Frustration is understandable when you’re performing extremely technical operations, even if it does get a little out of hand here from time to time. Thankfully, as many discovered when Second Opinion came out in ’06, using the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo for surgery is a hell of a lot better than using the DS stylus. While the latter allows for greater precision when making incisions or other moves that require tracing, there really is no reasonable substitute for selecting tools with the analog stick. I can’t even count how many times I failed in the DS games because I was frantically trying to select the syringe on the touch-screen, and even though I still manage to fail a generous amount in the later levels, it’s enough of a difference to severely lower my stress.

This is all presented in the same manner as it was on the original DS and Wii entries. Lots of featureless mannequin bodies into which you’ll dive deeper and deeper. The graphics don’t really matter in something like this, though, because it demands close concentration on the minutiae of the task at hand. It’s almost a godsend that the backgrounds aren’t more detailed than they are, because any extra distraction is a possibly deadly one.

The story enveloping all of the emergency room madness might be a total throwaway, plus-button-pressing experience, depending on the player. To me, at least, there’s nothing more mind numbing than screen after screen of exhaustive text topped with static images, but your mileage may vary. Either way, it’s all just setup for increasingly insane operations, from simply realigning bones, to emergencies of the heart, internal mechanical failures and so on. When a level hits that perfect pitch of intensity in a not too terribly unforgiving way, it can be a hell of a ride.