Parasite Eve II

Parasite Eve II is a single-player horror video game published in 2000 by the Japanese company Squaresoft for the Sony PlayStation video game console. Unlike its predecessor, Parasite Eve, which is a role-playing game or RPG (role-playing game), Parasite Eve II belongs to the genre of horror video games.

History

Three years after the Incident that occurred in New York with the monsters born from the mitochondria, Aya Brea, who was part of the city Police and one of the few people who survived the incident, is now an FBI agent who He is part of a special division called MIST (Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team) which is sent on an urgent mission in downtown Los Angeles, where there have been reports of NMC's. The first chapter in the game puts Aya in the position of investigating the Acropolis tower, where she finds an entire SWAT team slaughtered and an infestation of NMC. She soon discovers that the NMC can take human form and eventually encounters a different type of creature, a humanoid Artificial Neomitochondrial Creature (ANMC) of the type golem known as No. 9. She encounters this NMC three times. Golem No. 9 destroys the Acropolis Tower, but Aya along with her partner Rupert Broderick, who has been there before she arrives, manage to escape in a police helicopter.

After a brief interlude, Aya heads to a Mojave Desert town called Dryfield. Said town is nothing more than a truck stop, on a rarely used road, with a motel, store, bar and mechanic's shop. Upon arriving, Aya discovers that Dryfield is also infested with NMC. She later encounters a survivor (Mr. Douglas) and his dog, Flint, who will act as her source of news and equipment for much of the game. Aya later meets Kyle Madigan, a private investigator who claims that he is on a mission similar to Aya's. He tells her about the Vault, a nearby underground facility that may have the answers to the recent NMC outbreaks.

After spending some time in Dryfield, Aya and Kyle find an entrance to a dwelling located in an abandoned mine. Upon entering that mine, Kyle suddenly disappears, making Aya think that he is dead, so he investigates the house alone. When Aya explores the shelter she discovers that the NMC are the result of genetic engineering in an attempt to artificially create higher life forms, and that she is somehow very involved. The game's story unfolds through several animated cutscenes that appear at regular intervals at plot points, one of which reveals that the ANMC were created from their own DNA.

Finally, Aya discovers the last area of the game, the Neo Ark (Shambala in the Japanese version), which is the entrance to which is hidden in the shelter. She learns that the Ark installation was intended to be a showcase of NMC technology, divided into different habitats, with comments as a zoo visitor and observation platforms throughout the area. Habitat containment has been broken and NMCs are loose. This area is infested with creatures as well. The goal in this area is Aya to deactivate the power generator, which allows access to an area that could not be located in the shelter. Back to the house, meet Kyle, Aya rescues a girl who has been manipulated in the control of the NMC host. She also discovers that the girl whose name is curiously Eve was created from her own DNA, so she, in a sense, is Aya's daughter. Eve is kidnapped by No. 9.

Returning to the shelter entrance, Aya encounters a small army of golems, but is rescued by the US Marines, who have been alerted by Aya through her contacts at MIST. Later, she receives a gift from Mr. Douglas, through Flint, of supplies. She decides to use Flint to help her find Eve, prompting him from Eve to allow him to track her down. He takes her back to the shelter. Aya follows Eve's clues to a room containing a huge cocoon, to look for hers to Eve and No. 9. Kyle is there too, apparently No. 9 helps. Kyle eventually becomes No. 9, which prevents him from placing Eve in the cocoon. After a cutscene showing a satellite gun being fired on the President's orders, and Dryfield being wiped off the map, Aya and Kyle find themselves separated by a hole that has penetrated every floor of the shelter. She looks down to see Eve hanging over a piece of rubble on the edge of one of the lower levels.

Finally, the open cocoon jumps of having been displaced by the impact of the weapon, which reveals to the greatest NMC of all. After defeating this creature, the eve becomes a very fast and powerful NMC with wings that resembles Melissa Pearce-Vispera from the second to the last form of the first game. Once again Aya must fight. Once this final battle was concluded, several cutting scenes are shown according to the player's actions during the game.

Gameplay

One of the aspects that stands out the most about the game is the sudden change that Squaresoft made in the gameplay when it realized that Parasite Eve was designed more as a shooter i> in third person than like an RPG. In this installment he takes on a more Resident Evil style aspect, being able to run with a weapon in his hand and entering into battle with monsters that are already in a room, and not that appear out of nowhere, when be close to them, at the beginning of the battle.

It is also very notable the variety of weapons, ammunition and enemies present that were not included in the previous installment, reaching three different ammunition for weapons; pistols, shotguns, machine guns, assault rifles and grenade launchers. Enemies appear in various colors and are capable of attacking and even swallowing the character, using psychic attacks or physical attacks such as blows or bites, a much more dynamic structure than Parasite Eve.

Aya Brea also has powers (as in the previous installment), which must be recovered by earning experience points (EXP). In total there are twelve powers: three of fire (Pyrokinesis, Combustion and Inferno), three of water (Healing, Metabolism and Life Drain) three of earth (Antibody, Energy Shot and Energy Ball) and three wind (Plasma, Necrosis and Apobiosis); Once the maximum level has been reached (which is level three) of the two powers of an element the third and last of the same element will appear (mentioned above), these being more powerful than the first two. A new feature is the "BP" (Bounty Points) which are used to purchase items, armor, bullets and weapons. The "HP" counter and "MP" (Health Points and Mithochondrial Power respectively) can be seen on the upper screen, and is recovered by wearing a special type of armor or using objects.

Another detail is its replay mode, which offers new weapons and objects attached to the game; which offers 4 levels: Normal Mode: Starts normally with special items and features. Bounty Mode: Rewards are obtained by killing the golems, there is a little difficulty. Scavenger Mode: Miserable and difficult mode, completing it will unlock another mode. Nightmare Mode: Nightmare mode, much more complex and difficult.

In the game there are stages, appearing in a shopping center in Los Angeles, then in a town in the Mojave Desert, to reach the last place called Refugio.

Similar to other Squaresoft games, the characters do not have voices, except at very specific moments and only shouts, screams and greetings.

Characters

• Aya Brea: he is the main and only playable character; he is 26 years old (in 1998), but thanks to the mitochondria he enjoys a semblant appearance less than 20 years old. Her mother, Mariko, and her sister, Maya, died in a car accident when she was a girl. In 1997 he was in the New York Police six months until the events of the Manhattan Case at the end of that year. She was one of the few survivors, and then moved to Los Angeles and started working as a creature hunter in MIST, a special department belonging to the FBI.

• Rupert Broderick: Aya's partner (although they usually work separately), is 38 years old. He lost his family during the Manhattan Case; then he joined MIST and became an expert hunter; he was the best shooter. He lives only to get revenge on the mutants.

• Pierce Carradine: he is 25 years old and is in charge of staff training, computer science, scientific research and communication at MIST; he assists Aya in shooting practices, although he does not like weapons and never uses them. On numerous occasions during the game he shows that he is in love with Aya and he does not hesitate to go in his help if he knows he is in danger, often getting into trouble and being saved by Aya, and not the contrary.

• Kyle Madigan: He is a mysterious and enigmatic man who is 29 years old. He was a member of the Special Forces, but he became a fundraiser for money and some more excitement. It appears at certain times helping in the fights and to develop the argumental plot.

• Gary Douglas: He is 45 years old and is the last inhabitant of the ghost town Dryfield, a place that was abandoned by the invasion of the ANMCs. He has a dog named Flint, which is his only companion in the desolate area. He's a great gun collector and a good shooter. Thanks to Pierce, Douglas sells weapons and equipment to Aya through BP (Bonus Points).

• Jodie Bouquet: MIST weapons specialist, in charge of armory and office secretary. Pick up the phone when the player calls the barracks; if it's not her, he's the boss.

• Chief Baldwin: nicknamed HAL, is the MIST chief in charge of the missions and tasks of the staff.

• Eve: She's a girl exactly like Aya because she's a clone. It was created by the mysterious Organization to control the ANMCs. She's only a year old, but she's grown artificial and looks like ten.

• Gólem n.o 9 or N.o. 9: the main antagonist of the game; he is a supersolda that seeks to fulfill the objective of the Organization on his own. He says he's a NMC hunter. Aya fights him several times during the game.

• Dr. Maeda: does not appear directly in the game, but they name it on several occasions and Aya tells things about it in the special epilogue that is obtained with the good ending. It is one of the main characters of the first Parasite Eve.

• Dr. Bowman: a scientist who worked at the shelter. He volunteered for the ANMC project, so he was injected with neomytochondria and transformed into one of those creatures. It's the first ANMC to talk about Aya.