Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be a doctor? This is something that I believe all children — at some time or another — dream about. There’s something romantic to it. Perhaps it is the amazing wealth of knowledge required or the amazing technologies that are changing every day. Or maybe it is the simple fact that you’re doing something visible that is saving lives. But being a doctor is not easy. First, you have to go to college, pass the MCATs, attend medical school and then finish a residency. So how about we skip all that and go straight to the fun stuff? Aram Jabbari of Atlus was kind enough to show us a demonstration of the Diagnostics mode of Trauma Team. So let’s keep the important medical stuff in the back of head as we discuss.
In Diagnostics mode, you control Gabriel Cunningham. It his job to examine the patient, talk to them and eventually come up with a diagnosis that fits the symptoms the patient is experiencing. Some will be very receptive to your prodding, and others will not. There is a lot of medical jargon in the game. However, it educates you in the lingo. It shows you what a normal person should get on a blood test, X-rays, CAT scans, audiograms, EEGs or other such medical test. Thus, you have something to base your judgments on when making comparisons. You’re not firing shots into the dark, wondering if you’re accurate. But you have to be careful because you can only make so many mistakes. The game will not let you waste either the hospital’s or the patient’s time.
But Trauma Team will also not waste your time. Even though this gameplay mode has the same “adventure genre” feel as the Forensics mode, Gabriel and his computer assistant will let you know when you’ve explored all avenues. As long as you pay attention, you’ll be able to move through each case. As you notice symptoms and abnormalities, it is your job to read through each of the possible diseases. You then match up the symptoms to the disease. If it doesn’t match up, you lose a heart. Thankfully, you have all the time in the world to compare and contrast information. Although this will not get you ready for med school, it should give you a better idea of how the human body works.
If this sounds like a particular medical drama on TV, you’re right. Gabriel is committed to helping his patients, just like Dr. Gregory House. Unlike House, Gabe’s patients’ are not going to collapse and go into anaphylactic shock while you’re trying to figure out what is going on, and there is some interaction between the different doctors during cutscenes. The cutscene I saw was between Tomoe, the endoscopist, and Gabriel. Without revealing too much, Gabriel has a son he rarely sees.
Audio seems to be shaping up nicely as well. The voice actor for Gabriel seems to be a natural fit for the character. The same can be said for Tomoe. The grumpy old man that is one of Gabriel’s early patients perfectly conveys a self-important government worker. If the rest of the voice acting is as well-done as these three characters, the game could be worth a play through just for the audio.
Overall, Trauma Team seems to be user-ready. From what I’ve seen, this doesn’t seem to be a quick attempt to gain attention. On its own, is something that could have been released as six different Nintendo DS games due to the different specialties offered. Instead, it is one big Wii game. However, there is no way to know how good the game is until we actually play it. For more information, visit http://www.atlus.com/traumateam/.
