Parasite Eve - PS1 Review

Again here is another review of a game that is both action rpg and horror. Parasite Eve if you like action rpgs much, you'll probably have no problem with loving this game. There is much to be discussed, but what is an rpg without story. The plot revolves around Aya Brea as you (yes she is female), going on a opera date with a typical guy who begged her to go with him. They make their way through the door and are seated to watch a woman with a dress on the stage who is an actress. Finally the show begins and as the play is commencing, the actress Eve plays along and suddenly sets a guy on fire just with her voice. Eventually the action escalates and the whole premises is set on fire. Her boyfriend flees and some people die in the audience. As Aya Brea, you are a cop who is trying to find and catch her, and bring her to justice. But can something so inhuman be defeated so easily?
The style of graphics as you may know is a bit choppy. But it was good for it's time being on the playstation 1. It has a Resident Evil feel to it as the characters and monsters as well as the landscape and New York theme add realism to the game. Eve has a grotesque figure of course being the main boss of the game. The buildings look nice though choppy they don't really disappoint and since you are basically in New York, you will not see any flora or fauna throughout the entire game. Maybe once or twice, but only in buildings.
I'd like to really focus though on the game play. Of course being a game as a cop you're going to fight some monsters. And it's mostly all in real time with a twist. You begin a battle fighting more than often "fixed" battles in different areas. They can be random battles at times and then other times not. A heart beat sound ensues with the screen x-ray-ing its self. You then enter and have to kill all the enemies on the screen with your gun in a closed in area. You have your HP which is basically your life and also the AT gauge is a welcome addition. The difference between it and final fantasy is that you can freely move around dodging enemy attacks while the bar fills. Once it fills you can open fire on an enemy which shows the range your gun can shoot, or you can use an item or PE which is parasite energy (basically magic). But you can only do one at a time before the Active Turn gauge goes empty and fills the next time for you to act. This makes it a little hard to be able to attack when you want as it takes several seconds for the gauge to fill for you ready to attack again. Once all enemies are killed you gain EXP and BP (bonus points) which I'll explain later. As a traditional rpg you can travel once again if you win the fight.
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Now about BP which are ability points. Every level up you gain status increases like a regular rpg such as attack, defense and parasite defense (magic attacks). But then there is also BP. You gain 1 allocation point for every 100 BP fill ups you get. You have to remember though that not every level up will gain you 100 BP. Sometimes you have to level up a few times to get an allocation point. Once you can get 100, it's subtracted from then number of BP you have, and you can level up your AT gauge speed or you can level up your item storage capacity; it is basically up to your preference. Leveling up your storage means you can carry more items like armor, healing items, bullets, key items and such, while leveling up your AT will hasten your time to attack or make your next move. And then there is the tool system. In order to strengthen your arsenal of guns, you have to have an item in your storage called a tool. It basically adds the "plus" attack or defense of one gun or vest and adds it to the next "base" of the second vest you are trying to add it to. The problem with this is you have to consider the strength of one gun or armor and use it on the other if the armor or gun is weaker. The reason for this is because once you use a tool and add the base of an equipment the equipment you subtracted the base to will be gone. So you might want to keep it because it's a strong piece of equipment anyways.
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This game I think hadn't gotten a lot of attention for it's time. It's definetly a good game if not great. Even if it does look bad for a ps1, i do think it deserves at least a play. It is up there with the play station final fantasy series.