Summary: I played an earlier emergency room game from the same publishers, and thought, while seriously flawed, it had potential. So I was willing to try the latest release in the series hoping the flaws had been fixed. Unfortunately, most of them haven't been fixed, and some new ones have been added. This game isn't really fun. What motivated me to complete "Code Blue" is that it is mildly education in E.R. techniques. I enjoyed that I had heard a lot of the terms in the game in the TV show "E.R.", and now I understand what they mean. But that is about all the game has going for it. I beat the game in one 12-hour session on the medium difficultly level.
There are two main detractors from the fun. First, the user interface is horrible. I am a programmer myself, and I have a lot of knowledge about good user interface design. It is clear that this game went through no or very little user interface design or play testing. For example, while working on a patient, you need to quickly grab various tools, which are divided into seven trays. I would expect that if I wanted to select a specific tool, I would just pick the tray, and then pick the tool. However the game makes me first select the Tools menu, then pick the tray, then pick the tool. That's three mouse clicks that I must do EVERY time I use a tool. Even if I just used that same tool on another part of the body, I must again click the mouse three times to grab that same tool again. This makes performing procedures tedious. Keep in mind that the game is completely mouse driven, so there are no keyboard shortcuts to speed things along.
The second fatal problem is that the game is full of bugs. It reminds me of my last company where are software testing department consisted of our receptionist who would randomly go through our programs in between answering the phones. There are bugs everywhere you look in "Code Blue". It crashes often. The longer you play it, the slower it gets, which is a sure sign of memory leaks. The tutorial mode, which is supposed to indicate to you which procedure to do next, is clearly giving wrong advice. If you do something to a patient (such as put an oxygen mask on him), then load a saved game before you did that, the oxygen mask will still be on him, indicating that the load function doesn't really work. There are many more annoying bugs, but you get the idea.
Summary: Code Blue is a unique strategy game for the home computer. Released in late 2000, it came out along with a few other medical related game titles. Code Blue takes place in the Legacy Memorial Hospital where it is your duty to help bring back the hospital into a respectable place. This is my first time playing a game like this, so I didn't really know what to expect. It turns out that Code Blue is a surprisingly fun reality based experience.
Code Blue is full of live action video, featuring real Hollywood actors in each video. As you enter the treatment or trauma room to treat a patient, you will first see a video of the patient or EMTs telling you what happened to that particular patient. The acting is very well done in most cases. However, one thing that bugged me was that the patients will be talking quite a bit when you are operating on them but they never show any pain whatsoever. Legacy Interactive strived to make this realistic and for the most part it is, but that little nugget of "unrealisticness" is a shame.
There is a total of 35 cases to carry out, with each one being different. You will encounter normal cases like vehicle accidents and pneumonia, but there will also be some absurd cases such as a jeweler swallowing his jewels for fear of being robbed. Each case is enjoyable and there is a real sense of accomplishment after bringing a patient back to life. Losing a patient, however, can be a blast or saddening depending on what type of person you are. I went through the game once just using the defibrillator and killing the patients just to see how long I would still be employed - not surprisingly, I was fired after two cases.
Besides the defibrillator, there are 49 other medical tools to use such as the X-Ray machine and several syringes. If you incorrectly use the tools on a patient, you will hear about it from your boss. Also, if you give an incorrect diagnosis and false orders after treating the patient, you will lose several points. By getting a high score, you have a better chance of keeping your job. I have yet to be fired, except for that defibrillator debacle I mentioned earlier.
There are three ways to play Code Blue - easy, normal, and expert. Easy is for beginners, as it tells you what to do. Think of it as a hand-holding walkthrough for the game. Normal mode doesn't tell you what to do, but it still helps you out a little bit by telling you what the readings of the instruments mean. Expert mode is basically for real life doctors and medical personel only - you have absolutely no help whatsoever. Because of this difficulty system, anyone can play Code Blue no matter how medically inclined they may be.
Code Blue is a great game, but it could be so much better. The biggest problem I found was that the game froze on me more than any other game I have ever played. I swear I have only got this game to be freeze-free 3-4 times. Nearly every other time the game would freeze right in the middle of an operation, leaving me waiting for the game to unfreeze. Most of the time, however, the game would just stay froze, forcing me to CTRL ALT DELETE my way out of it. The constant freezing became very annoying in a short matter of time, causing the fun factor to take a great fall.
The visuals and audio featured in Code Blue are nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of the game is just watching the live video, but when you are actually operating on a patient everything looks great. The medical tools look great as do the backgrounds. The characters of course are realistic, considering they are actually taken from the live video. The music tracks in the game fit the hospital theme, with the music tracks changing with each character. For example, a bank robber gets a more serious theme while a regular patient just gets a normal, more calm theme. The sound effects are also decent, but nothing is really too memorable.
I bought Code Blue for a measly $2.00 on clearance and it is definitely worth the price. With interesting characters and cases, and a unique concept, Code Blue is worthy of a buy from any gamer. While the constant freezing is very annoying (hence the lowered score), I don't know if it does that on all computers. Nevertheless, give it a try if you can find it - especially as cheap as I got it.
Final Analysis: Graphics 8/10 - sharp, clean visuals Sound 7/10 - fits the game but can become tedious in some areas Gameplay 7/10 - fun characters and cases but the freezing brings it down Control 8/10 - responsive and easy to use with a mouse Overall 7/10
Rating Reviewed by: Jimmy Ridgeway(Unregistered User)
Review Date May 30, 2001
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Review NaN of 4
, from Nashville
Price Paid:
$20.00
from Wal-Mart
Summary: This is a great game. Very realistic and time consuming. While my treatment plans were good, my discharge orders left alot to be desired. I "lost" 2 patients due to unnecessary tests and actually not knowing how to treat them properly. There is a wide variety of tools at your disposal along with a medical computer(which i should have used more)that you can download onto a handheld to refer to while treating patients.Its alot of fun with real life movie clips that make it more enjoyable
2 of 5
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