Those folks at Legacy Interactive sure love their color codes...

First there was Code Blue. Then there was Code Red. Don't know what I'm writing about? Think medical drama. Now think computer games. Now realize that since Legacy Interactive, based in Hollywood, CA, came out with a game called Code Blue back in 2000, they had to come out with another name that seemed just as dramatic for their next game. Code Red must have seemed a logical choice in 2001 when it was released to the public, although it is quite a different game than Code Blue. I know you're just itching to know how, so I'll lay the facts on you.

In Code Red, you are a doctor in an urban hospital. Another doctor let a woman die after waiting twelve hours to be treated. Naturally, people in the city are outraged over this tragic and senseless death and chaos now reigns supreme. It's your job to treat patients and make critical decisions during this time of uproar. Let me first comment about this premise. It doesn't seem realistic to me. I highly doubt that an entire populace would go into chaos just because a woman in a hospital died after a twelve hour wait. Sure, it's tragic and a lot of people would be very upset about it. Likely, there would be talk of lawsuits and the case would probably be on the news for a night or two. But chaos in the city? That seems a bit ridiculous and far-fetched to me. But, beyond my own misgivings about the plausibility of whether or not people would actually go ballistic over one woman's tragic death at a hospital, I have to ask, are you up to the challenge? If you are, read on, and find out how Code Red may tax your abilities as a wanna be doctor!

The first time you play Code Red, and every time thereafter whenever you or someone else signs on as a new player, you or they are presented with a tutorial which is intended to teach players the basics of the game. The object, of course, is to treat each patient as quickly and accurately as you can. You are awarded points based on your efficiency as well as the correctness of your treatment protocols.

You select a patient at the nurse's station and review their information on their "clipboard", which is nothing more than a form that tells you what's wrong. If you have time and you think you know what the patient's diagnosis is, you can go to the research computer by the nurse's station and upload information about the problem into your PDA (personal digital assistant), which can be a huge help with each case. Everything you will possibly need to solve your case will be in the information you upload from the research computer-- if you uploaded the right article. But you can return to the computer if you need to. You just lose time when you have to do that. The PDA also allows you to ask questions of your patient, which also gives you valuable information.

A small EKG icon at the bottom of your screen shows you your patient's health status and reflects your performance. If you do something right, the EKG score improves. If you do something wrong, it gets worse. A completion bell will ring once you have completed all of the treatment protocols. You're given the chance to diagnose what is wrong with the patient, complete follow-up treatment orders, hospital orders, or other discharge notes. You must complete the paperwork entirely before you finish each case-- if you hate paperwork, this game probably won't be a good one for you! As you finish each case, you must "sign off" on the patient. It's at this point that you find out what your total score is for treating that case. It's possible to earn a total of 500 points for each case-- 300 for treatment, and 200 for efficiency (these are considered bonus points). In order to attain any bonus points, you must achieve at least 100 treatment points. Any total score over 300 points is considered a "successful" case.

During gameplay, patients and staff members talk to you. If you get something right, they praise you. If you mess up, they berate you. Don't expect much help from your "colleagues". They basically stand there and yell at you, even if they're nurses. The whole time you're playing, there's generally some kind of cheesy background music playing. I guess that's a good thing, although I liked what Legacy did in their first game, Emergency Room 2,, better. In that game, I just heard music from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Then, at the end of each case, you have the opportunity to have your performance reviewed by Dr. Journey, the Chief of Staff at Legacy Memorial Hospital. He's pretty thorough, and he evaluates whether or not you wasted supplies, if your diagnosis was correct, how efficient you were, and whether or not you provided the right treatment.

You can choose three modes of play: easy, normal, or hard. The easy mode is a step above the tutorial. As you progress through each case, the tools you'll need will be highlighted in yellow (this is called the "next-step" tutorial), guiding you through the case. The normal mode is for most players who have no formal medical training, but have played the game before. The "next-step" tutorial is disabled, but all monitor readouts, such as the EKG, temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate, and their results are interpreted for you. And players who need help can ask for two hints per case without penalty in this mode. The expert mode is for people with medical training. All test results and readouts are presented as data with no interpretation. No free hints are given. If you ask for them, you will lose points. This is a nice feature of the game, because it caters to people of varying backgrounds. Legacy Interactive has done earlier versions of the Emergency Room games that weren't as flexible.

As you play the game, you will find that you will have quite a few instruments available to you, including a vaginal speculum (this was a big selling point for this game)! Code Red is the first of the Emergency Room series games from Legacy Interactive that allows you to do gynecological procedures on pregnant patients, and yes, in order to examine a pregnant woman who is experiencing problems with her pregnancy, you would need gynecological tools. There aren't any graphic pictures of the female anatomy shown, though. In fact, another tool that is used is the spinal catheter (for spinal taps). When you need to use this tool, there's a drape over the area itself. A tube of goo makes a rather disgusting gulp-like noise over the hole in the drape (presumably to simulate it being smeared over the patient's skin), and then the tools sort of float over the drape. It doesn't look all that realistic in most cases.

You can be fired. If you perform poorly or kill a patient, you'll be warned. If you kill more than one person, you'll get the boot. But, if you treat cases successfully, you'll get promoted, from first year resident, to second year resident, to third year resident. This game can also be won. There are 36 cases in all. If you treat all of them successfully, you will win the game and be offered a permanent job at Legacy Memorial!

Code Red also offers a nifty little extra in the "Doctor's Lounge". If you get tired of treating patients, you can play the medical trivia game. I must admit, it's a pretty enjoyable game, except when you get a question wrong! The software doesn't have a buzzer to let you know you've erred-- it screams at you, a high pitched feminine wail that is sure to give you goosebumps! How creepy is that? But it is an incentive to get the questions correct and you'll probably learn something in the process.

I enjoy the Legacy Interactive games. I think they've gotten better over the years, although the writers often have the characters try for cornball humor that falls a little flat. Some of the acting is a little melodramatic, too. Code Red is a fairly challenging game, but Legacy Interactive has made it accessible to most people by offering three different playing modes. That's a big help for those folks who are dabblers in the medical field. And lest you think that Legacy Interactive only makes medical games, I happen to know that they have also come out with games based on veterinary science, law, and crime scene investigations. It's always a good thing when you can learn and have fun at the same time. I always find these games a worthwhile waste of time.

I do think the graphics and sound could be better, but heck, this game came out three years ago and can now be had for a bargain. If you're interested and can find it and it works on your machine, I say put on your scrubs and get to work, doc!

In order to get Code Red to run on your machine, you will need:

Windows 95, 98, or 2000
266 MHz Pentium *32 MB RAM
High color/16 bit capable 2 MB video card
16x CD-ROM drive *Sound card

Power MAC OS 8.1 or higher
266 MHz *32 MB RAM
Thousands of colors/16 bit capable video
16x CD-ROM drive * Sound card

Company websites: http://legacyinteractive.com http://ERSim.com