Source: gamesymbol.com

by Kristian Calalang

Hello gamers it’s time for another retro game review. Since it’s already October, and Halloween is just around the corner, we’ll talk about a popular horror game with a mix of RPG elements, Parasite Eve.

Parasite Eve’s story takes place in New York, and the events occur within a six-day span from December 24 to December 29, 1997. You take control of Aya Brea a NYPD cop who is mysteriously the only one unaffected by the strange phenomenon that is happening in New York.

First of all, let me say that while it is a good game, it is not a good horror game. A horror game by definition is something that will scare you, and although the game does try to do it by means of the eerie background music and some visual effects, it does not really come to a point where it would scare you. The fact that they try to give a scientific explanation to the phenomenon is less helpful in making it a horror game. It does not elicit a feeling of suspense, or mystery like in the first Resident Evil, where something might jump you while you are walking, the reason being the gameplay which I’ll talk about later on.

Source: i163.photobucket.com

Since it is an RPG, the story plays a bigger role in the game, and I have to say that even though it is a sequel to a novel (that I haven’t read), it can stand alone. The introduction might confuse you at first but it does start to make sense as you go along, since it is a fairly simple story but at the same time an interesting one. The pacing is fast, especially if you rush through the levels, each level will only take you about an hour and a half at most if you are rushing it.

The gameplay is where I found myself divided. On the one hand it is good that they tried something new, and in some aspects they did succeed. But at the same time it hindered one of the basic things that they had to show: the horror of the horror game. First, the way you encounter enemies, as I have said earlier, is not surprising because when you encounter them, the screen turns gray, the enemies appear, and then  there’s the usual RPG battle style where you wait for your turn to act, and the only twists are: 1) You can run around the map you are in so you can dodge enemy attacks, and 2) You need to get in close since you are using a gun and there is an effective range where you deal the most damage. The basic strategy here is to run when it’s not your turn and to charge when it is. You also have P.E. or parasite energy, which is like your MP bar, where you can use it to cast special abilities, and which refills over time. Another little qualm I have over the game is how slowly you move over the map, the running animation does not look like running at all since you cover so little distance in every step you take. They did a good thing with the variety of guns though; there are 5 gun types you could choose from, each having their own perks, and there are tools scattered all over the world which lets you customize the weapons and even bring some gun properties over to other gun types.

Source: obsoletegamer.com

The battles, more notably the enemies, do get harder progressively; by around chapter 5 you will encounter strong enemies that you really have to prepare for. It does help though because you will gain skills fit for the chapter you are in since the bosses give tremendous amounts of experience, and you will level up many times.

Overall, it is refreshing to be able to try out a different battle system from the standard RPG battles like in Final Fantasy, and the story is quite interesting—and quite short if you don’t do the subquests and the New Game+ content. I would have gone through NG+ if  I was interested in the story since I heard it gives a deeper meaning to this story, and it also makes the story in the 3rd Birthday (3rd game of the trilogy on PSP) clearer, maybe I’ll do it if I’m bored for some reason and I have nothing to do. It’s not really as great as I thought it to be at first.