ComeIntoMyWorld Reviews

Parasite Eve II (1999 Video Game)

Awful Awful Awful

[28 July 2003]

This game is a serious embarassment to the name of Squaresoft. This game is just awful, it doesn't even deserve to be made, and it horrible.

There are really three main aspects of any game, and that is game play and technical and story. But this game, not single aspect of this game is a complete winner, and its terrible.

Story is usually the first thing to bring up about this game, but this game's story is horrible, clich'd, and at times, directly copied. This game is literally, a carbon clone of Capcom's survival horror classic Resident Evil 2. There are scenes in Parasite Eve II that are direct copies of Resident Evil II, which i played twice and beat. Parasite Eve II centers around the original's protagonist, Aya Brea, a part of a "mitochondria specialty task force". She ends up investigating a series of deaths that look like they could be connected to her previous work. They rest of the story is simply a mish mash and the force Aya works for contains every stereotypical cop character you can find. The tough talkign black guy, the nerdy gun carrier, and the feminine receptionist who has something to do with the story, they're all there, in a mish mash that makes no sense. Knot a single good thing can be said about the ridiculously incoherent and unprocessed story, that holds no bearing to the original's story, which was based off of a Japanese Best Sellin novel. INstead, we have no nooks, no crannies, nothing. The little bit of story we do get in this game either don't make any type of sense, or are ripped off of Resident Evil 2.

The technical aspect of this game is discraceful. The fact that this game even has the Squaresoft logo. The music is abominable, the WORST squaresoft soundtrack I have ever herad, it's simply horrible. Boring, repetetive, uninspired, awful. The music will seriously make your ears bleed, and to say this disgusting score was the first video game soundtrack domestically released in the US is simply horrible. No wonder video game soundtracks haven't taken off in this country. The graphics in the game are even worse then the first one, with the movies being pixelated and plain, and the in game graphics are just moving squares. To make it worse, the first official cinema in the game, after you play (not including the intro) is taken directly from Resident evil 2, and fans will see the smoking gun of a copycat. The controls aren't bad, but they're a carbon clone again of Resident Evil 2. But again, Aya moves horribly. If you thought it was bad in the first game, Aya is slow and annoying, and at times, in battle, barely mobile. The game engine is a very good idea, and much much MUCh better than the first gun, and is actually more fun. But to make it worse are unfair bosses and enemies, and the appaling use of "magic".

Parasite Eve II is simply a Resident Evil II clone, but the worst part about it is the fact that with such great reference work, this game came out so bad. Resident Evil II is a classic survival horror game, but Parasite Eve II, sorry to say, is simply junk. For this game, worth only about 5 dollars, I give- Half a star out of *****

Parasite Eve (1998 Video Game)

Not Exactly THE Cinematic RPG

[23 July 2003]

Parasite Eve was released in 98 with alot of anticipation. It was the next big budget production from the makers of Final Fantasy VII and was called "The Cinematic RPG." But the anticipation and what not was probably not all that worth it plying the game. I've played the game through three times and beaten it, it will take you about 6 to 8 hours the first time and most likely, you'll have smashed your tv through a few times. Parasite Eve centers around a very interesting story, based on a Japanese best selling novel. It revolves around Aya Brea, a NYPD cop who takes after her father and is going to Carnegie Hall for a date to the Opera on Christmas eve. She gets more than what she bargains for when the lead in the play turns into a mass of ooze and bursts Carnegie Hall into a pyro technics display.

The Game can attribute to itself a few good things. It's graphics, at the time, were the best of the best. Now, they don't hold water in any way, but the spectacular pre-rendered backgrounds, and breathtaking cinemas of New York City were the best and still can beat out some of the lesser made Playstation II games. The game also relies on a fantastic storyline, that makes you want to continue playing it. It sucks you in and with some fantastic revelations, it keeps you intuned to every nook and cranny. The music of the game ius one of the best video game soundtracks I've ever dealt wtih, going from intense classic music, to opera, to hard core trance and dance music. It has a mainstream feel that helps the games odd plot, which is not american at all, be easier to swallow.

Now these things I just mentioned, they make a great movie, not a great video game, and Parasite Eve is far from a great game. It's play mechanics, even in 1998, are awful. The discraceful ATB system that was used for almost every Squaresoft game before FInal Fatasy X is here, but instead, programmers tried to mix in the formula with an action game. This was a dire mistake, since it doesn't work out at all. The gam eis frustrating to play, the encounter rate is off the wall, and bosses are simply unfair. Your character, Aya Brea, is ridiculously slow compared to every single enemy she encounters, and bosses usually will land at least 2 hits on you for every hit you put on them. To even pass some bosses, you will have to spend about 20 minutes simply leveling up, and the ridiculous battle system doesn't make it fun at all. Who the hell said stopping where you are and just leaving yourself open for attack is fun. It's not, especially when Aya's weapons take forever to load, and if you're hit, the attack will start over to load all over again. These are the mistakes Squaresoft endured trying tyo comhbine an rpg and an action/survivor horror game, and they are shockingly unsuccessful in doing so. And the in-game graphics, like most FInal Fantasies again, are discraceful, Pixelated, grainy, every bad word in the book you can attribute to them describes them, excluding teh magnificent pre-rendered graphics.

When it comes down to it, Parasite Eve had the makings of a fantastic movie, with it;s directions, but to play it is another story. Not only does it get unfun after a while, it just isn't worth it eventually. The only reason i finished it once was to complete the story, which to this day is one of my favorite video game stories. I finished it a second time with gameshark to relive the story, and did the same the third time to relive some of the great cinemas. But what ameks tshi game enjoyable is not playing it, but experiencing it, which ultimately sometimes isn't worth it. I give it **1/2 out of *****