Parasite Eve (PlayStation) review "After a while the battles can get long and tedious, but fortunately it has enough gruesome FMV cutscenes to leave you gasping for more. The game doesn't have many extras; it's pretty straightforward."

Square's cinematic RPG blends regular, turn-based fighting with Resident Evil-type storyline and graphics, which calls for a good variety of gaming styles.

Graphics are easily the pinnacle of the game. Parasite Eve has great FMV cinemas and highly detailed polygons, on 2D prerendered backgrounds. This makes it look somwhat like Resident Evil 2. The graphics run very smoothly and are very impressive indeed.

Unfortunately, sound in this was very un-memorable. The sound was very gothic and ambient sounding, which set a very good mood for this horror/RPG.

The story in this doesn't match up to a normal RPG. First of all, the game only took me about 15 hours to beat. Second, it was a little farfetched, but still pretty interesting. The storyline isn't Final Fantasy 7 again, in fact, it's more like an RE-type storyline. As far as gameplay goes, Parasite Eve tries to mix two genres together: survival horror, and RPG. The result is quite rewarding. But I would rather have a plain RPG, or plain survival horror, rather than trying to put both in one game. The fighting is again a cross between FF7, and RE. It doesn't go to a different screen, but there are random battles, so you don't actually see the enemy until you fight it. The battle system uses the time engine that was used in FF7. When your time meter is full, you can have you turn. This is where the RE part comes in. When it is your turn to fight, you can move around the enemy and dodge attacks, and then attack/use item, when you are ready.

As far as difficulty goes, this game is easy/medium. It's quite short, and has no really hard parts in the game. I didn't find this a problem though, except that there was basically no replay value.

At least the game is pretty fun. After a while the battles can get long and tedious, but fortunately it has enough gruesome FMV cutscenes to leave you gasping for more. The game doesn't have many extras; it's pretty straightforward. You play throught the game once, then you don't play it anymore, unless you want to visit the Chrysler building, which is fun. There is also an expert mode, but I never found it very fun, as it was just like the first time through, except harder.

In conclusion, I think that this is a welcome title to be part of my RPG, or action collection. The storyline is gothic, the graphics are excellent for their time (and even for now), and the whole fighting concept blended RPG and survival horror together. This game is quite innovative, and good, with a fair amount of room for improvement. All in all, it was a good game.

Staff review by James Gordon (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.