Parasite Eve is a strange, slightly innovative game. You can tell
playing this game that Square tried to do something without putting too
much money on it. First, they took the story of a popular japanese
horror novel, inserted it into the game, then mixed a Resident Evil
system of weapon management with an rpg leveling system, and finished
with a battle system highly influenced by action rpg's. The result is a
game that feels like it doesn't know what it is, but is good
nonetheless.
Although the gameplay is what most reviewers despise in this game, I
have to say that I liked it. I liked it because it was simple and it
didn't waste any time to get you in the thick of battles, and the mix
of action and rpg sort of fixed some of the problems of both genres,
namely the reliance on twitchy fingers for action and the dullness that
can pervade in rpg systems. The system does have its flaws, for example
it lacks a good amount of strategy since even boss fights require you
only to evade its attacks, get in close and attack, run back, evade,
get in back close and attack, heal, repeat. It's very simple, and it
could have gotten pretty annoying had the game been longer. As far as
equipment mechanics go, you find real life weapons and armor suits
dispersed in the game, and you can then upgrade those weapons with
special tools that you find. Again, it works but the constant finding
of better weapons is weird. In a sword and sorcery context, I can
accept that some weapons have better characteristics than others, like
being sharper, more magical, heavier etc. But in real life firearms,
how can the MP5-2 be twice as powerful, have twice was many bullets in
a magazine, fire twice as far, thrice as fast etc. On top of that, they
ask you to spend valuable tools to upgrade weapons you KNOW are going
to be obsolete in one hour. At least you find special Super Tools that
allow you to transfer one particular stat category from one weapon to
the next, but it is still frustrating. I admit, I would have preferred
a system like in Resident Evil; every weapon has its characteristics
and that's that. If you like the shotgun more than the machine gun well
just upgrade the shotgun all the time and become a shotgun master and
if you ever face an enemy who likes to fight long range, good luck.
That would have been better than just throwing 20 brands of every type
of firearm and basically saying "This last submachine gun is 30 times
as powerful as that MP5"...Can it blow up tanks or what?
The graphics haven't aged well, that's for sure. The characters are a
messed up mix of polygons and the pre-rendered backgrounds have a
slight washed out look to them. The only redeeming factor in this game
is that it reminds you that back in the Playstation days FMV's still
happened and they rocked.
There is nothing much to say about sound. You have your normal attack
sounds, item selection beeps and your classic horror soundtrack. The
music is pretty good although more in a background role than something
you might hum in the bus.
The game is short, and that's a problem but it does feel like the game
was designed to be short, especially as far as the battle system goes.
The story would have been necessary to have a good 5 hours more to feel
fleshed out, because as of now it feels like an interesting but rushed
concept. There is a New Game + option, where you can restart the game
with the levels you finished with, and fight harder enemies, have an
extra stage (a whole tower) and the possibility of a new ending. But
overall, the first time through is pretty short and it feels like it
too.
In the end, Parasite Eve is a good game, worth a bargain bin price, but it is pretty short and does feel rushed in places.
