Parasite Eve II

"This is Squaresoft?! I thought it was Capcom...."

I hate reviewing games I love, because I leave the sections rather empty. ''Gameplay is perfect.'' sums it up, and unless it does something on the level of Zelda's Z-trigger or there is a annoying button setup, then there is no reason to say more. Parasite Eve II, however, is not one of those games, because it is truly a flawed game.

GRAPHICS - 10/10

Wonderful pre-rendered backdrops and details character models plage PEII. It's very cinematic, and it takes a page from Dino Crisis 2 and used motion blurr during real time cut scenes to cut down on jags.

Monster designs are realistic and believable.

GAMEPLAY 5/10

I forgot this was a Square game as a began playing, I thought it was Capcom! Being a master at Resident Evil, I had no problem with Asteroid like control setup, until I entered battle.

Pure Chaos! Zelda Z-trigger kicks is, so logic dictates that I will control hottie Aya ''camera relative,'' but NO! After getting killed by a swarm of rat things, I realize the controls remain the same. You wouldn't think it would be confusing, but it is! Character relative if fine for walking around, but it sucks for fast paced battles.

I need to compare shooting enemies with RE, it has to be done. Now, in RE, monsters were (for the most part) slow. You could stand around and pop a zombie or Cerberus in the head without moving. But with PEII, who have to keep moving. While by brain said ''get your arse out of the way before this mutant cor rams you!'', I had to ROTATE LEFT, then REMEMBER TO PRESS FORWARD to get out of the way. In the meantime, I lost 20 health because the little bugger was to fast. Time to waste a item healing again...

Scares. I was expecting RE type scares. Nope. Before battle starts, the screen turns black and white, then battle starts. Even though I didn't play the entire game, this isn't scary. If a monster jumps though something, who have a few seconds to calm yourself. Remember in RE1 when the dogs broke the first window?! Your heart jumped, and you where always wonder from that point on if it would happen again. No time to rest, your always on your toes. No with PEII, no chills at all.

Puzzles: RE fare... A little to RE style... collecting keys and backtracking is boring. For heavens sake, you enter a room with a window. You look out the window and see the well you used to get into that room. Why not brake the window and save yourself the trip? Geez... and why not shot the locks off doors? I mean, there are WINDOWS BY THE DOORS! Brake them!

Reloading. It's annoying and you often take damage when it's happening.

Magic. Works well.

SOUND 8/10

Woohoo! Kick arse demo movie music! Music and sound effects are top notch.

STORY ?/10

Sorry, I didn't get to complete the game. Seems interesting though.

REPLAY: 4/10

I'll never rent it again, but if a friend has it and I borrow it, I'll have no problem playing it.

GRIPES

See GAMEPLAY

OVERALL 6/10

PEII is playable, it's just not thought out. I expected A LOT more from Square. Animation and graphics are polished, and the story is nice, but they forgot to be original. I recommend A Resident Evil game over this, because cheesy B movie acting , cool undead monsters, and a faster pace is just more fun.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/01, Updated 11/09/02