Parasite Eve II

"A Step Down From The Predecessor"

Parasite Eve was a nice surprise, being one of my favorite games to ever hit the Playstation. When I heard of the sequel, I was hoping it would be at least somewhat similar to its predecessor, but I was deeply disappointed. The pretty graphics and interesting storyline make it worthwhile to actually play through the entire game. But if you can't get past the initial stage and the horrendous controls at times, then this game is definitely not going to be for you.

Graphics -
The graphics in the game are one of the few things actually done right. The in game graphics are much better done this time around, with a lot more detail within everything. The characters are designed nicely, including the interesting enemy designs. The levels are detailed a little better this time around, with more attention to detail evident. There are tiny subtleties in almost every room that add nicely to the overall experience. Fortunately, once again, the FMVs are back and awesome as before. There is always incredible details in these movies and every single one of them are perfectly done. If only there were more of them, it would make the overall experience better.
Rating – 8/10

Gameplay -
Compared to the fun had in Parasite Eve, this game is absolutely horrendous. They should have just stuck with the same battle system, and expanded on it. But it seems that they started over, trying to revamp it from scratch. They failed miserably and at times, the battles are just tedious to do. Not to mention there seems to be more of them, and they are difficult at times. Instead of the traditional levels, you use experience to just gain and upgrade magic spells. These spells are incredibly weak at first, and still not very strong once fully upgraded. In addition to experience, you obtain BP from enemies, which you use for your weapons and armor. You are basically stuck with the same HP and MP you start with, unless you find armor for addition HP or upgrade magic to obtain more MP. This makes the game a lot more difficult then it really should be. The parasite energies are back, but no where near as useful as they were before, and far less than before as well.

Now, onto the controls, they are even worse than you could imagine. Aya is sluggish at times, and it becomes very hard to aim at your enemy. This causes you to miss frequently, wasting precious ammo early on. Eventually ammo doesn't really become a problem, but it is still frustrating to aim right at an enemy and see the shot actually hit them but have it count as a miss and wasted shot. If only the gameplay was finely tuned, including the controls and overall design of the game, this would have obtained a much higher rating.
Rating – 6/10

Story -
Luckily, the story is still pretty good with this sequel. Aya is now a part of a NMC hunting group called MIST. Neo Mitochondia Creatures are now thrashing about the world, and you must hunt them down. You begin in the Akropolis Tower, where you discover that something horrible is going to happen. After this event, you are sent out to explore the Dryfield Desert and Hotel, where you will find an underground facility where NMCs are drawing from. The story beings pretty slow, but picks up rather fast, revealing a lot of interesting aspects.
Rating – 8/10

Sound -
The music in the background is great, once again. It's no surprise that square has created another great soundtrack. The effects are nice, with each gun having unique sounds and each monster attributed noises relevant to situations. If only they had put voice acting in the game, so that you didn't have to read so much text, it would have added immensely to the experience.
Rating – 7/10

Replayability -
This game lasts a bit longer than the original, which was a nice surprise. Although the difficulty at times and overwhelming controls made it hard to actually want to play through the game sometimes. There are now multiple modes, in addition to restarting the game with things from the previous run through. In addition to all of this, there are multiple endings dependent upon how well you do in the game. This was one category that really excelled above the rest of the game.
Rating – 9/10

Overall -
With fantastic graphics, disappointing gameplay, a rich story, fitting music, and a lot of replay value, Parasite Eve 2 is a fun game if you are able to pass through the control scheme and deal with the awful gameplay.
Rating – 8 + 6 + 8 + 7 + 9 = 38/50 -> 7/10

Buy or rent -
If you are a die hard fan of Parasite Eve, you will probably like this game. However, I found it to be disappointing, and can't really recommend it entirely to buy. It's definitely a decent rental if you are just looking for something to play.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/07