GAME STUDIO DESCRIPTION: As the new intern in the ER, you’ve got your work cut out for you. No sleep in 36 hours…you lay down for a well-deserved rest…then the call comes in…There’s been a freeway pile-up with multiple victims. The ambulance is 5 minutes out. You drag yourself up and prepare for the next onslaught. Welcome to the life and death drama that is Chicago’s County General Hospital!
Make the rounds alongside your favorite stars of the Emmy award winning hit TV show. Become part of the drama as you maneuver through the minefield of hospital politics, juggle your personal concerns, and race to save the lives of your patients on your path to prestige.
Key Features:
* Voice talents and likenesses of Noah Wyle, Mekhi Phifer and Sherry Stringfield
* Create your doctor and train in six different fields of medicine
* Unique character management sim / roleplaying gameplay
* Increase your prestige in the hospital by successfully treating patients, maintaining positive relationships and achieving your goals in each of the dramatic and sometimes humorous mission-based episodes
* Immersive gameplay features highly-detailed 3D environments and over 100 unique characters
* Utilize Perks and Special Abilities for the greater good, or just to spite your rivals! Give them as gifts or trade them with fellow staff members to build stronger relationships
* Experience a huge variety of patient disorders and group emergencies both inside and outside of the ER
PLAY: To call this a relative of The Sims would be a stretch. There is some interaction but it’s far from being in that realm. Most obvious is the generic characters. They become a problem when you are in need of a particular individual.
Adding to the problem are the camera controls. It should be much easier to maneuver the camera than it is. In order to move the camera you have to direct the mouse to the left or right side of the screen.
There are some interesting twists and some sim-like interaction. There is a bit of dynamics; if don’t get along with others it can lower your skill. It’s a good dynamic but it didn’t seem to work well across the board.
There is a skill system that has to do with many different things but not your skill as a player. This isn’t hardcore like The Sims. It’s for fans who want a little more ER in their lives. The excitement of the game would have been to do some surgery, etc instead of just clicking on the patient and watching it work. It shouldn’t be out of the players hands whether they get worse. You should be able to actively help the player get better.
ER gets monotonous even with different people who have different problems. Another annoyance is watching people talk. Why you can’t skip this makes no sense.
GRAPHICS: The 3D environment is quite good. Too bad the gameplay wasn’t on par.
SOUND: Some of the real cast members provide the voice acting—a major plus.
FRANKLY: Thankfully it seems you will always have the magic medicine to fix someone—whether the live or not isn’t up to you. See the dilemma? It takes entirely too long to complete a shift. It took me forever to even want to complete a shift. With the Sims you have more than one place to spend all your time. That never happens with ER—the hospital is your life and that gets old fast.
+ Richie Wright
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