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Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Malpractice suits aplenty
I started playing computer games from a very young age. I have many fond memories of some of the games I used to love playing back then, and these last few years I have been accumulating abandonware (that's what really really old computer games with publishers and developers that have since kicked the bucket are called) so I can relive the memories of playing these games once again. One of these games was Life and Death, and its sequel Life and Death 2: The Brain.
For the people now scratching their heads, Life and Death is a simulation/educational game where you play a surgeon. In Life and Death you operate on the stomach area, curing patients of appendicitis and aneurysms. In Life and Death 2: The Brain, you do brain surgery (duh).
Well, yeah, I suppose it sounds pretty disgusting and not much fun, not to mention bloody. But what does a nine year old kid know?
Nothing.
Really.
The first time I managed to diagnose my patient correctly without them ending up in the morgue and got to the operation table, I was elated! However, I knew nothing about surgery. The first thing I did was to pick up the knife-looking thing and cut the patient straight across the stomach. After he finished screaming, I ended up in the medical classroom while the head doctor screamed at me for not applying anaesthetic first. That threw me into fits of laughter. Thus began my fascination with the game.
I operated on my poor, poor patients on a trial and error basis. Since I did not have a manual (it was a pirated copy), I couldn't figure out what to do till I did something seriously wrong and ended up being berated by the head doctor. I was better off in Life or Death 2 because it had a built in manual. I managed to complete a few surgeries in the sequel, but sadly, I never quite figured out the first game.
Then tonight I thought about the game again. So I downloaded it off Home of the Underdogs and started playing again. It took a few trials and errors again before the patients stopped keeling over. Then I got to the operation room. Trial and error again. Got fed-up and decided to download a walkthrough. After a few more tries, I actually managed to successfully operate on an appendix, and later on, an aneurysm! Joy, after 17 years, I have finally managed to finish the game!
My final score? 17/44 patients. That means I saved 17, out of 44. The rest died/were misoperated upon. Whoops. Good thing I'm not a doctor in real life, huh?
For the people now scratching their heads, Life and Death is a simulation/educational game where you play a surgeon. In Life and Death you operate on the stomach area, curing patients of appendicitis and aneurysms. In Life and Death 2: The Brain, you do brain surgery (duh).
Well, yeah, I suppose it sounds pretty disgusting and not much fun, not to mention bloody. But what does a nine year old kid know?
Nothing.
Really.
The first time I managed to diagnose my patient correctly without them ending up in the morgue and got to the operation table, I was elated! However, I knew nothing about surgery. The first thing I did was to pick up the knife-looking thing and cut the patient straight across the stomach. After he finished screaming, I ended up in the medical classroom while the head doctor screamed at me for not applying anaesthetic first. That threw me into fits of laughter. Thus began my fascination with the game.
I operated on my poor, poor patients on a trial and error basis. Since I did not have a manual (it was a pirated copy), I couldn't figure out what to do till I did something seriously wrong and ended up being berated by the head doctor. I was better off in Life or Death 2 because it had a built in manual. I managed to complete a few surgeries in the sequel, but sadly, I never quite figured out the first game.
Then tonight I thought about the game again. So I downloaded it off Home of the Underdogs and started playing again. It took a few trials and errors again before the patients stopped keeling over. Then I got to the operation room. Trial and error again. Got fed-up and decided to download a walkthrough. After a few more tries, I actually managed to successfully operate on an appendix, and later on, an aneurysm! Joy, after 17 years, I have finally managed to finish the game!
My final score? 17/44 patients. That means I saved 17, out of 44. The rest died/were misoperated upon. Whoops. Good thing I'm not a doctor in real life, huh?
Published by: whiterabbit # 9/07/2005 12:51:00 am 