Welcome to DS on DS. This is where I'm going to be taking a look at the Nintendo DS and all of it's games. And when I say all, I mean it. We will be going from Metroid Prime: Hunters to Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends. From Tetris DS to Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses. Yes, I said Barbie.

This week I am going to be taking a look at Grey's Anatomy.

I don't know much about the TV show Grey's Anatomy.  My knowledge of it is limited to the fact that it's about a hospital and the chick from Knocked Up is in it.  I'm telling you this because I have absolutely no idea about who any of the characters are or what any sort of ongoing story arcs there may be.  I also had no idea what to expect going into this game.  I figured that it would probably be like Trauma Center Lite.  It turned out to be more like Trauma Center Free.

The game is laid out much like a TV show is, where it is divided into episodes, acts, and scenes.  Each scene is very short, maybe taking around 3 minutes for the longer ones.  All of the scenes in the game consist of a bunch of still images of CG models of the characters in the show.  It looks like they are stills from some video, probably from the other versions of the game.  However, in the DS version, there is no video or voice work.  Everything is done through on screen text.  And it's all very slow.  You know those little old ladies who can barely see over their steering wheels and drive about 4 miles an hour?  Think about how frustratingly slow driving behind them is and you might get a sense of how slow this game is.

You start of the game in a scene with Meredith Grey getting in an elevator with Derek Shepherd.  Meredith thinks about how she wants Derek to come over tonight, there is a little back and forth, and then you play your first mini-game.  This one has you choosing to be flirty with Derek or to play hard to get.  Yes, I'm being serious.  You choose one of the two, and then you need to put the puzzle together that matches the choice you picked.  And all you need to do is tap the images and they pop into place.  I ended up choosing to play hard to get.  After all, I don't want to come off like a slut.  Then after some more text and figuring out that she really wants to kiss Derek.  So, you need to trace a big circle.  You have to do it very slowly though, otherwise it won't be able to keep up with you.  After the kiss, he asks if he can spend the night.  Then you get yet another mini-game where you have to get rid of Meredith's doubt by flinging away thought bubbles with Derek's face in them. And that is the end of Scene 1.

A little ways into Scene 2, you get to do some surgery.  Okay, this is what I wanted to do.  So here we are in the O.R., and we get to swab the area, make the incision, and suction the blood.  Unlike Trauma Center, you don't have to worry about your tool selection because it is automated. Then you get another mini-game where you need to unfold some wads of paper to find the one with the Chief's face, because you are trying to get some information out of him.  After some more talking, doubt cloud flinging, and more mini-games, you get to do more surgery.  Let's take this fool's appendix out!  Or not, apparently, because the surgery is done and you have to suture the guy up and put the bandages on.  Yawn.

Sadly, this is as exciting as the game gets.  This is less of a game and more of a choose your own adventure story with a few distractions thrown in.  This is one of the single most boring games I have ever played.  It was a complete struggle to force myself to play it.  I kept wanting to go back to Chinatown Wars.  Even for fans of the show, I think this game would be completely boring.  It is way too slow paced and just plain no fun.

Final Score: 2/10