In Trauma Centre Under The Knife you play the part of an idealistic young doctor called Derek Stiles performing a number of operations. Game play is easy in the beginning when you complete uncomplicated procedures in order to get used to the tools and you progress to more complex procedures requiring higher skill and speed.

A new disease has been discovered called GUILT which threatens to wipe out the human race. The virus evolves quickly so you have to have your wits about you to work out how to respond to the newest strain. Guilt is capable of many things like causing tumors or releasing worms into the body which you must destroy before they reach the patients heart.

It's more than just a surgical game, there's a story too. Guilt is believed to be the result of bioterrorism and Derek travels to various hospitals and the headquarters of Cadaceus to try and find a cure and discover who or what is causing this illness. Game play is split over six chapters which you must complete in order, each of them with their own unique challenges and story.

Derek has a range of surgical tools at his disposal including a scalpel, sutures, laser and ultrasound but he is no ordinary young doctor, he also possesses the healing touch which must only be used in extreme circumstances. You use the stylus on the touch screen to control these tools and a high degree of accuracy is required as too many mistakes and the patient dies. As well as performing the operations you have to monitor the patients vital signs and keep them within acceptable limits. All operations must be completed within the required time limit

This is one of the best games I have played on the DS. I was thoroughly addicted from the moment I picked up this game until I completed it. Game play is fast and sometimes frustrating as some operations I needed to repeat up to twenty times to complete.

Derek is assisted by a nurse called Angie Thompson and the relationship between them is fantastic, I was in stitches when they both had completely different ways of dealing with the suicidal patient Linda Reid. The story is incredible with many twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.

There's a few surprises thrown in here too, of course the plane ride to Africa doesn't go smoothly with Derek and Angie needing to perform heroic surgery mid air. Derek also needs to turn his hand to bomb disposal and there are a few fun puzzles for you to solve.

The graphics on this game are terrific, the bodies you operate on are simplified representations of the body, obviously they don't have all the complexity of real human anatomy but it is all clear and the major organs are in the right places. The Japanese style characters are lively and interesting, especially Angies facial expressions when she is angry! The sound complements the game well helping to build up a high level of tension in the player.

I liked the fact you can save on three different game slots on the cartridge meaning more than one person can play without disrupting the game for others. You can also play in operation challenge mode to revisit any operations you have previously completed. There is no opportunity to link up with other players using this game

I loved this game but there were a couple of things about it that annoyed me too. I found there were too many characters to keep track of during the story, perhaps they could have simplified this a bit. It is also a fairly short game, according to the timer it took me around six hours to compete the game, I will probably pick it up and play from the beginning at some point in the future but six hours is not really much play for the main story.

The downsides are minor in what is a truly fantastic game. I found myself on an online gaming forum for the first time in my life looking for a walkthrough when I was stuck on a level. I took my DS out with me and every time I had a spare few minutes I would find myself playing until I had the game finished, picture me sitting in the car outside the school with my DS in my hand tapping away at the screen oblivious to everything that was going on around me.

Trauma Center Under The Knife costs £29.99 new from all the usual retailers. I bought my copy on Ebay for £11 plus postage but most second hand copies cost closer to £15 right now.

This is a fantastic game combining great graphics, an entertaining story and fast paced game play. It is perfectly designed to take advantage of the features of the DS and I'm sure you won't be disappointed if you give it a try.