Surgeon Simulator 2013 – What We Think:

Call it what you might – an interactive video toy, a modern version of the Operation board game, the perfect drinking party game, or YouTube comedy gold – Surgeon Simulator 2013 is unique. It’s a special child in the slew of new indie games. It’s a pure test of your hand-eye coordination. It’s humor and the star is you!

Surgeon Simulator is definitely not to be taken seriously and by no means is it really a ‘Sim’; the first stage asks you to preform a Heart Transplant. But, how you go about it is not what you’d expect. In fact, it has you violently ripping open the patient’s ribcage, yanking out and tossing aside both lungs, cutting out the old heart, and then dropping a new heart in the gaping wound and calling it a day.

Never mind that your wristwatch came off and is now in the cavity, as well did few surgical knives, and is that a Jr. Mint? Who cares!? The heart’s in there, call it a day, the heart is in there, right? Good.

The controls for the game are a little awkward. But, that is the point. Moving the mouse moves your hand around, AWER and Spacebar control your fingers for when you want to grab something, and boy does that feel weird – like you’re mashing your fat palm that’s been stung by a thousand bees to pick something up, and you’re allergic.

Holding a button and moving the mouse will twist and pivot your wrist, Left-Clicking will lower your hand, but releasing it will raise it back up again.

Paging Doctor Jack Daniels

Now imagine preforming what *should be* delicate surgery with these controls. Now imagine doing it drunk (or high), or watching your friend attempt it (who is drunk and/or high). Now I’m sure you can see where the appeal of the game can be extended.

The amount of content in the game is a little sparse, you can finish everything it has to offer in a couple hours. There are 3 main procedures, 3 variants to these operations, and 2 extra missions. After you’ve completed all of these there is only the fun of goofing around with the game to add to play time.

Don’t You Die On Me!

However there may be more to it, since the 2nd extra mission took a while to figure out how to access, due to needing to preform a series of actions in the game that come to light after having solved an elaborate ARG puzzle put together by the developers. Who knows what else lurks in the source code?

As for the three primary missions, the 3rd was a bit too simplistic, even if it is visually entertaining – the Brain transplant; You just bash open the skull, clip the spinal cord, and drop in a new brain, done!

I felt it a little too simple, but I must admit, when I think about it, how can you have a game like this and NOT have a mad scientist-esque brain transplant level. So on review, bravo to them for having included it!

After you complete the three missions, you are asked to do them again…while in the back of a speeding ambulance that is weaving to and fro in wild traffic. Scalpels are flying across the prep table and often into your subject’s chest cavity. Seriously, this game is all about the absurdity of it all. The final set has you preforming the three operations…in space, without gravity. Yup, comedy.

To further add to the awkwardness, Surgeon Simulator 2013 has been given Oculus Rift and Razer Hydra controller support. For those who don’t know, Oculus Rift is a new form of VR that is about as real as we’re going to get in our lifetime and the Razer Hydra controller is a 1-to-1 direct hand emulation controller. Think of the Razer as a console’s motion controller on steroids. Now that you have full scale vision in VR and precise hand controls, do those operations in the game environment all over again!

But then that’s about all there is. It’s short and sweet, but something you can figuratively pull off the shelf again and tell a friend to play while you watch with glee. I know I will.

Rating:

Watch my Surgeon Simulator 2013 meets TF2 gameplay video:



Surgeon Simulator 2013 meets Team Fortress 2 – Official Trailer:

