The 3rd Birthday
Dec. 31st, 2013 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroAn amnesiac Aya Brea was discovered three years ago and found to have the power to “Overdive” into people in the past and change history, a power that’s now being used to try to stop the Twisted, monsters from outside of time and constructors of the mysterious Babel. If they fail, the Twisted are certain to destroy Manhattan and, in turn, the world.
This is sorta-kinda a sequel to Parasite Eve in that Aya Brea returns and her sister Eve is a major plot point. But the events of that game (and, to the best of my knowledge, Parasite Eve 2) are never mentioned and nobody’s mitochondria seems to matter (beyond the power-up system that relies on fusing Aya’s DNA, which never comes up in-story). Not having played it (or, in my case, having played it a decade ago) won’t hurt the experience at all.
And this differs significantly from its predecessors in terms of gameplay and design. Game-wise, it’s a third-person shooter with rpg elements, a few puzzle elements and lot of real-time dodging, aiming and firing. Story-wise, it’s the same sort of mystery horror story that feels very Japanese. The mood is very bleak, world-ending sort of stuff: The Twisted are clearly winning, and Aya’s time-travelling efforts may or may not actually be having any impact on that.
The graphics engine looks a lot like Crisis Core, though I’m not sure if it’s actually the same or if it’s just the “Square-Enix on the PSP” style.
I’m reminded of Vagrant Story in that there’s a very rich, detailed story (told in cutscenes and extensive optional notes that you can read between chapters) that’s broken up by a lot of kinda repetitive gameplay (though this has an Easy mode that makes it tolerable for me to play). You spend 90% of the game trying to figure out what the hell is going on, but the ending does spell out the twist quite nicely.
I think there might even be too much plot and too many possible pieces for the amount of gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I would have tolerated much more than the eight hours I spent dodging and trying to aim at Twisted while jumping bodies; I would rather they spent more time exploring the story. I could have done more with the “changing the future by Overdiving” aspect—by the time you realize what’s happening in the first few chapters, it’s over and you’re trapped in the present. The have a full timeline and note that it changes as you change the past…but then that mechanic is barely used.
(The gameplay is padded out with New Game Plus, a huge number of unlockable weapons and costumes, Feats that you can accomplish in each chapter, additional difficulty modes, and “challenge cheat codes” that you can unlock and use to make the game harder. If you love this style of game, that’s all great. I was here for the story, mostly.)
Overall: The gameplay is less my style, but the story is quite good, and if that’s all you want, the game isn’t particularly long or difficult. If you like third-person shooter games with rpg elements, this seems a decent example of the genre, as well.
This is sorta-kinda a sequel to Parasite Eve in that Aya Brea returns and her sister Eve is a major plot point. But the events of that game (and, to the best of my knowledge, Parasite Eve 2) are never mentioned and nobody’s mitochondria seems to matter (beyond the power-up system that relies on fusing Aya’s DNA, which never comes up in-story). Not having played it (or, in my case, having played it a decade ago) won’t hurt the experience at all.
And this differs significantly from its predecessors in terms of gameplay and design. Game-wise, it’s a third-person shooter with rpg elements, a few puzzle elements and lot of real-time dodging, aiming and firing. Story-wise, it’s the same sort of mystery horror story that feels very Japanese. The mood is very bleak, world-ending sort of stuff: The Twisted are clearly winning, and Aya’s time-travelling efforts may or may not actually be having any impact on that.
The graphics engine looks a lot like Crisis Core, though I’m not sure if it’s actually the same or if it’s just the “Square-Enix on the PSP” style.
I’m reminded of Vagrant Story in that there’s a very rich, detailed story (told in cutscenes and extensive optional notes that you can read between chapters) that’s broken up by a lot of kinda repetitive gameplay (though this has an Easy mode that makes it tolerable for me to play). You spend 90% of the game trying to figure out what the hell is going on, but the ending does spell out the twist quite nicely.
I think there might even be too much plot and too many possible pieces for the amount of gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I would have tolerated much more than the eight hours I spent dodging and trying to aim at Twisted while jumping bodies; I would rather they spent more time exploring the story. I could have done more with the “changing the future by Overdiving” aspect—by the time you realize what’s happening in the first few chapters, it’s over and you’re trapped in the present. The have a full timeline and note that it changes as you change the past…but then that mechanic is barely used.
(The gameplay is padded out with New Game Plus, a huge number of unlockable weapons and costumes, Feats that you can accomplish in each chapter, additional difficulty modes, and “challenge cheat codes” that you can unlock and use to make the game harder. If you love this style of game, that’s all great. I was here for the story, mostly.)
Overall: The gameplay is less my style, but the story is quite good, and if that’s all you want, the game isn’t particularly long or difficult. If you like third-person shooter games with rpg elements, this seems a decent example of the genre, as well.
