A blend of the Resident Evil and Final Fantasy games of the era, Parasite Eve is an ambitious combination of genres that pulls it off remarkably well.
What Is It? Aya Brea is having a date seeing an opera at Carnegie Hall when the entire theater bursts into flames during a solo. Pretty great way to start an action/survival horror/RPG in my book. The story only gets wilder from there, with some very specific standout moments that rival the best moments in those early Resident Evil games which Parasite Eve takes many cues from.
Gameplay wise, a fixed-camera view will show an area with static backgrounds. While moving around there is a chance for random encounters, when they occur the enemies simply show up on the same static backgrounds you were already running around, no separate battle screens here.
Combat uses a version of Squaresoft’s Active Time Battle system which requires the player to wait a certain amount of time between attacks. Attacks can be with weapons (guns or melee) or magic, called Parasite Energy. During the waiting, players can freely maneuver throughout the screen to avoid enemy attacks and position themselves for their next attack or healing action.
The survival horror elements come across not only in theme, but also in storage space and resource scarcity. Expect to be counting bullets, particularly early in the game, much as you would in a Resident Evil title. The RPG elements come across with a slew of upgrades, XP levels, and learning new PE abilities.
The game takes Aya around New York City in a mostly linear fashion, although you might have a few bits of trial-and-error trying to figure out where to go next on the overworld city map. There is a fairly large, completely optional area and most of the core locations have optional nooks and crannies to explore to find extra loot. A playthrough can take about 10 hours, with a difficulty spike near the end that will likely take new players more than a few attempts to get past.
The Best Part: The action-RPG combat. Being able (and required) to freely move Aya while waiting for her time gauge to fill is a great twist on traditional turn-based combat. Needing to stay in range of your weapons while avoiding attacks is a small touch that makes a world of difference.
The Worst Part: Parasite Eve kinds of lands between genres on many different fronts. Some will find this a feature, not a bug, but some will surely be turned off as a game that does a lot of things, but doesn’t ever really lean into a direction. This game isn’t quite an RPG, action, or survival horror game.
The Verdict: The most prominent text on the back of the Parasite Eve box says “The Cinematic RPG.” That is a fair description of Parasite Eve, and one I think it lives up to, but I also think it sells the game a bit short by not mentioning some of its strongest qualities; action and survival horror. Parasite Eve is a wonderful mix of a few different styles that pulls them all off way better than it probably should have.
How to Play: PS1, PSP, PS Vita
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