Parasite Eve II (PSone Classic) releasing on North American PSN this week

[Shin-Ra]

The Drop: Week of August 22nd 2011 New Releases > PSone Classic >

Parasite Eve II

Three years after “the event” in New York, Aya Brea has joined the FBI to help control the threat of another mitochondria outbreak. After encountering several Neo Mitochondrial Creatures (NMCs) in a Los Angeles office building, Aya starts on an investigation into the source of the situation. She will have to travel to a variety of locations and fight dozens of NMCs that don’t want her to discover the truth behind their existence. Luckily, Aya is trained in the use of several weapons including pistols, rifles, and machine guns. But when things get a little too hairy, she can call on the power of her own mitochondria and pull off special attacks or heal wounds. Your performance throughout the game determines which of the multiple ending you will get to see. It’s up to you to try to keep the mitochondria in check with PARASITE EVE II.

[Show spoiler]

I played this on PlayStation knowing nothing about the original and found it to be a great alternative to the Resident Evil series with key differences. I haven't played it since it first came out so my memory's pretty haze but:

The time of day changes so it's scarier at night and indoors. The relief of daylight means you get a chance to catch your breath and fear the return of night!

RPG character levelling and action combat. Resources (especially ammo) aren't in as short supply as the early RE games but you still want to stockpile as much as possible. You can buy, upgrade weapons and level up Aya's mitochondria powers which are the key to saving a lot of ammo and health items.

There's one point in the game where you can hear something bone-chilling and you've got no choice but to approach it. The sound gets louder and clearer.

There's quite a few bosses with tactical weaknesses to exploit.

That's all I've got. I wished The Third Birthday would be more of the same with new story and graphics but S-E and Hexadrive made a full 3D third person shooter less fitting of PSP's control options.