I used to play a lot of Theme Hospital when i was much much younger. The CD game went missing for a long time, and when recently my brother found it again in an old box, i was in fact silently beaming with joy!! then did i realise how much i used to love playing the game.It isn't a game which is entirely thrilling, but as a child/early teen, i was really excited at the thought of serving and helping to treat or cure each patient who came in, managing a busy hospital, keeping the hospital clean and providing every facility possible.
To inject a dose of reality to the game, the game-maker designed it in such a way that the patients may lodge complaints.. eg: the hospital building being too cold? (extra radiators would be needed), the waiting queue being too long? (more rooms should be set up), or the staff being ill-mannered? (pay rise may be necessary to keep the staff motivated to work)..
the exciting part is that there are many departments which you can set up in your hospital, especially as you progress towards the higher levels.. the basic ones are the GPs' rooms, Diagnosis rooms, Pharmacy, Ward, etc.. There are other more specialised departments such as the Inflater units for the "bloaty heads", Slicer machines for slack-tongue patients, Fracture Clinic for bandages, etc... :)
you'll get to see each patient's diagnosis, thirst level, warmth level and general health condition. If the hospital is badly run, the patients may end up dying!!! I am not sure, but these patients usually die after taking their medications from the pharmacy. well, it could be due to any wrong diagnoses or simply, wrong medications given!! bad news? the death rate will be accounted into the annual statistics of the community that the hospital is serving to.. :)
in short, this would remain one of my few favourite childhood games. Now that i'm working within a hospital setting, it was as though watching the reality version of the game everyday. :)
