Trauma Center: Second Opinion hands-on

If there's one thing video games do better than any other form of entertainment, it's got to be the way they convince us that we're capable of whatever crazy stunts we manage to pull off in the game world. Much like that feeling of leaving a Jackie Chan movie convinced you can cartwheel across a telephone line, Trauma Center: Second Opinion instills a sense of medical mastery that really wouldn't be possible without the Wii remote.

Second Opinion is barely more than a remake of last year's DS hit, but it does offer up some new storyline bits, different tools and vastly improved graphics. And, unlike some other games shown off in New York yesterday, Wii's remote controls work perfectly. When using the forceps, for example, you have to push the A button and B trigger in at the same time, simulating the real pinch of using the tool on someone's grisly tumor. Nice.

Switching between tools is a breeze too - just point the Nunchuk's analog stick in a given direction and boom, you've just equipped something else. This way, you can go from scalpel to syringe to adhesive with no pauses in between. And seeing as most of your medical emergencies involve several steps, you'll be flicking that stick like crazy trying to stay ahead of your patient's deteriorating health.

There was a constant crowd around Second Opinion, proving that even if people are horribly inadequate as doctors, they're sure as hell going to keep trying, no matter how many times that patient dies. We saw one lady cut up the same guy at least three times in a row, never understanding that you're supposed to make the initial incision along the clearly labeled red line. Yeah, it takes a steady hand to balance the remote along such a delicate area, but that's kinda the point, isn't it?