God I am pissed off at this game for 3 reasons, the name of the game, the lack of special powers in the game and the ending! The 3rd birthday is the 3rd Parasite Eve game but under a different name that closes the door on the franchise. That's part of the reason the ending pissed me off. Anyway let's get to my review before I turn this review into a rant.
It's been a long time since we saw a Parasite Eve game and now we finally get it. The story follows Aya Brea over 10 years since the NMC incident in the second game and starts with the "Twisted" destroying New York City and creating towers called Babels. Fast forward a couple of years to Aya having amnesia and working for a government agency called the CTI(Counter Twisted Unit) and using her new ability called "Overdive" to travel back in time like in Quantum Leap into people of that time period to fight the Twisted and change the future. Throughout the game Aya also has flashback to her past of a wedding with people she can't remember and is slowly regaining her memories.
The gameplay is a huge change from the last ones. If you remember the first game it was shooting in a little area with monsters triggered by random encounters(if you're from the PAL region you may not know this since it was never released to us and we had to import to get it.) and in the second it played like Resident Evil with magic abilities. The 3rd Birthday on the other hand has you playing like most 3rd person shooters of today but you can't aim manually, you have to use the lock-on to actually hit your targets. The default controls are the best to go with since it's the least irritating but regardless of controls the camera is controlled with the D-pad and swapping weapons uses a button and the D-pad. You can also dodge attacks but depending on the weapon depends on how well you do it.
Aya's has also gained 2 new abilities since the previous games, The Overdive which the plot revolves around and the Liberation ability. Overdive allows Aya to leap between people in each mission and to a heavy damage attack to enemies while an orange triangle appears on screen. The Liberation ability is essentially a limit break ability that makes Aya untouchable by enemy attacks and inflict heavy damage to enemies with twin pistols and Overdive into enemies for massive damage.
The Twisted you fight throughout the game are really annoying too. Some of them aren't much of a hassle but there are a few with enormous amounts of health that just can't seem to die without a super powered weapon or Overdiving the damn thing consistently. There are also feats in the game that can be completed to unlock stuff and can be a pain to pull off because of the overpowered Twisted.
The game is also not very long either. I'd say roughly 8 hours depending on how you play. There is replayability to the game too for people who want to super power Aya or get every outfit and weapon in the game. This is always nice to have in games but the big question is after playing the game will you actually want to replay it, especially since the 6 episodes go by so quickly.
The 3rd Birthday isn't a bad game, just not what a Parasite Eve fan was expecting. The game plays well and the story is good until you get to the ending where a twist smacks you in the face like a metal deadbolt door. I overall enjoyed playing through the game and will be shocked if they could pull a 4th game in the series out of there behinds. I give it a 4/5. Well worth buying if you're a fan of the previous Parasite Eve games and if you're a newcomer then I'm glad to tell you the previous games don't interfere with the plot like Resident Evil games do to themselves.
Also you get a voucher for Aya's outfit on Lightning in Dissidia 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy so that's pretty cool.
From Japanese horror novel to game, the Parasite Eve franchise deserves a redemption arc in this week’s edition of Bring it Back.
The original was a really unique RPG. Cool combat system too. Whatever they did with the PSP Version... don’t ever do that again. Would like to see this series return.
I think the reason why they won't bring it back is due to the licensing and the failure of that abysmal PSP game.
I think Square should try to attempt a reboot without the whole use of "Eve", since Aya is an original creation I would assume they could still use her, and maybe come up with a new threat and implement all the mechanics from the original but modernize it. Y'know, something like FF7's hybrid combat system would be awesome.
The problem comes down to Square willing to take a risk. They could dump all this effort and money into a project and it could bomb in sales. I miss the days when developers could come up with any idea and get a game green-lit even if it wasn't a guaranteed success.
Ashamed to say this is a gap in my gaming experience here. Never played the Parasite Eve titles. I do have a PS2 sat under my TV, if you have no nostalgia for the games, do you reckon they hold up?
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The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was one of the most successful handheld consoles to date, featuring a large roster of games including each and every genre present to date.
Agreed.
Both PSP and DS were the very top of handheld gaming at that time. I never would have foresaw the decline in handheld gaming that we see today. So many companies had PSP titles, KH, FF, MGS, GTA etc A rare time and I don't know if we'll even see that type of support for handheld like we saw back then.
I never played Persona 3 on PSP though, I played it on PS2 and got it again on PS3 when it was on PSN, same with Persona 4, but everyone tells me Persona 4 on Vita is a lot better.
P4 golden on the Vita is excellent and if you have a Vita, it is definitely worth another go around.
I wish the Vita got half the support the psp did. I'm don't mean to complain but I feel it was just shorted. Oh well.
@Fist- Well I have the PSTV and I did want to play Persona 4 again, I might pick up the Vita version.
It sucks Vita didn't get that same type of support, but the market has changed so much. So many phone games its not even funny. Its why when I hear a JRPG announcement, first thing I thinking about is "please don't be mobile" lol
Replace 3rd birthday with peace walker or Dissidia and it will be an excellent list. 3rd birthday is great mechanically but the story is attrocious as a parasite eve sequel.
Jerry from BagoGames says, "Sony hasn't had the best of luck with their handheld devices and some of their biggest franchises died on the PSP, here are those five."
Interesting little thought piece. I feel like Parasite Eve and Syphon Filter could still have legs.
That Ghost n Goblins game for the PSP was the ultimate lesson in pain.
Capcom should make a collection and bring that game back.
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins was hard as hell, did beat it though... yet I did not, because when finishing the game, it encourage you to play through a second time in order to face off against the real final boss. Never did that... too much pain...
You're a braver soldier than me. There was a part that I just couldnt get past and I gave up im defeat.
They may, we are getting a Disney Afternoon Collection of all their old Disney games, maybe Arthur is next!
I agree with pretty much everything aside from the story being okay until the end.
Yeah the ending sucks and pretty much ruins the future of the series but the rest of the story sucked as well. It was SO far outside of what a Parasite Eve game should be. The first 2 games were more grounded in reality. What I mean by that is that despite the plots being completely impossible of happening in the real world it was backed up by lots of science and made it feel more real(think like something along the lines of Jurassic Park, Yeah it's impossible but it seems as if it could be real, same deal here). Where as the 3rd Birthday is just the typical sci fi world with little to no explanation at all(like what the twisted are when reveled in the end makes NO SENSE)
They also completely destroyed the character of Aya Brea. In the original 2 games she was the fearless bad ass that didn't really ever show fear. There are countless scenes in those games where you just stare in awe of how awesome she is. But in the 3rd Birthday she is shown as the weak cowering hero who somehow always comes out on top. The amount of times they show her as a weak person just really pissed me off. They ruined her.
Control wise and game play wise the game is solid. The only real weakness the game has stem from the fact that it's on the PSP and doesn't have dual analog sticks. But pretty much everything about it(even the music which was awesome in the first 2 games) was a massive let down for fans of the original. It would not be so bad if the ending had not ruined any future chance to bring the series back to light. But now short of a total reboot the series is destroyed.
good story???!!!!!!!!!!!! o_0