![]() This already limits the precision of the controls and situational awareness. The basic mechanics consist of over the shoulder shooting, cover-based shooting and/or dodging which is already problematic because of two hardware limitations the use of an analog nub on the PSP for movement, and the lack of a second, right side analog interface for camera work, meaning the camera has been assigned to the D-Pad. What used to be an RPG with a slight action focus to it has now been “Mass Effected” with a heavier focus on the action and an RPG component that tries to remain as marginal as possible. There’s a reason this isn’t called Parasite Eve 3 or even Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday, and that’s because aside from a few names, and a New York location, the game has almost no relation to the previous series either mechanically or narratively. Unfortunately the voice acting is typical of Japanese localized games, with a lot of unnecessary grunts, and some fairly nonsensical phrases from characters that might have sounded a little more digestible in the original Japanese. Stereo surround is employed, and the no expense was spared on the music and sound effects. The same holds true for the sound, which needs to be played through earpones, or piped through some external speakers to appreciate the work done here. While not quite up to the impressive standards set by the God of War games on the PSP, The 3rd Birthday is still right up there as far as good looking games go. The environments also hold their own, but with only six-albeit large-levels in the game, repetition begins to set in fairly quickly. Of course, the pre-rendered cut-scenes are gorgeous, and in-game the characters manage to hold up on the PSPs small screen, with Aya Brea looking nicely detailed. Square-Enix always seems to be on top of things in the graphics department, and this game is no exception. On the plus side, for a PSP game, The 3rd Birthday looks and sounds amazing. There’s a story here that almost begins to piece itself together at the end, but it’s ultimately let down by some bad plotting, dramatic events with more shock value than narrative logic, and paper thin characterization that tries to get by with the occasional, broken, cryptic, existential sentence. What follows is a lot of shooting, high drama, ominous philosophical rambling and plot twists that don’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it. By 2013, the city is all but lost, and an amnesiac Aya Brea from the previous Parasite Eve games is the only one who can save the city by travelling back in time, Quantum Leap-style, and occupying the bodies of people present at the events to try and change them. In the year 2012, New York is devastated by a massive attack from a new species known only as the Twisted. The 3rd Birthday is mostly about correcting the horrors of the present by revisiting the past.
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