Parasite Eve is one of my favorite rpgs. That game shocked me way back when. Especially that opening scene at the opera. I didn't really care for the second one or Third Birthday, but I wouldn't say it's a bad game. Ignore the haters.
Primal Eyes: Ben talks about all things Aya Brea!
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 On 06/01/2013 at 05:09 PM by BrokenH See More From This User » |
Last month a friend loaned me cash so I finally paid him back today. I wanted to take care of that before splurging on a game. I don’t have many things in the way of material possessions and raw resources but I have my honor and my word. That has to count for something!
Though I wanted to get Razor’s edge this month I was stuck having to peruse the much cheaper psp game collection. The 3rd Birthday jumped out at me.
I know many people had “problems” with Aya’s newest adventure. (Then again, many people had problems with Parasite Eve 2 back in the day) However, the gameplay looked really fun. Though I’m not 100% thrilled with PE evolving into yet another 3rd person shooter, the power to jump into the bodies of other soldiers on the battlefield adds another layer of strategy previously not accessible in games of this genre. (Unless you count the terrible Mindjack)
I’ve been told the story in 3rd Birthday makes no sense yet I’m left to wonder if excited mitochondria could really make living creatures rapidly mutate into monsters in the first place. Many fantasy and science fiction shows & games I’ve enjoyed aren’t exactly plausible. You cannot truly argue the first Parasite Eve is any more grounded in scientific facts than its’ sequels. Yeah, mitochondria are “real” but I doubt they have the power to completely rewrite someone’s DNA at such a rapid pace. To say 3rd Birthday is somehow “too outrageous” or “impossible” is a moot point on account the other two games are equally farfetched. Should we expect our fiction to always be “super realistic”? Doesn’t that somehow defeat the point of what “fiction” is? I mean we are dealing with mutating monsters, psychic powers, a diva who can make her audience combust into flames, and a giant super fetus. Who goes into that expecting the plot to play out like a real life scientific documentary?
But I digress. Parasite Eve 1 is “still” one of my favorite games of all time. I recall Aya fighting against a flying Melissa on a fast moving carriage when suddenly the horses pulling it burst into flames. There are many epic and creepy moments like that throughout the whole game and as much as it pains me to say it, I doubt I’ll enjoy 3rd Birthday as much as I did PE 1. (And for the record I liked PE 2 as well. Sure, it had goofy creature designs and shot itself in the foot by trying too hard to imitate Resident Evil, but it’s still a fun suspenseful romp while it lasts! Heck, it even has branching choices and multiple endings.)
That aside, I’m not a “fan-Nazi”. This means even when a franchise changes I will not hate on it “just because”. For example, I’m glad I took a risk and picked up Resident Evil 6 despite all the negative flak it got. While it doesn’t compare to RE 4 for me it was a fun and robust game. The fact RE as a series gradually settled into a more action packed routine never got under my skin on account I noticed it as early as RE 3 Nemesis. (And to a lesser extent RE 2 as well. To me, RE 1 was the scariest because of its’ “isolated mansion” motif. The first game made me feel alone and cut off from the rest of the world. I really REALLY want to play the game-cube remake of RE 1! Seriously capcom, re-release it for the 360,PS3,and Wii U! It‘s a gold mine, Im telling ya!)
Let’s face facts. Sometimes game reviewers love to crucify a new game just so they seem more witty, deep, informed, and hip. RE 6 may not have been a perfect 10 but it sure as hell wasn’t a “3”!
Similar to RE 6, I believe 3rd Birthday became a martyr because of petty nationalist pride, the unfair expectation of being over-hyped, and political correctness. Personally, I never gave a crap about Aya’s clothes taking damage.(Aya was promoted as a “sex symbol” in the other two games as well. If you don’t believe me feel free to look up the promotional art for PE1 or play PE2 up to the obligatory shower scene!) I also knew S/E had to recon the story because they lost the rights to the PE novel and the movie. Aka, the 3rd Birthday couldn’t be too much akin to the previous entries. Lastly, this is a psp release. Aka, I know there were limitations the design team had to work around.
My biggest gripe? Pretty much how Maeda (Aya’s science loving nerd-friend) was turned into a perverted lech! Not that I have problems with “comedy-relief-horny-side-kicks” per se, but Maeda wasn’t like that in PE 1 so why is he like that now? Such inconsistencies give the impression the team working on 3rd Birthday wasn’t familiar with the first game. However, I defeat my own argument simply because we’re dealing with a reboot as opposed to a continuation. (Geh, my brain-meats doth hurteth!)
To lay it out bluntly, I’m willing to give 3rd Birthday a fair chance! I’m coming into it after the hater aide brigade already bashed it and based on what I already know I expect it to be a sexy and fun 3rd person shooter at the very least! (Besides, there are worst atrocities out there in the real world other than pixilated fan-service!)
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