Fun Game. . .long cutscenes
I had fun playing this game. Any time I got frustrated with one of my other games I would whip this one out and perform a few surgeries. The concept is neat, using your stylus to select different tools and perform an operation. Its just a fun casual game, and having the easy mode is nice.

Also if anyone out there has fear of needles and doctors like I do don't worry. I winced the first few times I had to inject stuff. . .but it isn't too realistic so I got over it quickly.

The only negative thing for me was the cut scenes. OMG they were sooo unnecessary in my opinion. The story is retarded. I would have been happy with a simple. . .you are a doctor. . .perform these operations. . .but they had some long story that takes up 80% of the game play. And the cut scenes are just pictures of people and text. . .not even visually interesting. . .

Overall I say you should buy this game. . .just know to push select during the cut scenes. . .this fast forward through them for you.

Fun But I Hit A Wall
The game is not bad. Using the stylus is really easy to get used to and is quite fun. If you have played Trauma Center on the Wii, the transition is not too difficult. If you liked the Wii version, you will probably like this one.

The biggest problem I had was in the cut scenes. They seemed to take forever. Yes, it is fun to follow the story the first time through but after killing the patient, the save point is prior to the cut scene not after so if you hit a particularly tricky surgery, the frustration factor is exponentially worse because you have to keep going through the scenes. I will feel quite bad if there is a way to skip it via the instructions but it is neither intuitive nor obvious. Needless to say, I hit a particularly difficult surgery about a month after purchase (maybe 6-7 in) and after trying several times, I got too frustrated with the long scenes and have not played in some time.

Now that I am typing this, maybe I will give it another try on the train tomorrow. Who knows. Just be warned.

Trauma center under the knife 2
First of all i would like to say that i pre-ordered this game June 10th,Unfortunately for me didn't receive it till July 17th because I didn't order from Amazon.Amazon is #1!!!
Ok now to the game i would like to say that besides my favorite Donkey kong jungle Climber game,this is the best.The graphics are so much better then the first one.
I think one of the best things they could do as they did w/this game which made all the difference was to add the Easy,Normal,Hard choices. on the under the knife 2.now i can practice on easy and eventually work my way to doing the surgerys in the hard mode,which makes it like 3 games instead of 1.
I am not a perfect gamer yet an to actually choose the difficulty makes it alot funner.Also the tools such as the magnifying thing are much easier and quicker as the operations are timed,and the graphics and colors are sooooooo much better.
If you get only a couple dS games for your DS make sure this is one of them,I am very picky when it comes to giving 5 stars for anhy game but this one and my DK jungle climber are the only 2 so far,that says something because I have 94 DS games now.Buy IT!!!!!!Oh i almost forgot ,FROM AMAZON!!!!!

More of the same, and that is not a bad thing
When the original Trauma Center: Under the Knife debuted on the DS back in 2005, it ended up being somewhat of a surprise hit, thanks to it's addictive and challenging gameplay, and making some great uses of the DS' touch screen and stylus. Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 offers up more of the same, and that isn't a bad thing either, as the formula still remains the same, and the game still amounts to being a fun and addictive challenge. Once again playing as surgeon Derek Stiles, you help out the sick or wounded as the storyline picks up where the last game left off. If you found the bioterrorism storyline from the first game a little ridiculous, you won't find the story here much better, but it's the gameplay that really makes the game as good as it is. Also, the game offers up three difficulty settings, compared to the first game's one, which is a big plus for Trauma Center newcomers. There's plenty of variety with all of the operations, and more operations to perform this time around as well. If there's any real downside to Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, it's the same flaw that was with the first game: there's too much dialogue between the characters going on in between surgeries to carry the story along. This breaks up the otherwise fast paced gameplay, but doesn't quite detract from the overall experience. All in all, if you dug the first Trauma Center at all, you'll enjoy this sequel as well, and this is worth checking out for newcomers to the series as well.

Outstanding without the problems that plagued the first one!
Excellent game! If you're reading this then I am sure you've heard they put levels of difficulty in this game. It makes a world of difference to the gameplay and frustration level.

Additionally they've improved the tools as well (you don't have to draw circles to magnify) and this DS touch version is a bit more forgiving than the first one. The graphics are better (which would be expected anyway since its 2008 now). The colors are also easier on the eyes than the first one.

The first one I found an exercise in frustration (to say the least!). It was extremely unforgiving of tiny imperfections. Some may like that. I don't. I'm more of a casual gamer who plays video games for pure enjoyment and not for competition or to "beat" a game or what have you.

Had I not played the first one after I got this one I would have wondered what all the original reviews were about--since people complained that the game was so hard. This one is no cake walk (even on easy level!) but the touch screen responds SO SO SO much better than the first one...you'll really be able to tell the difference in game play. The first one still shows "wiggly" lines even when you really do draw straight ones.

I write my reviews mostly for the more casual gamer who games to escape and have fun. I really can't say if you are more of a hard core gamer or like insanely difficult games whether you'll like this version or not...but you can alter the difficulty to hard if you like so that may satisfy.

Overall HIGHLY recommended. I have put about 10 hours in and am on level 6 and am really enjoying myself. Its not easy---but it is rewarding enough so you can push yourself to play that operation just one more time.

Sidenote: The story is pretty good in this one. They aren't as sarcastic and it is even a bit romantic and funny!