Trauma Center: Second Opinion hands-on

Once we took a crack at saving lives, however, things were looking pretty good for the mangled patient. First, just use the scalpel (Wii remote) to cut along a straight line. Once inside the body, we switched to the ultrasound device with the analog stick. Using it sends out a wave that reveals any hidden tumors, and sure enough, three popped up right away.

Back to the scalpel. After cutting a line down the middle on the first tumor, we carefully injected some uh, green stuff (or was it blue? Whoops) in there and began draining its harmful goo. Then it's back to the scalpel to cut that sucker outta there before it starts spilling icky stuff all over the place. Once it's loose, the forceps can yank the tumor out and plop a protein-laced sheet in place to heal the wound. Repeat two more times and this job's almost done.

Now that we're back outside the body, all that's left is sealing the incision. Use the remote to sew a few stitches in, then disinfect the area before placing gauze along the cut. All these perfect moves, with no mistakes, and we still got a C grade. How unfair is that?

If it all sounds rather involved, well, the nurses offer tips throughout the whole procedure, and the game does a good job of easing you into the routine. Plus, the remote's such an obvious substitute for the actual tools that just eyeballing the problem is all you really need to figure it out. Just like its DS counterpart, this Trauma Center does an excellent job of using the hardware in a unique way - and near as we can tell, it'll be ready for you at launch in November.

Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.