Well, it depends on how deep you want to be able to understand. There is the whole issue of Mitochondria Eve and all, and why Aya has her powers in the first place. Plus, there's the finesse of the second game and its evolution from a purely survival horror game into a more arcade-y shooter akin to Dino Crisis. I'd recommend playing both even if only to see the changes that were made.
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How many games have you encountered in your lifetime that feature a stunning operatic performance followed up by the spontaneous combustion of every member of the audience?
Unless you’ve got access to a treasure trove of titles that have never been released, your answer should have been one -- Parasite Eve, an exercise in survival horror similar to the Resident Evil experience. As Aya Brea, players were tasked with keeping Mitochondria Eve, a woman whose sentient mitochondria had taken over her very being, from destroying the human race with her fantastic powers.
After completing the first game, my mind had been officially blown. Topics had been discussed in it which my young mind had never even begun to fathom. Having enjoyed Resident Evil prior, as well as the "typical" PS1 games that were bought for children my age, Parasite Eve was a completely new experience for me. So imagine my excitement when my father brought home a sealed copy of the sequel to one of my favorite PlayStation games ever.
Parasite Eve II continues where Parasite Eve left off. However, rather than chasing down Eve and the minions she had left behind, Aya faces a new threat: NMCs, or Neo-Mitochondrial creatures. Rather than a lowly cop, Aya has hit the big time, having been promoted to the FBI. As head of MIST (Mitochondrial Investigation and Suppression Team), she’s been dispatched to Los Angeles to conduct an investigation and sighting of the terrifying new creatures. You feel a complete metamorphosis from scared and confused Aya Brea to confident, ass-kicking Aya who’s on a mission and nothing can stop her.
At the time, it felt like a bit of a metaphor for my growing up. I had been a younger, impressionable child at the original release of Parasite Eve. Like Aya, I was becoming a new person, too, but instead of developing my mitochondrial powers, I was expanding my horizons and growing up. Aya was a dear character to me during the years I spent playing Parasite Eve over and over. She was almost like a sister to me, even while I became hopelessly obsessed with the Final Fantasy series through the originals and beyond.
The sequel improved upon its predecessor in many ways, in both storyline and graphics. With the introduction of Kyle, it seemed Aya finally could have a love interest, rather than living a life of solitude with her powers. And instead of one concrete villain to chase after, all of a sudden, there were several. What’s more, a new Eve surfaced. However, she was nowhere near as frightening as the original Eve. A young girl, a clone of Aya -- how terrifying. However, it did pique my interest and at times it did become a much scarier game, knowing that a young girl could birth the Ultimate Being.
While the original Parasite Eve was a lesson in frustration at some points, because of the ATB system, the sequel improved upon battles in many ways. Lending an RPG-like experience point system to the combat system, gamers were encouraged to stand and fight rather than run away like a sniveling coward. Incentives such as experience points were used to power Aya’s mitochondrial powers. Rather than the powers being suppressed and presented as an unusual occurrence, they were embraced and encouraged to develop. Each area of mitochondrial powers were relegated to attacking, defending, or healing, and were assigned to an appropriate element. While the control scheme was still that of an awkward Silent Hill or Resident Evil, it managed to take the two games and combine them in ways I hadn’t seen possible before. It had a strong, but not overly sexualized protagonist, RPG elements, survival horror themes, and a story to die for.
I played that game countless times before finally moving on to the PS2, where I have had many similar experiences and could count them all off here to you today. Even though Parasite Eve II isn’t my absolute favorite game of all time, it ranks undoubtedly high in my heart as one of those "wow" experiences that will never be erased. With the upcoming release of The 3rd Birthday, I can’t wait to see how much Aya has grown and evolved. I can only hope that the next iteration in the series provides as much fun, intrigue, and fascination that the games that came before it did.
Since I'm right in the middle of packing up all of my belongings to move to our gorgeous new house (still a bit apprehensive about it), I haven't had a lot of time for gaming. It's taken its toll on me. When my head hits the pillow at night after a grueling day of moving, packing, taping, and labeling boxes and I realize I didn't boot up just ONE console, tears almost spring to my eyes. I'm wasting a lot of precious time unpacking t-shirts and underwear when I could be vegging out in front of the TV. Luckily, this week hasn't been too terrible. I've had the time to get in some much-needed gaming. Feeling like my old self again, even though my surroundings and my life are really changing right now. Isn't that strange? While things are slowly evolving around me, the only thing that feels like a constant is the fact that I can still game. With that said, let's take a look at what I've been playing:
Damnation (360)
 
Let me begin by saying that I freelance at various gaming sites. I was assigned Damnation for review, though initially I thought (quite incorrectly) that it might be worth my time. Something is terribly wrong when you play Paws & Claws: Pet Resort for review and find yourself having more fun with it than what should be a typical third-person shooter. This atrocity is absolutely riddled with bugs, glitchy spots, and a ridiculously bad targeting system. You'd think that a third-person shooter could at least get a cover system right. Not so. While you're taking shots from three or four different locations, your only option is to crouch or run away like Cammie Dunaway from core Nintendo games. When games such as Wanted or Terminator Salvation can implement a viable cover system, you'd think that a brand new IP could handle its business properly. Couple that with vague objectives, wonky Prince of Persia-like acrobatics, and an open world that you'll have to wander around for a good
What's more, the plot (along with the characters) are entirely throwaway. Their horrid voice actors don't do a particularly great job of convincing me that I should care even the slightest about what's going on within the game. It's just whatever. I can't even name them off the top of my head. When I look upon the bland, flat faces of the people I should care about (we're at war, after all!) I find myself counting down the minutes before I can turn off the 360 for the day, having properly reviewed the title. I rarely feel as though gaming is a chore. With Damnation, I'd rather be washing dishes, writing an essay, or watching the paint dry on a brand new car. I certainly do not recommend this pathetic excuse of a game. In fact, if by some happenstance you find it in your possession, do yourself a favor and send it straight to the microwave. Put it out of its misery.
Rock Band Unplugged (PSP)
If it’s a game that has absolutely anything at all to do with music, then count me in. I must see them all. Many are hit-or-miss, and many strike me as so inspiring that I go back to play them as often as possible. Two fantastic examples of this are Amplitude and Frequency, both games I enjoy often and have since their release back in the glory days of the PS2. Thinking that Harmonix had moved on to bigger and better things, I was a bit crushed inside to think that I would never again see a sequel to these successful music titles. One fateful day, Rock Band Unplugged for the PSP was announced and given a street date. If you were ever a fan of Frequency or Amplitude, then you should be delighted to know that Rock Band Unplugged is the sequel that you’ve been wishing for on all those sleepless nights.
If you ever enjoyed Amplitude, you’ll remember the frenetic pace of notes flying at you and the button combinations required to capture them. Every aspect of each song featured on the game, such as the vocals, drums, and guitar are all set on different star paths just as you would see in regular Rock Band. Instead of performing songs with peripherals, you’re relegated to only two directions on the PSP’s D-pad and two face buttons. Using these four buttons (rather than five like you may be used to), you’ll complete piece by piece of entire songs until you’ve got each audio track that the song is comprised of captured. That is, until you reach the next phrase. If you can’t play the notes in one phrase correctly, the meter to the left of your screen will begin to drop. Keep missing notes, and you’ll fail out. The gameplay is nearly identical to Rock Band, so there’s really no learning curve unless you can’t quite get the hang of simply pressing the PSP’s face buttons. I've completed it already, but that doesn't stop me from going back to it in every spare moment that I have. Fantastic.
The Legendary Starfy (DS)
I had high hopes for The Legendary Starfy. I had only heard of it through snippets in magazines and the various previews across the net. I knew going into it I would be in for quite the simple adventure, but I could have never foreseen this level of simplicity. Starfy makes all of the Kirby games look like speed runs of Majora's Mask. Repetitive levels, dumbed-down controls, and ridiculously simple puzzles make Starfy less fun than edutainment for children who have never picked up a platformer. Despite its overly cutesy packaging and marketing I was hoping for an engaging and intuitive platformer with a little more meat to it, especially since Nintendo is lacking in that department lately. Ah, well. At least it's super cute. I guess you could call that a plus. Don't bother picking it up unless you enjoy breezing through a game that doesn't even bother to put up a fight. Still, interesting concept, and the gorgeous color scheme is much appreciated.Â
That's all for this week. Come back next week to see what I'm up to!
I'm new to GiantBomb. I thought it'd be right courteous of me to give you all a bit of insight into my history as a gamer and why you should bother to come back and read what I have to say. That's why I have initiated a short, introductory blog series that will give you a bit of insight into my history as a gamer, beginning at my experience with the NES and chronicling my adventures now. It's called A History of Violent Pixels, and this is the first part.
Unlike those who feel pressured into indicating to everyone online that they did indeed begin their adventures in gaming via the Atari 2600 because that is the most widely accepted and almost inevitable response, I was introduced to gaming via the NES. Nothing wrong with that.
Many days were spent in front of the television as my father kept me company. I regularly puzzled out Snake, Rattle, n' Roll, and my mother would hover around me as I did so - just to see what this video game thing was, never to join in. The inevitable Mario marathons took place late in the night when my younger self should have been in bed, though Dad knew and understood that I simply couldn't sleep until we topped the draw record in Hogan's Alley. I also was quite fond of Shooting Range, though the red-and-white umbrella-like targets proved difficult for my young eyes to track. Near the end of the NES's lifespan in my household we enjoyed Zelda, Metal Gear, and various other titles. One fateful day, my parents boxed up my favorite piece of technology and cruelly sold it off to a buyer at a yard sale. They even carted off the Zapper, something I still miss even these days. I'm hoping to buy another one whenever I can afford to rebuild my NES collection. 
After mourning the loss of my NES, I endured a long period of time spent having to borrow friends' SNES games and systems in order to get my kicks. I never truly had a SNES of my own, sad to say, until a few years ago when I began my own personal collection. With that said, though, I enjoyed many of the classics such as Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario RPG, plus various Final Fantasies that I found to be phenomenal and absolutely worth all the time I poured into them. I also quite enjoyed Terra Nigma. At such a young age I was already hooked. Unfortunately, I would often blame my parents for forcing me to forgo the SNES, because even though my father facilitated and fed my addicition, they were of the mindset that I should be content to play with my dolls and various other boring conventions. This caused ongoing, heated arguments and tantrums. Luckily, they gave in and purchased a Genesis for me from the pawn shop. 
The days of the Genesis were some of my glory days. I was endlessly flustered with Buster's Hidden Treasure, as I could not wrap my tiny brain around the later levels featuring lava and precise jumps. I did find my forte in Tempo (Check it out, ya know. He makes it funky, and he's good to go.) and Sonic, as well as Sonic Spinball, which I'm terribly excited about now that I can play it via the 360. Sweeeeet. Dad and I had some friendly shots at each other with Mortal Kombat, and my mother would often complain that my young brain shouldn't be exposed to SUCH VIOLENCE!!!1!one!eleven! Luckily my dad wasn't worried about such asinine remarks, and our sprees continued. Sometimes with Alex Kidd, sometimes with Altered Beast, and quite often with Captain America and the Avengers. Since we weren't exactly rolling in the dough, many of our games would come from pawn shops or yard sales, I would always get the most random of assortments. Even though my mother didn't exactly enjoy the time Dad and I would be spending together or separately gaming, she knew that's just the kind of person he was then, and thus accepted him and my almost inbred love of games as well. It's no surprise then that after the reign of the Genesis in my household and in my bedroom, an explosion of technology was about to occur.
What was this explosion, exactly? Was it messy? Do you even care? Find out next time, on the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z, er, A History of Violent Pixels. Thanks for reading.
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