|
Incognegro's Parasite Eve (PS)
|
| [March 29, 2011 12:52:14 PM]
|
Parasite Eve is a Playstation game that was developed and published by Squaresoft, and was released in Japan (March 29, 1998) and North America (September 9, 1998). It is a sequel to a horror novel of the same name. How they choose to tell the story this time around is by constructing the game as a real time RPG that tried to utilize a survival horror feel.
=Story=
The overall story focuses on the premise that the capabilities of the mitochondria in the cells of all living organisms are actually limitless in their powers. One night Officer Aya Brea, the lead protagonist, went to an opera for a date. All seemed to be going well until the lead actress mutates into a grotesque shape of something only seen in imaginative minds. During this process, the people in the opera house begin to be set ablaze by this new threat that calls herself Eve. Coincidentally, Aya is the only person that is not affected. This incident, along with a few others, set New York City into a wide spread panic during the 6 days the game takes place. It’s up to Aya to stand up to this menace and save the world.
=Gameplay=
The game unravels itself as a real time RPG with slight realistic symbolisms. Aya is able to use typical weapons you’d normally expect to see a police officer with such as pistols, batons and occasionally a few weapons that may not be standard issue such as rifles, rocket launchers and grenade launchers. Every weapon, with the exception of the batons, has ammunition and do run the risk of depletion, but depending on which weapon the player decides to use, the chances of this happening are rather slim. In typical RPG fashion, as Aya progresses through the game and kills more enemies, she is able to level up and increase her stats such as: HP, Parasite Level (think MP), item capacity, etc...
Unlike most typical RPGs, Aya’s strength doesn’t really increase since she is reliant on her weapons. Due to this, there is also a weapon customization element to the game. There are items strewn about the game that can increase the weapons and armors’ effectiveness. Depending on how the player decides to upgrade their weapons will greatly affect Aya’s effectiveness in combat. Lastly, the game takes place in Manhattan Island and Aya is able to visit multiple locals at any time after she has visited them once. This is only seen in a grid setup with the locations names highlighted as she’s not able to literally roam through all of Manhattan.
=Play Session 1=
When I first booted the game up, I was actually surprised to see that the game was a real time RPG since I didn’t recall too many RPGs during this time that was real time. Even though I knew about Parasite Eve, I didn’t know too much about the elements of the game itself going into it. It took me a little while to get used to, but after going through the first batch of enemies I slowly felt like I was getting used to it. At this time I was pursuing Eve whom had fled from Aya to go underneath Carnegie Hall. This actual level of the game was not too long so it didn’t take me too long to find her. Once I did, it only took a couple of shots to promptly end the mission.
=Play Session 2=
Day 5 was probably the longest of the days in the game and was undoubtedly pretty close to reaching the climax. This day had Aya going through multiple areas such as a warehouse, China Town, Museum of Natural History and the Statue of Liberty. For the sake of time, I’ll talk about the warehouse. By this point, the game had been relatively easy for me as I hadn’t died up to this point. Even so, I wasn’t getting bored with the game since I still found some fights to have been challenging in their own rights. When I stepped foot into the warehouse things seemed to be flowing similarly as the previous 4 days. The enemies difficult went up a bit, but it wasn’t too much I couldn’t handle.
Not until I get close to the end do I reach my first choke point. I step upon a catwalk that would take me to the end of the level when I’m surrounded on both sides by these spider-like creatures. I had faced them throughout the warehouse, but due to the actual set up of the battle things were a bit more difficult. Like most RPGs, when hit in the back, players tend to take excessively more damage. This happened quite often since at least one of the enemies would always be positioned directly behind me. Not only did they have this advantage, but they had the ability to slow my character’s movement and attacking speed down which made it even harder to dodge them.
Because of these natural advantages, they bested me roughly 5 to 7 times. After becoming frustrated, I eventually was able to overcome the situation by watching their movements closely and dodging their attacks at the right time. Once I overcame the obstacle I *thought* I was in the clear. This was a mistake. Shortly after this fight was the boss of the level. This was the only boss in the game that killed me more than 2 times (the other two being the last 2 bosses of the game). To be honest, it’s not that the way to beat the boss was hard, it just wasn’t as obvious as most of the others. It was a giant crab that had a habit of running away from the character. The attacks that it would do were best dodged when the character was positioned directly next to it, but initially it didn’t seem that way do to their wide reach.
Normally I wouldn’t be too terribly frustrated about this, but because the closest save point at this point was directly before the spiders on the catwalk it probably shouldn’t be said that I wasn’t the least bit happy. It took me quite a few tries but eventually after I learned the tricks of the crab I found that either scenario wasn’t too terribly challenging.
=Overall=
I actually rather enjoyed the game. It made me rather interested in the story overall even though, admittedly, there were some scenarios in the story that seemed rather unrealistic in terms of character reactions. For example, to help Aya escape a barrage of questions from a news reporter, her partner Daniel strikes the reporter while he’s on camera. Granted, it’s a game, but it’s still a game that is based in a relatable scenario. It’s not the biggest issue, but things like this (and there are many) kind of break the immersion slightly. Regardless, it wasn’t anything too big to keep me from continuing with the game long enough to beat it.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Mar 29th, 2011 at 12:55:38.
add a comment 
|
|
|
 |
Incognegro's Parasite Eve (PS)
|
|
Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 16 March, 2011
GameLog closed on: Tuesday 29 March, 2011 |
|
