions

LOS ANGELES--Last year's Trauma Center: Under the Knife remains one of the most unusual and interesting games for the Nintendo DS. In it you play as a physician, and you get to operate on patients with various afflictions using the DS's touch screen. Add to that an over-the-top anime-inspired storyline, and you have yourself one really good game. So we were pleased to learn that the game was successful enough to spawn a sequel in the forthcoming Trauma Center: Second Opinion. However, this one won't be on the Nintendo DS. It's coming to the Wii. Unfortunately the game isn't here at the E3 show floor, but publisher Atlus is showing a brief trailer to whet our appetites.

The press materials for Trauma Center: Second Opinion describe the gameplay pretty specifically: "The Nintendo Wii controller becomes a scalpel, antidote, bandage, and defibrillator paddle in the exciting sequel to the Nintendo DS hit." OK, that all sounds great. Imagine using the Wii controller to carefully operate on a patient and then having to stitch him back up after you're done. That's the simplest example, but those who played Trauma Center know that this is far from being a mundane game about routine operations. The trailer shown at Atlus' booth shows nothing of the gameplay but instead gives a feel for the story and characters. Excellent anime artwork is used to depict the young and attractive cast of the game, and some dialogue like "the disease is incurable!" flashes up on the stills, suggesting some serious dangers to be expected.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion is slated for release sometime in 2006, so we'll be hoping to see the gameplay itself before long. At the very least, we're looking forward to seeing whether this sequel can do as good of a job of taking advantage of the Wii controller as its predecessor did with the DS touch screen. Stick with GameSpot for further coverage of Trauma Center: Second Opinion.