Review: Surgeon Simulator: A&E Anniversary Edition

Posted by Brad T on September 17th, 2014 | 1 Comment | Tags: Surgeon Simulator Anniversary Edition

In case you forgot about me raving about Surgeon Simulator 2013 Last year, I’m back to give you the skinny over the PS4 release of Surgeon Simulator Anniversary Edition.  It’s a great port, with added features that will keep you practicing your operating skills until you get that platinum trophy.

For the uninitiated, Surgeon Simulator comes to us from Bossa Studios.  You’re put in control of one hand of a surgeon (Nigel), given a ridiculous control scheme, and expected to perform open heart surgery (among others).  The scheme has been slightly simplified for PS4, but you have a few options to choose from to find which unintuitive control type you feel like practicing the most with.  To explain briefly, the left stick moves your hand forward, backward, and sideways.  The right stick allows you to rotate your hand left or right and flex your wrist up and down.  R2 will drop your hand, and the other triggers allow you to grasp with your fingers.   If that was too convoluted, suggest watching a video to see it in motion.  Strangely, there isn’t any support for the PlayStation Move.  Wouldn’t be surprised if this was patched in later, but I wonder if the Move controller may have offered too much control and logic over the Surgeon’s hand.

There are five main surgeries to get acquainted with.  These consist of open heart, kidney transplant, brain transplant, tooth replacement, and eye transplant.  The later two were only available on the tablet version of the game and were new to me.  Kidney transplants are still a huge pain, but I enjoyed the new pair of surgeries.  They all have their own tricks and different ways of completing with precise instruments like lasers and blunt hammers.  The title is in no way serious, but it can get pretty gnarly even for the cartoony graphics, so be warned.  There were times when I had to put the controller down and stare at the spectacle that I was creating.  It certainly took a few “creative” minds to come up with this.  The retro electro music is great though.

After you beat each of the surgeries, you can refine your score / time or move on to other versions of those same surgeries.  Clunky controls in an Operating Room too easy for you?  How about in the back of a bumpy ambulance or in zero G?  Anniversary Edition also adds the hallway set of levels that have you operating while dashing down a hallway.  Found it rather irritating as your tools will cycle past you on moving carts, usually only allowing you to grab one thing before it disappears.

This is the kind of game you either instantly fall in love with or stare at in amazement.  Surgeon Simulator A&E is a great port of the original title and brings more good new features than bad.  If you haven’t made up your mind, consider the local co-op patch being added in which adds… another hand.  Maybe that person on the couch next to you could operate the drill while you administer the painkiller (hopefully without accidentally pricking yourself and causing a hallucination).

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.

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