Parasite Eve

Original Release date: September 9th 1998

PSN release date: March 15th 2011

Price: 5.99

Story

With most Square titles you can expect a bit of sameness in the way the story is told, there’s a reluctant hero, and then people trying to push him to take responsibility in a coming of age sort of story. Now in Parasite Eve, they’ve actually done something a little different. Instead of the standard RPG party system that we’re so used to from Square, they decided to focus the story on one character, a female NYPD officer. This series is widely seen as a response to the wildly successful Survivor Horror games that were all the rage at the time, especially the Resident Evil series. Now in the horror department I wouldn’t say that it quite succeeds in at least the scares department, especially considering the battle system of an RPG is the opposite of surprising when the screen changes, but they do make a great atmosphere to tell the story, and the cut scenes drive up the tension a bit with some very gory scenes.

Overall I wouldn’t call the story in Parasite eve a triumph in any means, it’s a little too complex with some ideas while not really showing much development on the side of the characters. Serviceable though, and good enough to get you to keep playing, at least with the atmosphere.

Gameplay

The gameplay in this title is certainly what makes it stand out. Regular combat is done with guns, anything from pistols to shotguns to grenade launchers. But it’s done in a battle world (so not in regular gametime), and it’s real time in the way you can move your character around to dodge attacks but your attacks are based on an AT timer so it’s a bit turn based in that regard. As you power your character up you get certain powers that I won’t explain to not ruin the story, but these become really useful in battle, and it becomes necessary to conserve and strategically use your PE energy (a bit like mana in regular RPGs).

The equipment and weapons are also upgradeable in this title, which uses a tool system so you can switch stats between items. This is something you’ll need to become very interested in if you want to survive the stronger enemies that keep coming. Luckily it’s a pretty easy system to get into, and it’s adds some decent strategy but you don’t need a PHD or a guide book to figure out how to make a better weapon or armor. This makes the gameplay in Parasite Eve deep without it being overly complex.

Boss fights are also a huge part of this game, with one coming along every hour or so. The interesting thing about these battles is that you need to blend your strategic ideas with moving you character around enough to stop being pummeled. Some of these bosses are actually a challenge, so you’ll have to save often to prevent losing too much time due to deaths, but it’s rewarding when you finally defeat them to see a great gory scene showing their demise.

Overall the gameplay in this title is what makes it worthwhile to play. The kooky story is alright, but I just had fun with all the weapons, powers and enemies there were to experience in the title, and that’s what made me keep coming back to finish the title. It flows really well in that respect, and it helps the story have a sense of urgency. If the title was a slow turn based affair I wouldn’t have had the patience to finish it. They took a chance in this respect and it paid off.

* After playing the game as well,a challenge mode of sorts opens up called EX mode, which adds some replay value.

Presentation

Now this game was released in 1998, so really it’s not a graphical powerhouse. The 3d characters are a bit more of the Resident Evil 2 variety, and the animations aren’t that great. Where the presentation does shine however are in the truly gory cut scenes and the enemies of the game, that look a lot better than even the main protagonist does, in both fidelity and animations. The backgrounds are all 2D overlays with mostly static camera views like the Resident Evil series and it works well enough in this title. (Also if you take a look around some corners you might find some cool extras.)

There is no voice over in the game, but there are a few decent musical tracks as well, especially the main theme of the series that has a driving piano part. Although this is balanced out with the god awful fake singing done via synthesizer at the beginning.

There could have been a bit more work done to make the characters look better, but the cut scenes look great along with the enemies, the music is decent and during battle there are some pretty cool particle effects. This is in no way the best looking PSone game out there but it’s decent enough and it doesn’t detract from the atmosphere.

Is Parasite Eve worth Playing?

If you’re a fan of Square’s RPGs and Resident Evil type horror you should check out this one. The story won’t move you, but you get a strong protagonist and some truly interesting a gory scenes that are worth seeing. The gameplay is the center of this one in my opinion, and it’s a lot quicker and more interesting than the standard RPG, the pre-cursor to the action RPG in some respects. When the next one comes out I’ll play it because I’ve heard it makes a few interesting departures from this one. It’s good entertainment, and at about 10 hours (I finished in 8, but with deaths on bosses that were at times costly), it’s good value too. Play if you dare!

7.9/10

This has been a Journalistic Review by PSoneClassics.com of Parasite Eve.