Parasite Eve is an action role-playing game with survival horror elements released on March 28, 1998 for the original Sony Playstation game console by Square, the creators of the acclaimed Final Fantasy series. The game arrived in the United States later that year on September 9. The game can be considered a sequel to the novel of the same name by Sena Hideaki, published in Japan in 1995. The novel was also adapted into a film in Japan in 1997. A manga adaptation of the game, Parasite Eve DIVA, was released in 1998.

However, let’s forget about the novel and the movie for a moment. Anyway, we’re not here to talk about that.

PLOT:

In Square’s “Parasite Eve,” an aspiring actress becomes the Angel of Death when the mitochondria in her body (the structures inside living organisms’ cells that convert oxygen into energy) decide to control, replicate and give her superhuman powers. Decide it’s time to conquer the world! During the Christmas season of 1997, players take on the role of Aya Blair, a young New York detective who must thwart the woman’s evil plans, but at the same time discover that she has more to do with the case and the assailant. She has only ever imagined what she could imagine.

At the beginning of the story, Aya accompanies an anonymous date to the opera on Christmas Eve. Even before entering the opera house, Aya had a mysterious feeling. Why did she ask you to come here? She’s not a fan of opera!

The evening performance depicts a forbidden romance between a young prince and a woman accused of witchcraft. When the lead actress, a young woman named Melissa, sings “Aria of Sorrow”, cast and audience alike spontaneously burst into flames. The theater is soon flooded with panicked citizens trying to escape the inferno, many of whom are still engulfed in flames. And yes… it was a nod to Castlevania back in the day.

Aya confronts Melissa and introduces herself as “Eve”. Eve not only seems surprised that Aya is unaffected, but also makes the cryptic comment that Aya’s “cells are trying to communicate with her cells”. At this point, Aya feels a wave of heat running through her body, which connects to her own “superpowers”, which she uses and further develops in her next mission.

After a brief fight (the first of many between Aya and “Eve”), Eve warns Aya that the more she uses her newfound powers, the more alike the two women become. Unfortunately, Aya has no idea what this mutant psychopath is talking about. Eve exits the stage through the backstage, and Aya gives chase, only to be stopped by a rat that mutates right before her eyes into a deformed, dog-sized monster! This is just the first of many mutant animals the player will encounter in the game.

Aya confronts Melissa and introduces herself as “Eve”. Eve seems surprised that Aya is unaffected, as well as making the cryptic comment that Aya’s “cells are trying to communicate with hers”. At this point, Aya begins to feel waves of heat flowing through her body, which connects to her own “super power”, which she will use and develop further in her upcoming missions.

After a brief fight (the first of many between Aya and “Eve”), Eve warns Aya that the more she uses her new found power, the more alike the two women will become. Unfortunately, Aya has no idea what this mutant psychopath is talking about. Eve leaves the stage through the back door, and Aya gives chase, but is stopped by a rat that mutates before her eyes into a dog-sized, deformed monster! This is only the first of many mutant animals the player will encounter in the game.

Aya survives the opera house incident, but Eve does not before escaping. Aya is driven back to the police station by her partner, Detective Daniel Dorris. After a meeting with their superiors, the detectives learn of the presence of a scientist at the Natural History Museum in Manhattan who is considered an expert in the field of mitochondrial development. The physician, Hans Kramp, has actually been researching and experimenting with mitochondria for some time, but has offered little insight into what actually happened in the opera. He is very aloof and arrogant towards the detectives, but Crump seems surprised to hear about “Eve” from them. However, Aya has a strong impression that she has met the doctor before, but cannot say when or where.

She immediately remembers that Melissa is going to perform in a concert in Central Park on Christmas Day. Daniel panics, as his young son Ben was going to attend the concert with his mother, Daniel’s ex-wife. The detectives rush to the park (which they find absurdly empty, especially considering that the concert is scheduled to start any minute), but Daniel is unable to enter the park due to Eve’s presence, as his body is rapidly overheating due to Eve’s presence. He approaches the entrance. Aya is left to go there alone.

Aya’s park journey also includes a trip to the Central Park Zoo, where she discovers that the animals there have not only begun to mutate, but are now free of their cages and enclosures. Aya finally reaches the concert venue, but it’s too late: Eve kills the entire audience in a breathtaking flesh-melting scene that turns the crowd into a great mass of wriggling cellular mass. Ben survives the incident, having become ill and left the audience; however, his mother, Lorraine, is also among the victims. (It remains unclear how Ben managed to stay in the park without catching fire when Danielle was unable to even enter the park.)

Finally, Aya catches up with Eve and a crazy battle ensues in a burning carriage! Come on, the horses are on fire! The carriage is taking ages to arrive. Eve quickly flees the fight, but Aya loses consciousness. She then wakes up in a dingy apartment in Soho, where she is rescued and taken to safety by a Japanese scientist named Maeda. Daniel, who was presumably contacted by the scientist, is also present.

While Daniel tells Aya that he has been evacuated from Manhattan, Maeda tells both detectives about a similar incident that happened in Japan a few years ago. In this incident, Eve attempted to fuse mitochondria with human sperm to create an “ultimate being”. Maeda believes he is now attempting to create this “ultimate being” in New York City.

The trio return to the deserted museum after the evacuation and break into Crump’s lab. Using the doctor’s lab equipment, Maeda is able to prove his theory, but they are soon interrupted by none other than Crump himself. Apparently all that “forced evacuation” nonsense didn’t bother him. Crump makes several threats against the detectives, earning him a punch in the face from Detective Doris.

Aya, Maeda, and Daniel next head to St. Francis Hospital, where a sperm bank is being prepared for Eve’s use. (Perhaps I shouldn’t have used “sperm bank” and “mature” in the same sentence.) Their suspicions turn out to be justified, but they arrive too late to stop Eve’s pregnancy.

As time goes on, Eve raids the police station, killing several secondary NPCs (background characters). A police dog named “Sheeva” also doesn’t fare well during the ordeal. A final visit to Clamp’s office the next day reveals that the crazed doctor is actually behind the entire conspiracy. Not only does he reveal that he developed his own special sperm mixture (yikes!) for Eve to use to create the ultimate being, but he also reveals that this mitochondrial strain, called “Eve”, comes from the kidney cells of Aya’s sister, Maya. Maya and Aya’s mother had died in a car accident many years ago. However, Crump was a medical intern at the hospital where she was taken after the accident, and he transplanted Maya’s kidney into another girl named “Melissa”.

Shortly after, you’re fighting a reanimated dinosaur, which seems very out of place even in such a bizarre plot. Aya’s efforts to stop Eve take her into the sewers of Chinatown, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and finally to the Statue of Liberty. Despite a valiant fight, Eve is ultimately destroyed, but before that, the ultimate being is born. Did you think Eve would be the final boss?

Gameplay: Though more accurately considered an RPG (“role-playing game”), it’s probably more accurate to call Parasite Eve an action game with RPG elements, since it’s published by the same company that developed the Final Fantasy series. . While the plot is very horror-focused, it’s not entirely fair to call Parasite Eve a “survival horror” game, since most of these releases (or at least those from this era) see the majority of their challenges as something the player has to do with limited supplies. Namely ammunition. This isn’t the case with Parasite Eve. Unless you’re really bad at the game, it’s probably only the first hour of play that you run out of ammo.

Unlike many other RPG games (especially from this era) that feature a vast open “world” for the player to traverse, Parasite Eve is divided into different sections of Manhattan that are revealed to the player as the game progresses. Open Story. While the player only needs to visit most of these locations once (at certain parts of the storyline), they can return to these locations later to gain experience points that are used to level up their character (Aya) and make her more powerful.

While most role-playing games of this era tended to have combat with enemy creatures occur randomly, enemy encounters in Parasite Eve are typically assigned to specific locations in various parts of the game world. When Aya enters certain areas of the game’s various maps (parks, hospitals, etc.), she may encounter combat with enemies. The player may return to these locations in the hope of triggering another combat, but this is not always the case. Generally, the game requires players to exit the screen they are currently on and re-enter it to “reset” the chances of an encounter. This approach is old, but it still works within the parameters of this game.

The fights themselves take place mostly in small “arenas” or sections of the game’s various environments. The player is free to move around these small areas, but the main reason for doing so is to avoid incoming attacks and get into good position for upcoming attacks. Aya can attack with her firearm, or use one of her special “parasite energy” abilities when a timed gauge fills up. These special abilities include, but are not limited to, self-healing, slowing enemies (or increasing one’s own speed), and a powerful attack called an Energy Shot.

If there’s one small thing that’s often mentioned about Parasite Eve, it’s that there is a short loading screen or “pause” in the game when moving from one section of the game map to another. It’s not a very long wait, but it takes a long time before the game slows down noticeably. This transition would probably be seamless today, and the story would certainly be told through narration and highly detailed cinematics. I can’t say I really have any major issues.

Those who completed the game were given an “enhanced version” that was unlocked on the first completion. Called “EX Game”, this mode offers a higher difficulty and stronger enemies, but also allows players to restart with all the weapons and armor used in the first playthrough. “Ex Game” also features an additional map, the Chrysler Building, where players can further “grind” and level up Aya even more than before. This mode also features a different boss and story ending.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

Parasite Eve is definitely one of my favorite games of all time, maybe even in the top 10. I first played this game in early 1999 after it was released as a “Greatest Hits” remake. It was not a great time in my life, so I’m very embarrassed to say this game was probably one of the highlights of that time.

I bought the game at Sears. Some may think this is odd, considering how the company came to be, but it’s worth noting that Sears was one of the few stores in my hometown of Key West, Florida at the time where you could buy new video games.

I still love the story of this game, but the graphics and some gameplay elements are pretty dated by today’s standards. However, the controls are still very good and don’t feel as stiff or shaky as you’d expect from a game that’s over 20 years old. Some might argue that Parasite Eve was one of the first games to truly benefit from the then-newly released dual analog PlayStation controllers, allowing for more freedom of movement (or at least the illusion of more freedom of movement) than had been possible in any previous survival horror and role-playing game.

Like most successful games, Parasite Eve has had sequels. Parasite Eve II was released for the PlayStation console in Japan in December 1999, and the US version was released in September 2000. The sequel received generally positive reviews, but was nowhere near as successful as the original, selling only half as many copies worldwide. I didn’t dislike Parasite Eve II that much, but I found it lacking compared to the original, due in part to a convoluted plot and some rather lackluster supporting characters.

The third game in the series, titled The 3rd Birthday, was released for the PlayStation Portable gaming system in December 2010, and in the US and Europe in late 2011. I haven’t played The 3rd Birthday, but I’ve only met one person who actually owns a PSP, so I doubt many others have experienced the game. The 3rd Birthday received mostly positive reviews, although some found the plot “confusing.” More troubling are complaints about the changes to recurring characters, especially Aya herself, who has become a stereotype of a sexualized female character for many.

Parasite Eve can still be found in good condition for an average of $20-25, but in bad condition it will probably be cheaper. While the game may undoubtedly seem outdated to many modern gamers, I find the story to be just as disturbing and creepy today as it was over 20 years ago. If you’ve had your fill of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, you might want to consider Parasite Eve for a trip down memory lane, and know that it comes highly recommended by this reviewer.