Life and Death is one of those games that seems to have defined its own genre. I certainly have not seen another game like it (though they may be out there). Seemingly ahead of its time, the game takes the player into the world of a hospital where the player gets to be the doctor. That’s right, you get to examine patients, go to medical school, take x-ray images, and even perform major surgery. But be careful, Doctor! One incorrect step and you may just end up with a dead patient and out of a job.
Life and Death is one of those games that seems to have defined its own genre. I certainly have not seen another game like it (though they may be out there). Seemingly ahead of its time, the game takes the player into the world of a hospital where the player gets to be the doctor. That’s right, you get to examine patients, go to medical school, take x-ray images, and even perform major surgery. But be careful, Doctor! One incorrect step and you may just end up with a dead patient and out of a job.
While the graphics aren’t spectacular, the game play is very nice. With a built in medical school tutorial, the game guides the player step by step through the proper processes of
patient care. The beginning examination phases are simple enough for the player to learn through trial and error. You also won’t be killing anyone off right away. If the newbie doctor happens to misdiagnose a patient in these early stages, he or she will be sent to medical school (tutorial) to learn what went wrong. This little gem of a tutorial is really quite helpful as most of the simple folks like me never got to go to medical school.
As you work your way through medical school, you’ll learn the different procedures to follow for each symptom (found by examination of patients). Sometimes you will get to perform a surgery. This is definitely the heart of the game. Once again, you must follow certain procedures for a successful surgery, including sterilization, anesthesia, and properly draping the patient’s body. At this point of the game (which really isn’t too far into the game), any wrong move could cause major harm to your medical career, especially if you end up losing a patient. The fun part comes when you finally slice open the patient.
Of course, the way the game goes for you depends on what kind of player you are. As in many games, you can choose your course. You can be the kind of doctor who takes great care of the patients and pays close attention in medical school, or you could be the type of doctor who performs surgery with reckless abandon, slicing into a person without proper sterilization, or injecting morphine at an inappropriate time. In my opinion this is a feature of many great video games, the ability to adapt to different players. Life and Death allows you to play the game in your own style… well, until you get fired from the hospital, that is.
