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Square's cinematic RPG is quite impressive, even to this day

While Square really focused on the Final Fantasy games during the Playstation era, they also branched out to try new things. One of those resulted in Parasite Eve, which was the "cinematic RPG," Square said. Released in 1998 for the PS1, PE was an action RPG which felt a little different. It was actually based on the book of the same name written by Hideaki Sena. The story for the game is a sequel to the book, which happened in Japan (this is referenced in the game). The setting for the game is New York City, which is rare for a Japanese-developed game. 

The story in a nutshell goes like this: Cop Aya Brea goes to the opera one evening. During the performance, the lead female singer transforms into a monster (Parasite Eve) and everyone catches on fire. Aya, however, is the only person not affected. Panic ensues and the city is evacuated. Aya teams up with fellow cop Daniel and a Japanese scientist, Maeda. They discover that mitochondria is the key to this scientific monster. It's up to Aya to find Eve and destroy her. While the story is crazy, it's also interesting and creepy. 

The game is quite linear. However, as you progress, new locations will open up and you can visit these places at any time you see fit. Locations include the police station, Central Park, the hospital, Chinatown, and many others. However, since the city was evacuated, these areas are void of any people, making the game feel empty, but also making it really creepy. At the police station, you can tune up your weapons, enhancing their fire power and range. You can also save your game when you access a phone (they're all over the city, y'know). 

When you begin the game, you'll notice that Aya walks really slow. I mean, slower than a snail with a broken foot! Luckily, you can run by holding the circle button. You'll be holding it down the entire game; I don't know who thought her snail-like walking was a good idea. However, she runs automatically in battle, which is very helpful. 

Dungeons usually involve some snooping around in order to find useful items such as keys or switches in order to progress. Different screens will present you with different camera angles (more cinematic, I guess). One screen might be an overhead view while the next one may look directly behind Aya as she ascends a stairway. Once again, the atmosphere for the dungeons is very creepy. 

Battles happen via random encounters and allow you to fight in that exact spot. This can be a problem if the area is too small, which makes it difficult to avoid enemy attacks. You might even be attacked while on a narrow path. You know this is a Square game because it uses the active time battle system. Aya uses guns in battle. You have limited ammo, which might cause problems at first, but eventually you'll gather up so much ammo that you won't run out. Different guns have different stats: fire power, range, and bullets. It's best to stick with the most powerful gun. 

Aya also has parasite powers, which allow her to heal and use various "magical" abilities. She'll learn more powers as she levels up. Using these powers will decrease her parasite powers gauge, but simply moving around or attacking will cause it build up again. Thankfully, you don't need to use an item to increase the gauge. 

The enemies in the game can be a pain at times. Some seem to be over-powered, taking huge chunks of your life which can lead to unnecessary Game Overs. The worst culprit here would be the spiders. They move really fast and can shoot out webs. If the webs hit you, you'll walk around really slow, making it even easier for them to simply walk into you. It's just cheap and frustrating. For the most part, though, the enemies are fine. 

The bosses in the game are the most video gamey bosses ever: giant spiders, mutated dogs, monster crab that can shoot lasers (of course), etc. These creatures have been infected by their mitochondria taking over, which transforms them into hideous monsters. Some battles can be annoying at times, but usually there's plenty of room to move around. Some of the bosses have multiple targets, which can make the battles more tedious, but these are not long, drawn-out battles. 

The graphics are both impressive and terrible. The cutscenes hold up very well, although they're quite short. I can only imagine how awesome they must have seemed back in 1998. The pre-rendered backgrounds look fine, but the character models are very ugly. Especially when you see a close-up of the faces, you'll either cringe or laugh. I'll post a video below of one of the cutscenes so you can see how it holds up for yourself. I was impressed. 

                                    Gross yet impressive

Finally, the music by Yoko Shimomura is excellent. Plenty of great piano melodies along with some pretty creepy stuff which helps the game feel more tense. This is a great game to play in a dark room alone. Most of the music is atmospheric, but it all works very effectively. 

Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended

Square succeeded in making the cinematic RPG. The cutscenes are great, the gameplay is solid, and even the story is quite interesting, although very weird. Aya's journey against an ultra-powerful monster is both fascinating and horrifying. We could even call this game Square's Resident Evil. While it doesn't succeed on every level, and some battles can be frustrating, Square gave us a great solo horror adventure. If only the sequel had maintained such granduer.