My first ever video game review. Being the total girl that I am, I picked an appropriate title. No, it’s not Resident Evil. It’s Grey’s Anatomy: The Video Game.

Now for those of you who’ve tuned out at the mention of the sappiest, surgical show on TV, you’re probably not going to play this game. Hell, even I hesitated about buying it and I love the show. Luckily, at a very discounted price I was willing to see how on earth they would translate an intellectual soap opera into a video game.

Not very well, is the answer. It’s like playing through an animated episode of Grey’s with a few crappy minigames to drag out the action. In one game, you have to cut away at photographs to get to to your choice. Another where you have to unwrap notes with the Wii remote. It’s reminiscent of being back at high school. The worst thing about it is that none of these games really relate to the Grey’s universe, except for one. Surgery.

The least stupid minigame is called, well, surgery, which would have been my first thought for a hospital game. Similar to General Hospital it guides you through a series of medical procedures within a time limit. They feel a bit repetitive at times (you can only inject so many needles) and there is not really an option for stuffing up, killing a patient and suffering the consequences. Basically you can’t fail.

All of this is topped by a ridiculous rating system. If you manage to win all the minigames first time (which is practically impossible not to do), you get rated as the ‘Chief of Surgery’. So having learnt how to do a tracheotomy and get rated yea high, I feel competent to serve as a doctor in case of an emergency.

My final gripe is this. It may be trite, but everyone’s mouth cavities are too well lit, resulting in the ability to see the back teeth of everyone in the game, which sounds ok but is very disconcerting. Everyone seems a bit scary and Meredith doesn’t always look like Meredith… If you happen to play it you’ll know what I mean.

I would have loved to see some sort of Grand Theft Auto style of missions, and the ability to run around the hospital with crash carts, but it’s probably asking a bit much of an el cheapo tie in game. Treat it like watching an episode of Grey’s with interactive advertising.

4/10