LifeSigns certainly is a contender for “most interesting game this year”. Not because the game is all that good, but because of how the story and its issues introduce you to a very different culture in Japan.
When you pick up the box for and look at the back, the images are attention grabbers. Each depicts some aspect of the surgical theatre. This would lead one to expect this game has ample surgical fun with a touch of story to tie it all together. The truth of the matter is the medical aspect of the game barely represents 5% of the overall gameplay. Almost the entire bulk of the game is spent in an adventure interface where you drop subject icons onto people to further the story and develop interpersonal relationships - somewhat like the Phoenix Wright games.
If you just want a better Trauma Center then the synopsis should state that the game is terrible and to write it off. Thankfully, things aren’t always so simple. Once it became apparent just how little of the game had action or surgical elements, the story itself took over with some interesting peculiarities. The story begins oddly. You are Dr. Tendo, a young intern stationed at the Semei Medical University Hospital in Japan. You are off a road several miles from the hospital having an apparent interlude with several nurses. Things quickly spiral out of control until you wake up from your nightmare in the night ward. For such an innocent looking game, it’s foreshadowing of things to come. Later on the story gets more intense and subjects you’d never expect to encounter here, seems to be perfectly acceptable for gaming in Japan.
To put it in perspective, how many games rated “T for Teen” created in the United States would dare tackle topics such as: Familial rape? Teen idol obsessions taken to extreme? The delicate issue of a male authority figure interacting with underage female patients? I can’t think of young teen game made here in the United States myself. It’s not worth it for American developers to gamble unless they’re aiming for shock value in an “M” targeted game. But then, that’s an entirely differ genre altogether and regardless of how tasteful it could be presented in a Teen game, there would be some group of parents upset by the contents. When a legendary developer like Sid Meier was too afraid to put “alcohol” in a Pirate game, it shows just how different standards are between American and Japanese gaming.
To progress the story, your character moves from room to room interacting with staff and patients using overhead icons to drag onto whatever character is on-screen. Regrettably, NONE of the interactions create any story variety whatsoever. It’s like reading a book where you drop paragraphs into order. This is a tremendous flaw after all; this is a game, not a movie. As the stories and characters soon develop, it appears nearly every female at the hospital harbors a secret attraction for your character. Normally this would suggest a game was developed with just on demographic in mind – teenage boys. But with the atypical nature of the story evolves, it could be possible this is simply the way games are made in Japan. Possibly the underpinnings of a somewhat more male-centric society than what we have here.
The first half of the game is entirely in the hospital, but later on you get to experience a vacation getaway with your little sister. Much like the first half of the game, the majority of the island adventure is dialogue with only a few emergency operations to participate in.
When the game first boots, it immediately warns you not try and perform the operations on your own since they aren’t necessarily accurate. In other games this is exciting legalese to read as it indicates things are close enough to reality that some people will be dumb enough to think they are suddenly qualified to excise vestigial organs. Adding to the initial idea it’s wholly authentic is the accurate terminology, but the actual operations themselves are indubitably disappointing. Most of the operations are “emergencies”, and they’re about as technical as Hasbro’s “Operation” board game… the one with the big red nose and buzzer noises. The selection of operations you do (primarily abdominal and chest) is paltry and surprisingly they’re somewhat boring. With the simple hit of the “L Button” you see exactly where to slice, where to cauterize, and where to make scribbly suture marks. Yes that’s right - suturing organs, arteries, and the skin involves scribbling wildly with the stylus. The only real difficulty in these operations is the lack of appropriate direction on how to do the tasks correctly the first time. After you understand what’s expected they’re a breeze.
Once the game is finished a few unlockables become available. You can replay any of the eleven operations (including a bonus one not in the story) and also the five useless mini- games. The mini-games are barely worth mentioning since they feel as if the developer realized after the game was done the player had nothing really play. You also get a bewildering unlockable of the music soundtrack. This music could kill Kenny G so I’m not sure what kind of gamer would actually want it.
The game is all over the map. The story is interesting and gives a little peek into Japanese society. The graphics are fantastic, but the music is horrible. Finally, the fact you can’t actually do anything to affect any of the game’s outcomes is somewhat ridiculous, and in the end makes it difficult to recommend.
