Trauma Center: New Blood is the third game released in the Trauma Center series, available exclusively on the Nintendo Wii.
Plot
Trauma Center: New Blood takes place seven years after the events of Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, and follows doctors Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock, two surgeons with the "Healing Touch" ability who worked at the Concordia Medical Institute in Los Angeles. Dr. Vaughn moves over to Montgomery Memorial hospital in Alaska and is followed by Dr. Blaylock. While there, the duo treat a former patient of Dr. Vaughn's, Elena Salazar. With the Montgomery Memorial hospital closing down, the director, Miles Hoover, tells Dr Blaylock to return to Concordia. Dr Vaughn and Dr Blaylock agree, and, with Elena joining them as their nurse, head to Concordia. Once there, they learn from Lloyd Wilkens, an old acquaintance of Markus's, about a new and mysterious parasite called Stigma.
After Markus and Valerie operate on Lloyd, who was infected with Stigma, the professor is kidnapped, along with his data regarding this new disease. It is at this time that Dr Vaughn and Dr Blaylock are invited to join Caduceus, in fear of losing their vital Stigma experience. The first cases of Stigma were kept from the public eye until appearing on Miracle Surgery and getting the better of Dr. Leonardo Bello.
Dr Vaughn, Dr Blaylock, and Elena are later kidnapped by the Kidman Family, a criminal organization that has studied the doctors' skills and the profitability of Stigma. While held hostage, it is revealed that Markus was responsible for the creation of Stigma, resulting from an accident when Markus was working with Professor Wilkens. It is also revealed the Professor Wilkens sought to become famous with the research he and Markus had gathered. Markus however rejected the idea of using a potential threat to become famous and left for Alaska.
After traveling to South America to find Prof Wilkens and Kidman (which ended with the death of the latter), they discover Cynthia, an old friend of Dr Blaylock’s as well as a worker at Caduceus, was in league with a man named Master Vakhushti. It is Vakhushti who originally planned to give an implant to Elena similar to the one in Cynthia [an implant in Cynthia's heart that hides a remote control which could stop the organ's proper function]. After removing the device from Cynthia, Dr Blaylock and Dr Vaughn encounter Vakhushti, who carries Cardia, the final strain of Stigma. Valerie and Markus deal with the final Stigma and find out that Cardia was meant to be used a treatment for a terminal illness, but in infecting himself with it, Vakhushti became sociopathic and insane. He dies acknowledging his sins shortly after the operation. As life returns to normal, Valerie, Markus and Elena contemplate how it is up to them to save a life when needed.
Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson from the previous Trauma Center games make a cameo appearance in Episode 7-4 and the fourth Challenge mission, in which the player must combat both Stigma and GUILT in a virtual reality simulation. Dr Stiles, compared to his appearances in Under The Knife and Second Opinion, has shorter and lighter hair, and Angie's hair is shorter.
Gameplay
At the end of each operation, a rank is assigned based on the skill and speed of the player. The rankings are:
- C- Rookie Doctor
- B- Specialist
- A- Senior Surgeon
- S- Master Surgeon
- XS- Medical Prodigy
The XS rank can only be achieved in Hard or Extreme difficulty.
Scores are calculated differently from the other games. In addition to the Stage score - the raw score value gained while operating during the level, there is the Skill score. This comprises of the Vital bonus, Time bonus, and chain length bonus, while Special bonuses award multipliers to the Skill score. The Skill and Stage scores are then added to give the final score that determines your rank.
The game progresses in chapters, just like Under The Knife and Second Opinion. There are seven chapters total, and each operation in each chapter must be completed in order to proceed.
At the end of every few chapters, there is a Challenge mode, usually three or four operations performed consecutively, with all operations including ailments that appeared in the preceding chapters since the last Challenge. Each challenge is marked with an A and the number challenge it is; therefore, Challenge 1 is called A-1. There is no Stigma in these operations except in Challenge A-4, where both Stigma and GUILT must be operated on simultaneously. Challenge operations are confined to a "Special" difficulty level, which works similarly to Normal difficulty, but the XS rank is attainable. The chain works differently too - scoring a Good or lower where a Cool could have been scored will break your chain. If a Challenge operation is failed, the game will automatically give the player a rank of C.
Like both Trauma Center games that came before it, New Blood features the X missions once the entire game is completed. These games are merely a challenge to the player and are set on "Extreme" difficulty. There are 6 of these operations in New Blood, one for each strain of Stigma.
Soundtrack
- The soundtrack was composed by Atsushi Kitajoh.
- The soundtrack's opening track sounds slightly similar to the one of popular medical TV show House M.D.
Packaging Artwork
External Links
- Official Site
- cnb.atlusnet.jp
| v • d • e | Trauma Center Series | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Under the Knife • Second Opinion • Under the Knife 2 • New Blood • Trauma Team | |||
| Universe | ||||
| General | Locations • Organizations (Caduceus International • Delphi) • Healing Touch • Surgical Tools • Diseases • Game Over • Episodes | |||
| Media | ||||
| Music | Under the Knife Soundtrack • Second Opinion Soundtrack • Under the Knife 2 Soundtrack • New Blood Soundtrack • Trauma Team Soundtrack | |||
| Physical | Caduceus Guidebook • Caduceus Z Guidebook • Caduceus 2 Guidebook • Caduceus New Blood Guidebook • HOSPITAL. Guidebook | |||