Parasite Eve

"Fighting mitochondria has never been so fun!"

Wanna know what I learned from this game? Parasites make your hair kick into Super Saiyan style. Or at least that's what I thought when I played Parasite Eve, a survival horror RPG from Squaresoft. Yes, a survival horror RPG. And this game is once again proof that Square did their best work on the PS1.

STORY
The year, 1997. The day, Christmas Eve. The city, New York. Meet Aya Brea, she's a police officer who went to see a play at the world famous Carnagie Hall with some random loser just for the heck of it. The play was going good, it was pretty corny but still pretty watchable. But then it really got good when the lead actress started setting everyone on fire with her mind! Yes the other actors, the people watching, they all spontaneously combusted and lit up like a fireworks show. Except Aya. While attempting to arrest this magical actress that calls herself Eve, she mentions to Aya that she's a special case and that she'll also give into the mitochondria eventually too. What does it mean? Well that's what our lead is going to figure out. All you need to know is that parasites are involved and they've decided to start taking over the planet. That old chestnut.

GRAPHICS
Most people who played Parasite Eve were probably drawn in by the amazing pre rendered cutscenes that fill up these game discs. Seriously the opening scene at the operahouse with everyone just bursting into flames and falling off balconies and all that, was one of the coolest things ever. And there are a ton of awesome cutscenes like that one that come up pretty often. The actual in-game graphics are not the greatest in the world but for what the game was it did it's job well. Like the Resident Evil games before it, the backgrounds are basically paintings that all of the characters walk around. They don't have much going on in these backgrounds either so the world looks pretty dead and lifeless...though I guess it suits the game considering the evacuations and monsters rampaging and everything. But still there good be more going on. And the creatures you fight in the game are really cool looking as well. A lot of them are just animals with bizarre changes to them, but it works out well. Oh and I must warn the squeamish, this game is actually pretty graphic. The first enemy you fight used to be a rat, and you see it transform and....it's just gross.

SOUND
The audio is a little good, but kinda forgettable. It's not on the grand scale of other Square games like Final Fantasy 7 or anything so don't expect that. The music tries to keep with it's survival horror feel to it. So you get the tense stuff like the battle theme, and you get some epic opera singing everytime you get into a big important battle with Eve or her minions. The music fits the game, even if it's a bit dull. And sound effects all sound like they should as well. Gun shots sound like gun shots, parasitic creatures screaming sound like parasitic creatures screaming. Trust me I know.

GAMEPLAY
So this game is a survival horror RPG. How does that work you ask? Well assuming you haven't played the game or read another review, let me explain it for you. It's survival horror like Resident Evil because you're walking around deadly environments fighting evil monsters that want to eat/kill you. It's an RPG because you get into random battles and gain experience points from killing enemies. You then grow stronger and more powerful with each experience point you get. It's a blend of the two genres that surprisingly works out ok. Now if you hate most survival horror and Resident Evil type games because of their tank-like controls, I've got great news for you. The characters do not move like tanks. They don't go forward because you push up. They go UP if you push up. Just like all the PS1 Final Fantasy games.

You walk around and get into random battles, which I suppose aren't really random because they always appear in the same spots everytime. At that point you get into battle mode and take shots at your enemies. Rather than having full control and being able to fire an entire clip of bullets unto an enemy in a matter of seconds, you are limited to either a few bullets. It sounds lame but it's keeping with the RPG element of the game. The battles have this whole active time battle thing going on where you fire two bullets, wait for your attack bar to fill up, and when it does you can unload some more bullets whenever you please. The big difference over this and Final Fantasy of course is that you actually move around. This means that enemies can miss you almost always if you know what you're doing. Just dodge their fireballs, take your shots, and they'll go down in a mere matter of minutes.

I liked the battling in this game and I thought it was really innovative. What makes these battles even better is the way the inventory works. Now there are no shops in the game, and you don't buy your weapons. You find them. Ammo is still required to kill your enemies but luckily ammo counts for every gun in the game. That means that whatever can fit in a handgun, can also fit in a shotgun. Realistic? No, but who cares it's a video game. Oh and a side note, why is ammo spread out around an opera house at the start? Talk about method acting. But I digress. Aya can tune up and upgrade her weapons as she goes along and collects tool items. And basically that means that you can take an attribute from another gun and put it into your gun.

Ever see a sniper rifle scatter shots like a shotgun? No, but you can take that quality from a shotgun, integrate it with your sniper rifle, and voila! Multiple hits with a sniper shot! Again, throw realism out the window, this game is meant to be fun. And it' s not just abilities like the shotgun thing...you can take attributes. If a rifle has 4+ attack, and you tune it into your handgun which has 9+ attack, the rifle with 4 will disappear forever, but your handgun will now have 13+ attack. You wouldn't believe how addicting upgrading your weapons is. So customization, easily the best part of the game.

Another thing to mention about battles are Aya's powers. See, she has some special mitochondria that evolve each time she levels up, so she gains a whole plethora of abilities from healing herself, to slowing down time, and even unleashing brutal massacres on your enemies. It's a good excuse to give our hero magical powers basically. The exploring part of the game is a little good, but it's pretty annoying sometimes as well. One thing I noticed almost immediately and still hate after beating the game, is how slow Aya runs on screen. Seriously she needs to hurry the hell up. Her walking is the equivalent of a snail, and her running is just really, really slow.

You know how Resident Evil had puzzles and stuff that made you think in order to get through the game? Not so here. All you'll really be doing is collecting items, going from point A to point B, killing enemies, rinse and repeat. This isn't a problem because the battling and customizing weapons is really fun, but still if you're looking for puzzles, you'll be disappointed. I really enjoyed myself with this game though, and any problems I had with the game are tiny and do not bring this game down.

IN THE END...
The story was deep and interesting. The cutscenes were awesome to watch. And the gameplay was fresh and unique, in a good way. So because of all this, the game succeeds in my book. Give Parasite Eve a try and you'll thank me. Not physically but mentally.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/07