Vital Signs: Emergency Department

This isn't a game.

I love medical games and always have. But, as reluctantly as I must, I have to give it a thumbs-down. Unless you are a trained medical professional and for some reason want to play a game about your full-time job, you might be okay. But for the rest of the population (like me), it's a bit too complex. I'll post a quick TLDR and pros/cons under this review, but here are some of the issues: First the tutorial. While it takes you through a very brief overview of the controls, I felt that I could really use more hand-holding on at least the first case, especially because it's timed. Also, the game assumes you know the names of all the different drugs and what they do, as well as a general idea of dosage. You're basically searching through lists of procedures and terms to pick the right ones- no explanations, no little button to click on for more info, no nothing. WebMD and Google will be your friends as your patient's vitals rapidly deteriorate- let me mention again that this is timed, and taking too long will also give your next patient more time to go downhill. And in the treatment menus you have *lots* of choices, like scroll through multiple menus lots, and they don't narrow them down one bit based on your case. I got (more like fumbled) through the first case and a half and then stress-quit, and these cases were meant to be easy. While that's realistic as an accurate sim, it's pretty overwhelming for someone who just wants to play a game and have fun. Look to Bio Inc or the 1995 Emergency Room game for better play experiences. TLDR: Pretty hard for laypeople- way too many treatments to learn and no help. Try it first (it's free) but don't buy the DLC outright unless you like it. Pros: Controls are easy to learn, graphics and layout decent-ish, free original game Cons: Requires a lot of medical knowledge, no in-game help with terminology or treatments, aggressive invisible timer, can be stressful. overwhelming treatment options