Top Medical Video Games

Stethoscope? White Coat? Scalpel? Take on the role of a virtual doctor with these top medical video games, available on the popular Nintendo Wii and on PCs.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Official Website: http://www.atlus.com/trauma_center/
The Trauma Center series of video games focuses on anime-rpg style medical adventures, amidst fictional outbreaks and bioterrorism. Players use a variety of skills and tools to heal and treat their virtual patients. The original Trauma Center: Second Opinion was the first in the series to come out for Nintendo Wii and offered players an exciting storyline, interesting characters and a variety of medical scenarios to tackle. The game made heavy use of the Wii's motion sensitive control with the nunchucks, for "cutting" with virtual scalpels, sutures, drainage hoses, antibiotic gel and more. Players have to treat the patients quickly, before the vitals zero out. The storyline is fairly escapist in nature, with a secret organization wielding a powerful virus to terrorize. I was fairly impressed with Trauma Center: Second Opinion when I first played it, but it is certainly not an easy game, with lots of dexterity involved! Also, check out the original Trauma Center available on Nintendo Ds for more medical fun!

Life and Death
Website: http://www.mobygames.com/game/life-death
Chances are you have never heard of this super old-school medical video game. It was released in 1988 for the PC by the game company, Software Toolworks (now known as Mindscape). Players have to take on the role of a resident abdominal surgeon, diagnosing patients with a variety of different GI disorders. Graphics are much better than expected for such an old game but it can be hard to find a copy of this one. Life and Death is definitely one to look into if you are a fan of medical video games!

Immune Attack
Official Website: http://www.fas.org/immuneattack/
During an immunology class, I once remarked to a friend, "This white blood cell, macrophage, complement and other crazy battle-stuff would make a sweet video game." Turns out, some folks have already done just that. Enter: Immune Attack, a free game for PC, showcasing the battles that your body does to keep you healthy from invaders. Check out this trailer for it on Youtube. It is really a pretty well-designed game and offers a lot, especially for those learning about the immune system for the first time. Don't expect the game to hit ICAMs, HPA-1A, Factor XII and more of the detailed workings, but it certainly is a good primer on basic immunological concepts!