Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

Okay I'm just going to be blunt, this review is not meant to be formal. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on the game instead of write an essay, so here it goes. Parasite Eve is squares first survival horror game, and it shows; this game looks kinda like final fantasy 8, and plays like vagrant story. Not to say that its a bad thing, it's honestly a neat approach to a horror game. Another edge is the game's script, the conversations are interesting and the story is enjoyable. The weapon upgrade system is solid, and the combat system is a welcomed change from the aim-shoot mechanics of resident evil.

Now its time for some of my peeves. The soundtrack is awesome...but it's not scary at all. It's fairly upbeat electronic music and it fails to catch the atmosphere of the story/artdirection/ect. As a horror game, it's no where near as scary as it thinks it is. The enemies aren't particularly frightening, and neither are the bosses. It's a linear game, so the mandatory square leveling system is useless because theres no grinding or exploration.... Remember how I said the script was good, well the game could have really benefited from voice overs instead of text-only ingame and cutscene.

...And the games abrupt end doesn't satisfy. Let me explain. This game is two discs, so naturally you'd assume one disc=half the game. Well, Disc 1 took me 9 hours to beat so i was pretty amazed that just 1 disc was longer then re1+2, than i beat the second disc in one sitting in under 2 hours...The plot just goes 'f**k it' and stuff explodes. It just feels like a rushed ending pure and simple... Overall I enjoyed it, but Parasite Eve 2 is better.