Lifesigns Surgical Unit

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• Feel the adrenaline rush of dealing with non-stop medical emergencies as you live the life of a young, motivated doctor!
• Interact and communicate with staff and patients that you meet throughout the game - review and discuss patients' medical records, ask questions as you diagnose patients' problems and resolve volatile personal conflicts before they boil over!
• Find out what it is really like to juggle your personal affairs with the demanding lifestyle of a medical intern!
• Examine, diagnose and operate on patients using the unique stylus and touch-screen features of the Nintendo DS to perform actual medical techniques and use medical instruments - take auscultation, pulse rates, incisions, sutures and many more!
• Play a variety of mini-games as the story unfolds!

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MGVBG4
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 6, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,561 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Surgical Unit is an original, exciting game for the DS that allows you to experience what it's like to be a top doctor in one of the best hospitals around. Just like on television, you'll be continuously confronted with interpersonal issues between you and your staff and you'll need to resolve them as quickly and professionally as possible. Of couse, you'll also have the opportunity to operate on those who need your help the most. By using the DS touchscreen, you'll be able to communicate with, examine, diagnose, and operate on many of the hospital's patients.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like adventure games..., December 5, 2007

By 

S. Kelley "spdk1" (Warrensburg, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Lifesigns Surgical Unit (Video Game)

Unlike a similar game "Trauma Center", Lifesigns is not a puzzle game where you constantly do surgery over and over, it is an adventure game where you talk to patients, form relationships with coworkers and other things that actually form a storyline.

Yes the story may seem juvenile at first, and the translation is not perfect, but after one day I was hooked. The surgery is not as gimmicky as Trauma Center, and seems far more realistic.

If you like anime and want something more akin to a phoenix wright or hotel Dusk game, this may be for you.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant, December 8, 2007

By 

JoAnna Neary (WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Lifesigns Surgical Unit (Video Game)

Lifesigns: Surgical unit is fairly straightforward point and click adventure game, with endearing characters and well structured surgeries thrown in. It isn't groundbreaking, and I would have liked to have spent more time on medical game play, but overall the game is fun and a pleasant way to kill a few hours.

The surgeries start out very simple, but quickly progress to being challenging without being impossible. There's a certain glee that can only be achieved through successfully trepanning a skull. I found the surgeries themselves different enough to stay fresh, with graphics that nicely balanced a need for realism without going over the top.

My chief concern with the game is simply that I would have liked to have seen a higher ratio of game play involving medical issues as compared to running about solving the character's personal problems. Two of the five episodes take place on a vacation island, not the hospital, and much game time is spent running around matchmaking for your little sister and convincing a chief that little elves aren't trying to sabotage his festival (honestly). (Surgeries do take place in the island scenario as well, but they seemed relatively infrequent) I began to really resent those little elves for disrupting my surgical time.

Inside the hospital, I found the story lines varied and interesting. Once consequence of having fewer surgeries is that the patients you do have, have quite a lot of personality to them. There are sad moments in the game as a result of this attachment as well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The most impressive hair in any video game, January 3, 2008

By 

alex (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lifesigns Surgical Unit (Video Game)

Check out Professor Sawai, you'll see what I mean.

First of all: this is not Trauma Center. This is not Phoenix Wright. The series started in Japan way before the former, and though it's an adventure game, the feel is entirely different to the latter. Despite the soap-operaish storyline, this is ultimately more realistic than either game. Trauma Center was great fun, but lost the plot for me once I started drawing pentagons and fighting bug monsters in the operating theatre. Lifesigns sticks with fairly typical operations in a relatively realistic hospital setting. The simulation part is similar to the ancient PC game, Life and Death, in that you're expected to follow standard procedures and understand some of the basic requirements of surgery; there's little hand-holding here.

The major downside is that this is a translation of the second game in the series; the first was exclusive to Japan. Consequently, you're thrown into the story with only a basic explanation of who your character is, and the setting in which he works. I hope they eventually give the first game an English release. The translation is also simple and patchy; don't expect the outstanding level achieved by the Phoenix Wright games. Lifesigns sticks with the Japanese names for all characters, and the game has some awkward dialogue. The graphical style takes some adjusting; it's anime-style, but sort of sketchy. The character designs are great though, and the characters themselves are interesting and reasonably well-developed. There's also a very sweet little romance subplot between you and another intern doctor, if you do well enough on the operations for each chapter.

I'm not quite sure what the other reviewer meant when they said this game shows Japanese people in a bad light. First...it's a Japanese game, by Japanese writers, and the translation is actually fairly literal (hence some of the awkward dialogue). Also, it trades in some typical anime stereotypes - attractive but unattainable older woman (your supervisor), flirtatious but slightly inept young male protagonist, meek and devoted young girl (the nurse), etc.

It's true, there is a lot of text, and you spend a fair amount of time outside of the operating theatre. But this is the nature of the game; it's about the setting and the characters as much as the medical procedures. Sort of a dating-sim/adventure/surgery sim, if that makes sense. If you hate reading dialogue and description, skip this game; you'll get little out of it. Try Trauma Center instead, there's little characterization or dialogue and much more direct gameplay (even if the plot does turn ridiculous by the last few stages). But if you like a fun story and a little bit of light-hearted soap-opera with your simulations, give Lifesigns a try. I honestly didn't expect much at first, but I'm glad I picked it up!