Dammit, don't die on me!
I got Trauma Center in the mail yesterday, and it's a pretty interesting game. It's got a unique motif, and it ties together the series of minigames (let's face it) better than some other similar DS titles. But what really makes it different is that you're playing with people's lives. Fictional people. But still.
See, when you play Mario or Metal Gear, and you die, Mario or Solid Snake die. You screwed up, too bad. In terms of the fictional universe, that's you playing with your own life. "You" die when you screw up.
Even games where your job is to protect some AI character, like ICO, is much different. In those games the fictitious characters know they're in danger, and they know it's an impossible situation, and the hero has to bail them out. Sure, sometimes the hero isn't successful, but what do you expect? There are armed guards and crap! Danger is inherent.
Trauma Center is different in that it's a doctor game. People may make jokes and have some lingering doubts, but they generally trust doctors. They generally assume "hey, this guy is a professional, and I'm at a pretty minimal risk for danger." To screw up when that amount of trust is placed in you, when someone submits themselves for a procedure thinking that they are in the hands of someone who does this every day for a job, that seems much more extreme. So while the characters in this game aren't as well-developed as the AI-protection-bait in some other titles, you somehow feel worse for screw-ups resulting in their deaths, just based on the trust placed in your title of "doctor."
See, when you play Mario or Metal Gear, and you die, Mario or Solid Snake die. You screwed up, too bad. In terms of the fictional universe, that's you playing with your own life. "You" die when you screw up.
Even games where your job is to protect some AI character, like ICO, is much different. In those games the fictitious characters know they're in danger, and they know it's an impossible situation, and the hero has to bail them out. Sure, sometimes the hero isn't successful, but what do you expect? There are armed guards and crap! Danger is inherent.
Trauma Center is different in that it's a doctor game. People may make jokes and have some lingering doubts, but they generally trust doctors. They generally assume "hey, this guy is a professional, and I'm at a pretty minimal risk for danger." To screw up when that amount of trust is placed in you, when someone submits themselves for a procedure thinking that they are in the hands of someone who does this every day for a job, that seems much more extreme. So while the characters in this game aren't as well-developed as the AI-protection-bait in some other titles, you somehow feel worse for screw-ups resulting in their deaths, just based on the trust placed in your title of "doctor."