Thankfully, in 1997, we decided that we where done with the outdated systems and wanted something more fresh. Originally we where gonna buy a Nintendo 64, but when we got to the Game store in the mall, we saw that a strong competitor, the Sony Playstation was cheaper and the games sold for less, so we got it.

From there, we where introduced to a landslide of game series: Tomb Raider, Crash Bandacoot, Spyro, Resident Evil, Castlevania, Legacy of Kain, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy, Wild Arms, Metal Gear Solid. That's only some of the more popular titles; we grabbed several that where more under the radar as well, some more deserving to stay there while others being underrated.

Before we delve into the games, it probably would be best to look into the history of
the source inspiration.

THE ORIGINAL NOVEL & FILM

Mitochondria are a biological form that lives within all living things, yet are actually separate
from said life forms. As an energy giver, they formed a symbiotic relationship with living
cells and as we evolved, that relationship remained. Or so it's theorized.

What makes the original novel so interesting is that it makes use of this organism
and turns it into a rather dark and creepy creation. How many horror stories
use real life proven scientific facts and use them to make it horrifying? Not
many by my count. This novel would be written by Hideaki Sena and,
obviously, was called Parasite Eve.

The story for the novel is that Mitochondria are actually more then just
living organisms; they're also aware and waiting. A certain line of female
hosts, called Eve, have laid low and quit, waiting through the centuries
and millennia for the right chance to evolve forward and move
Mitochondria to top of existence.

Kiyomi Nagishima is the next woman in
the line of Eve. She also happens to be
the wife of Toshiaki, who is also, is a lead researcher
and knows some things on Mitochondria. Unfortunately
for Kiyomi, she gets in a car wreck and is in critical
condition. Sensing the time is near; Eve uses some mental
powers to influence Toshiaki as well as another doctor to remove
Kiyomi's Kidney for a teenaged girl, Mariko Anzai, who needs one
as Kiyomi is an organ donor, as well as her liver to experiment on.

As they begin work on the Liver, Eve starts her rise into physical form, as well as prepping Mariko and
Toshiaki. With them, her plans go forward to not only to make herself known to the human race, but to spell it's disaster via one thing: a child.

The book was so popular that in 1997, it was made into a film baring the same name. The film itself would fallow the plot very closely with the same characters and events. I've only seen half of the film, but many reviews of it have given it a rather good rating.

The game would be a follow up to the events of the movie/book, however, the game took place in 1998, so the events before it must have had to of happened several years prior.

New York City, December 24th, 1998. Aya Brea is an NYPD cop who's accepted a date
with a guy to the Christmas Eve Opera in Carnegie Hall. She senses that something isn't
right, but none the less, goes in. The Opera begins with Melissa Pearce as the lead. During
a singing solo, she scans the crowd and finds Aya. As there eyes connect, hers suddenly
goes from brown to green.

The show is then suddenly halted as the
actors on stage burst into flames. The
crowd is awestruck, until a few members
fall into the crowd. It's then that the
audience members of the crowd burst
into flames, some fleeing for there lives
while others fall from the balcony. Aya
watches in horror and sees that Melissa
is the only one unscathed, and is in fact
enjoying it.

Aya tells her wussy of a date to leave and
brings out her gun (a girl's got to have
protection). Heading on stage, the two talk briefly before fighting, until Melissa leaves. As
Aya chases her from the basement to the sewers, she watches as mere animals (birds,
rats, frogs) turn into giant monster like beasts to stop her, which they do as Eve escapes.

After Aya returns, the game goes on for the next six days, following Aya as she works with
her partner Daniel (a real hot head and the father of Ben), a Japanese Scientist named
Maeda, and her fellow police officers of the 17th department precinct to try and stop Eve
before she completes what her predecessor failed to do. Along the way, Aya must learn of
her connection to past events, and figure out why she's seeing her late sister.

The game was rather unique in its game play
and style, as it was made by Squarsoft (now
SquarEnix) who were well known for there RPG
style games like Final Fantasy and the Chrono
series. Some have gone to complain that the
game was simply an attempt to cash in on the
success of the ever so popular Resident Evil
series. To be fair, I'm sure someone said the
same thing about Silent Hill and look at its
popularity.

After the blockbuster that was Final Fantasy VII,
Square had a lot to offer with future games and with Final Fantasy VIII still 2 years off, a lot was
riding on this. Visually, Square succeeded. The CGI where amazing for the time, and offered some
grizzly sites as some creatures mutated into monsters and humans where melted.

The game offers a unique fighting system which breaks away from the standard RPG that Square

Through out the game, you are in a sort of Cat and Mouse game as you constantly chase Eve in hopes of stopping her. The first fight you have is actually a boss fight with Eve (how many games do you remember that open with a Boss fight?) You also have a wide range of bosses through out the game, from an Eel/Gator hybrid, Giant worms, a 3 headed giant dog, a giant spider, a huge crab (optional), a Monster Millipede and even skeleton versions of Triceratops and a T-Rex.

One Unique feature is how you travel around New York. When you need to travel, pick you locations from over Manhattan Island in an arial view. Aside from the area's I mentioned in the plot, you get to visit The Museum of Natural History, Soho, Chinatown, a Hospital, the Brooklyn Bridge, a Warehouse and the Chrysler Building (see below for both).

Another great feature for the game is easily its soundtrack. Most of the fights/encounters with Eve play the same operatic song she sang during the concert. The most chilling theme though is the theme during the Christmas night concert in which Eve melts the entire audience.

The game isn't perfect however. Through out the game, Aya moves very slowly, even while running. It looks alright when she's wearing a dress and high heels in the opening part of the game, but she moves the same way during the rest of the game, and she's wearing Jeans, T-Shirt, a Jacket and Sneakers. It also makes it harder during the fights, especially when you try to dodge certain attacks.

Another flaw is the side quests you can optionally take. There's a Warehouse on Day 5 in which you can go and collect all the items inside and face the Crab I mentioned. Really, it can be challenging and you could do it just to defeat all, but it serves no purpose to the game and if not properly prepared, it could weaken you and use up a lot of your items. There's also items simply called "Junk" you find a lot and if you collect and give to someone back at the station, give him all and you can get some super Gun. Believe me; trying save up the stuff is a pain in the ass.

All in all, not perfect, but a much underrated game. It earned a PS1 Greatest Hits title
and due to its popularity and success at the time, Squaresoft made a sequel.

PARASITE EVE 2

2000, 2 years after the events of the first game, all the creatures that
survived have migrated to the west, and the FBI have formed the
Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team (MIST). Aya is
part of that team and is now an FBI agent.

Stationed in California, they specialize in hunting and killing Neo-
Mitochondrial Creatures (NMC) and are relieved to know the
sightings are lowering. There's also been no report of any creature
that bares any similarities to Eve.

After barely escaping the tower, she is sent to investigate some bizarre activity at a small town named Dryfield in Nevada, now barren and empty from attacks. There she meets up with 2 people. The first being the only survivor of an ANMC infestation (Artificial Neo Mitochondrial Creature) of the town, Gary Douglas who collects weapons and keeps an eye out along with his dog Flint. The other is a P.I. from LA, Kyle Madigan with whom remains shady about his past but eventually forms a bit of a team with Aya.

As she begins to look into the town and learn of it's history, the truth behind what is really going on begins and she learns what is really behind the new ANMC's and why humans are turning into it. Even more so, she'll find someone with whom she is closer to then she could ever imagine, but also must save from the evil's she could inherit.

They really changed up with this game. For one, you can see if an enemy is close by and try to avoid it if necessary. Also, Aya doesn’t run nearly as slow. Another factor is easily the spells she has, unlike last time where she had to evolve to gain them, here she buys them with points earned from kills (along with weapons and armor).

Like the last game, CGI here is nothing short of great, although at times looks different from other scenes (possibly because 2 different teams worked on it). There's also a memorable scene with Aya in a shower. Granted you don't see anything and by today's standards of games, that's nothing new…but still, back then it was rare and…well hot.

This game would, instead of recycling, try new looking enemies (Partly due to them being made from humans instead of animals) and in turn, offer some unique and….kind of creepy foes (There's horse like creatures with human faces, they just look bizarre).

The game also took a few things from the last one as well. For one, there are more endings then one, but instead of beating the game first, this time you can gain any of them from the first play, depending on certain actions you take at certain events. Also, you start off again with a boss fight.

Again, like the last one, this one has flaws, although a tad more then it should have had. First off, a few characters that while being new seem like a recycle of characters from the last one. Rupert seems nothing more then a rehash of Daniel, black, works a huge gun and has a short temper. Kyle and a character called Pierce seem to have a similar love/hate relationship with one from the past game, a policeman at the precinct who watches the armory.

With Parasite Eve 1, you'll be facing some hard challenges and it might take a few tries to beat the game. EX mode was even harder as each 10 levels get harder and each boss is more of a challenge. This time around it's a bit of the opposite. The game, while challenging, is easier to beat at first and is even easier the next time around as your total points is saved and your powers are offered at a lower price. I can't tell you how many times I've beaten the game over and over again with ease.

Other factors for after the game is a Crazy Mode which offers extra challenging enemies in the game and buying more deadly weapons if you have enough points. One such weapon is the Gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII. I used a cheat to get it….aint really worth it.

One side thing, there's a part that almost seems to be ripping off Jurassic Park. Really, the organization in the game seems to think people will flock to join them so they set up a Zoo like area in which they look at the ANMCs. Yeah, real smart there.

SO MUCH FOR A 3rd GA...WAIT, WHAT?

So after the second game got Greatest Hits as well, we Parasite Eve fans all waited and hoped that eventually Squaresoft, now SquareEnix would finally give us that third game, especially since the second game didn't end with a cliff hanger, but still left any possibilities for more entries open. And so we waited, but nothing ever came.

We thought it was never going to happen….until 2007. Square announced the making of a Spin-Off game titled The 3rd Birthday. At first, it was simply going to be on Mobile phones, which had many scratching there heads over, but thankfully they got wise and announced it was being for PSP alone.

The game images and trailer shows Aya, who despite being in her 30's still looks very young due to her Mitochondria. Her and her team is summoned to New York when creatures called "The Twisted" are seen breaking Time/Space and destroying anything they can. There are also hints that Kyle will betray Aya in the game, but at this point, anything's not known. No other past characters are shown at the time to be in the game.

The game is scheduled for a 2009 release date, but as the year grows late, I wouldn't be surprised if it's pushed back to 2010. I say, as long as they make it a damn good game, take there time.

CLOSING

So here is a unique set of games that got tons of attention at the time, but over the decade has slipped into obscurity. For the time, it had the best graphics you could see and one of the most unique stories ever. Yet, due to its flaws, it never did continue like Resident Evil and Silent Hill and has become a gem of the past.

If you have a PS1/2 or an adapter, I advice you to look for this game and give it a try, the fact that both have earned greatest hits title should convince you of that. Also give the movie or novel a try. I still maintain that a remake of the game with better graphics, more advanced fighting system and voice casting could improve it beyond what it is already.

But really, give these games a try, they deserve better.