I liked the character designs – Aya is casually dressed in a jacket and jeans while Eve is a monstrous witch-like creation with a flowing dress. In game models are more obviously pixelated but there’s an odd beauty to seeing them juxtaposed with the pre rendered backgrounds.
Half of the game’s success is down to the direction which uses smart angles to great dramatic effect, something done in the environments too. I’d also note that there’s a brilliant attention to detail with little touches like Aya’s reflection in a mirror or water rippling in the park that really act as a showcase of what the developers could do. Some of the monster transformations are downright grotesque and the opening scene of Eve setting the opera on fire is famous to this day for all the right reasons, as it gave me shivers seeing it for the first time. One thing that does live up to Square’s pedigree is the CG cutscenes, that are a little janky by modern standards but are still a sight to behold. I really liked the idea of setting the title in a realistic depiction of New York City and there’s definitely an anime tinge to everything. The horror theme is amped up to the max and while they don’t reach the spectacle of the Final Fantasy games of the era, they’re just as gorgeous. You’ll run through the dark grit of a NYPD station, the wintery chill of Central Park and the eerie desolation of a museum overrun by dinosaurs. There are of course pre rendered backgrounds here, but I am personally a massive fan of these and the selection on offer is as impressive as ever.
While sporting a different art direction, I’m pleased to report it’s equally as impressive graphically as SquareSoft’s other masterpiece. I had to do a double take when I first booted up Parasite Eve as it seemed to be running on exactly the same engine as Final Fantasy VIII, one of my favourite games of all time. So although it can get trumped up on its own crazy concepts at times, Parasite Eve is a unique tale from Square that mixes equal part horror and sci-fi plotting to great effect. I like that they rounded out the plot, but could’ve taken a bit more to their characterisation. They add a bit of nice humour into the mix at times but they’re a lot more two dimensional than Aya, with Daniel being a traditional hot headed family man and Maeda being a smart but clumsy buffoon. The supporting cast here, including Aya’s cop partner Daniel and Japanese scientist Maeda, are decidedly more mixed. During a time when Lara Croft’s boobs were getting bigger with each new Tomb Raider entry, it’s fantastic time see a female lead who is smartly dressed and every bit as kickass as the men (although seeing her pull a gun from her evening dress in the opening CG scene is still an incredible moment).
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She’s resourceful, smart and tough as nails plus it’s just coincidental that she’s a woman. Part of the success of Parasite Eve is thanks to its lead character Aya, who stands tall among gaming protagonists.
It can be grotesque at points too, but that just helps to add to its charm. It centres on the idea of Mitochondria, evolved cells passed down by female hosts and although the game gets a little lost in the technobabble of it at times, it provides a compelling central idea to keep the story moving forward. The story is rooted in the Japanese novel Parasite Eve albeit this is a sequel story that you can go into without having read the book. Eve’s rampage through New York City at Christmas is an absolute thrill from start to finish and the game never lets up the pacing as you head from location to location desperately trying to stop the destruction. She discovers that Eve was once Melissa, a drug-taking starlet and as she uncovers more about the situation, it reveals some uncomfortable ties to Aya’s own past. The subsequent journey follows Aya as she battles this being calling itself “Eve”, who posses abilities far beyond that of any human. Things take a rapid turn as when the singer starts performing, the crowd begin spontaneously combusting but Aya remains strangely unaffected. On Christmas Eve, tough New York cop Aya Brea decides to let herself relax and goes on a date to the opera.
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