Flash Flash Revolution - View Single Post - March 2021: 31 days game review challenge

**Hateandhatred** · 03-27-2021, 08:01 PM

March 27th

Today's challenge is: Dead franchise you wish would be revived.

This theme was suggested by Evascythe.

I had a lot of options going into this one, yet I kinda knew from the start what I wanted to talk about. I'm gonna talk about Atlus' Trauma Center series, and besides general talk about the franchise itself, I'll focus on my my favorite game in the series (which is also my favorite game on the system itself), which is Trauma Center: Second Opinion.

I was never a huge fan of motion controlled games (until recently, as VR is a completely different experience), so I definitely had a weird relationship with the Wii. There were a few things I really liked about it, such as being able to play Gamecube games on it, and having an open arms setup with the controllers (with the Wiimote and the nunchuck, something I could only replicate using the weird Phantasy Star Online Keyboard Gamecube controller). That being said, It is still the only console my family went for during that generation.

Soon after it became obvious we would be getting one (and my dad did buy it on a whim at Walmart, which pissed off my mom), I started looking up games for the system, not wanting to be stuck with Wii Sports for like 2 years before I got anything else, and while watching trailers and other gameplay videos on a French video game website, I immediately became interested in Trauma Center after watching the French dudes play it. I ended up renting 3 games soon after we got it, which were Mario Galaxy, the Trauma Center game, and some other game my sister got for herself that I can't recall (I don't think I even played that other one and I'm pretty sure it was just some gay shovelware, and just in case you find my previous statement weird, know that video renting stores are still alive and well across Quebec).

I played Mario Galaxy for a bit, then started playing Second Opinion on hard difficulty and beat it in one sitting through a 30 hours session (excluding the extreme stages, I sucked at them). I just couldn't put the game down, I was too engrossed in it. I thought the difficulty scaled very nicely, yet always remained very challenging. I loved the storyline and the characters themselves, and the last level made me hold my breath for most of it because it was simply too epic.

That's about it for how I was introduced to the game, now let me explain what it actually is. It's basically a surgeon sim game, where you use a bunch of medical tools to perform operations on patients. At first, it's all about regular procedures, just to warm you up to the many tools at your disposal, then you start using a special power called a Healing Touch (its effect varies depending on the character you're using), then you start doing some unconventional stuff like fighting against bioengineered giant bugs (called GUILTs) causing lacerations all over the place and stuff like that (you also have to disarm a bomb). The key thing that made the game great (gameplay wise) in my opinion is that it's all about speed and precision, and it does a great job at sharpening your gaming instincts.

Upon finishing the game (or getting stuck on the extreme stages, but that's just an extra), I went to bed, then I looked up the series a little more, because I was still craving what it offered me. Turns out that besides the DS game that Second Opinion was a remake of, there was another game about to come out, New Blood, so I eagerly waited for it to be released, then got it pretty soon afterwards. It wasn't quite as good as the other one, and I found it to be much harder, but it was still a ton of fun.

Not too long after, I moved, and the third Wii game in the franchise (Trauma Team) sort of flew under my radar. I did get it eventually, and... It was really weird. I thought some of the characters sucked, and there were some drastic changes in flow and gameplay. But I still liked it. It's great, but doesn't shine when compared to the rest of the series. Then many, many years later, Felix gifted me a coral pink DS Lite that came with a ton of shovelware and a hot pink jewel box, which gave me a chance to play the only game in the series I hadn't played before, which was Under the Knife 2 (or Second Opinion 2 going by the Wii title). Now, maybe I suck ass with the DS, but this was way, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy harder than the Wii games, mostly because you couldn't simultaneously switch tools while operating. It was still pretty fun, but I couldn't even beat the last stage on normal difficulty, and I felt like this had little to do with my reflexes or anything, so I chalk that one up as a slight disappointment.

All that being said, every game in the series was released in the same time period. Under the Knife 1 and 2 are available on the original DS, and Second Opinion, New Blood and Trauma Team are Wii exclusives. Considering how wildly the Switch has taken off, I'm very surprised that Atlus hasn't tried to bring it back, as it seems like a perfect console for that. I'd really, really like to jump back into it, preferably with a more modern take on the concept. But we'll see if it ever does.

03-27-2021, 08:01 PM	#66
Hateandhatred "The Quebec Steparatist." Join Date: Feb 2011 Age: 33 Posts: 1,943	Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge March 27th Today's challenge is: Dead franchise you wish would be revived. This theme was suggested by Evascythe. I had a lot of options going into this one, yet I kinda knew from the start what I wanted to talk about. I'm gonna talk about Atlus' Trauma Center series, and besides general talk about the franchise itself, I'll focus on my my favorite game in the series (which is also my favorite game on the system itself), which is Trauma Center: Second Opinion. I was never a huge fan of motion controlled games (until recently, as VR is a completely different experience), so I definitely had a weird relationship with the Wii. There were a few things I really liked about it, such as being able to play Gamecube games on it, and having an open arms setup with the controllers (with the Wiimote and the nunchuck, something I could only replicate using the weird Phantasy Star Online Keyboard Gamecube controller). That being said, It is still the only console my family went for during that generation. Soon after it became obvious we would be getting one (and my dad did buy it on a whim at Walmart, which pissed off my mom), I started looking up games for the system, not wanting to be stuck with Wii Sports for like 2 years before I got anything else, and while watching trailers and other gameplay videos on a French video game website, I immediately became interested in Trauma Center after watching the French dudes play it. I ended up renting 3 games soon after we got it, which were Mario Galaxy, the Trauma Center game, and some other game my sister got for herself that I can't recall (I don't think I even played that other one and I'm pretty sure it was just some gay shovelware, and just in case you find my previous statement weird, know that video renting stores are still alive and well across Quebec). I played Mario Galaxy for a bit, then started playing Second Opinion on hard difficulty and beat it in one sitting through a 30 hours session (excluding the extreme stages, I sucked at them). I just couldn't put the game down, I was too engrossed in it. I thought the difficulty scaled very nicely, yet always remained very challenging. I loved the storyline and the characters themselves, and the last level made me hold my breath for most of it because it was simply too epic. That's about it for how I was introduced to the game, now let me explain what it actually is. It's basically a surgeon sim game, where you use a bunch of medical tools to perform operations on patients. At first, it's all about regular procedures, just to warm you up to the many tools at your disposal, then you start using a special power called a Healing Touch (its effect varies depending on the character you're using), then you start doing some unconventional stuff like fighting against bioengineered giant bugs (called GUILTs) causing lacerations all over the place and stuff like that (you also have to disarm a bomb). The key thing that made the game great (gameplay wise) in my opinion is that it's all about speed and precision, and it does a great job at sharpening your gaming instincts. Upon finishing the game (or getting stuck on the extreme stages, but that's just an extra), I went to bed, then I looked up the series a little more, because I was still craving what it offered me. Turns out that besides the DS game that Second Opinion was a remake of, there was another game about to come out, New Blood, so I eagerly waited for it to be released, then got it pretty soon afterwards. It wasn't quite as good as the other one, and I found it to be much harder, but it was still a ton of fun. Not too long after, I moved, and the third Wii game in the franchise (Trauma Team) sort of flew under my radar. I did get it eventually, and... It was really weird. I thought some of the characters sucked, and there were some drastic changes in flow and gameplay. But I still liked it. It's great, but doesn't shine when compared to the rest of the series. Then many, many years later, Felix gifted me a coral pink DS Lite that came with a ton of shovelware and a hot pink jewel box, which gave me a chance to play the only game in the series I hadn't played before, which was Under the Knife 2 (or Second Opinion 2 going by the Wii title). Now, maybe I suck ass with the DS, but this was way, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy harder than the Wii games, mostly because you couldn't simultaneously switch tools while operating. It was still pretty fun, but I couldn't even beat the last stage on normal difficulty, and I felt like this had little to do with my reflexes or anything, so I chalk that one up as a slight disappointment. All that being said, every game in the series was released in the same time period. Under the Knife 1 and 2 are available on the original DS, and Second Opinion, New Blood and Trauma Team are Wii exclusives. Considering how wildly the Switch has taken off, I'm very surprised that Atlus hasn't tried to bring it back, as it seems like a perfect console for that. I'd really, really like to jump back into it, preferably with a more modern take on the concept. But we'll see if it ever does. __________________ Last edited by Hateandhatred; 03-28-2021 at 07:15 AM..