Operate Now: Hospital REVIEW for iPhone

Every section of Operate Now: Hospital functions as a cog in a larger mechanism. Just like in a real hospital, if one piece is missing then everything falls apart. Fortunately, the gameplay is so fine tuned and the numbers so perfectly calculated that everything runs smoothly. You never feel too bogged down by the missions you need to complete, but nothing feels like a bore either.

Operate Now: Hospital is a hospital simulation game developed by Spil Games for iOS and Android devices. You play as a newly admitted surgeon who also manages all personnel in the hospital. You operate on your own patients, keep all facilities, such as the examination rooms and operating rooms, running, and pick your team of doctors, nurses, surgeons, and paramedics.

The operations themselves are rather straight forward. They are never that difficult when you finally master using each tool. That being said, the operation game mode is always rather fun due to how infrequently you operate and how quick the operations are. Every operation takes less than a minute and it is always satisfying to perform operations without making any mistakes. It never takes too much time, and is always a good way to gain more funds for your hospital.

The hospital you run begins with nothing but a reception room, an operating room, and a ward. Over a few hours of gameplay, however, the building expands as you pull resources together to build an MRI, buy more ambulances, and even make your own pharmacy. It is a joy to progress through the game. Making your hospital grow is also something that requires some planning. If your hospital attracts too many patients when you something like a examination room, you need to rush to build an extra ward to reap the rewards of creating the examination room. Both the funds that you get and the departments that you can build flow in at a very steady pace, so you need to make sure you keep that perfect balance between buying as much as you can and getting too few resources.

Another important cog in the system comes in the form of your staff. You need to manage in what departments they can work in and for how long. The amount of stamina your staff has depletes in real time. The first day I played this game I was worried about what would happen when I went to bed and could not manage my team. When I woke up in the morning I was surprised to see that only a few of my nurses ran out of energy. I placed them in the break room to recharge, gave some of my doctors some coffee, and the staff was good to go for another five hours or so. The developers of Operate Now: Hospital really got the time frame right. You don’t need to worry about the hospital if you have a long social responsibility or task to complete and it only takes a few minutes to get everyone up and running again. You never would want to put off the game for a whole day, but you never feel that pressured to play in a bad time. You go at such a lovely pace that I could describe as nothing less than perfect.

I have never been a huge fan of TV hospital dramas, so I was surprised when I enjoyed the game play. I was even more surprised when I realized I was enjoying the story as well. I am usually super critical of game narratives because I hold story in games in extremely high regard. If it does not impress me, then I usually just skip through any cut scenes. Operate Now: Hospital is nothing novel, nor does it tell an extremely relevant story, but the cutscenes are short, sweet, and most importantly to the point. The exposition comes quick. The scenes hold that perfect pacing just like the rest of the game.

Operate Now: Hospital really left an impression on me. It was a window to a genre that I never really thought I would enjoy. For that, and for the game’s perfect pacing, I give Operate Now: Hospital an 8.5/10. My only little nitpick would be a desire to see more exploration into the operating section of the game. I like it as it is, but it still holds a lot of potential that I would love to see developed. As a whole, this game holds a lot of charm and am looking forward to seeing my hospital grow even more.

Here is the Operate Now: Hospital Game Trailer:

Operate Now: Hospital is available for iOS and Android devices.