Parasite eve 2 is it GOOD?

[Pandaprewmaster325]

After completing PE1 the natural order of things is to play the next PE2 impressed by the mixing of RPG elements with survival and a tiny bit of horror that was PE1 well now it's time to mini review PE2 how good is it? Does it improve upon the original parasite eve? Let's find out....

Intro: the intro is first thing you see when you boot up the game and is your first look into the game so how does the intro hold up? The intro of course uses a theme similar to the one in the original game intro let's refer to this intro theme as "PE theme" expect it's not as good or well made as the OG the intro mixes both FMV and gameplay footages which doesn't make a good intro, 1intro made it look like a thriller movie by presenting to you shots of all FMVs present in the game , there is no foreshadowing of words like 1 intro using words like "liberation" "conception" "evolution" instead what you get is counting the characters One thing that 1 does was presenting with a final sentence about the enemy being from within overall the first game intro touches on all game themes and aspects pretty well while the second game intro is a mesh mash of gameplay footage and FMVs making for a clashing of artstyle and overall not presenting things as well as 1 intro.

let's do a quick breakdown of the game playing we start with some dialouge about PE1 events aya left the NYPD and became FBI things with mutated mitochondria became a thing we get called to help we go to a building and the creatures are attacking the building we go there to investigate find a dead swat team the scene is over the top gorey and doesn't feel like a square thing at all they don't usually feature this much gore in their games so where did they draw this from? We find our first monster and i don't figure how to shoot until i die once Alright i figure how to shoot kill the creatures and move on we get our first mutation pretty quick just like the first game rat scene expect this one is bad

(the scene)

killing it we move on go around killing Japanese version of Patrick from SpongeBob some worms and bats Then we fight our first boss then we go to a place called Mojave desert and investigate what went there and we meet these goofy looking monsters

(i didnt take a picture in-game instead so here is their appearance in a cutscene still as goofy as ever)

We go around the deserted town killing things meet a local and meet a government agent atop a water tower after killing those things in the picture above we then face the guy who was laughing like a maniac again and we get knocked out unconscious you see game cover? the cover of the game is this SCENE ABSURDLY FUNNY how the do you feature the protagonist taking a nap IN THE GAME COVER? What are you advertising here? Nap simulator? We meet the agent again after this try to go a shelter that is suspected to be related to this but our car is destroyed after more monster killing we use the local dude truck not before fighting obese flamethrower end of disc 1 the 2nd disc opens up with a hold out segment explore the mine an entrance to the shelter and fight the leader of horse creatures

Battle transation

we get into the shelter scour the shelter to find a clue on who is actually our enemy solve puzzles jump into garbage disposal sector escape the garbage disposal sector meet up with the agent solve laptop puzzle couldn't solve and had to Google it solved even more puzzles shot 2 defenseless bosses meet mini aya (called EVE) hug eve escape with eve she gets kidnapped you go after her ,we fight cyborgs meet the army go after the antagonist he gets killed we get shot and the agent loses his leg and dies we fight the final boss who is underwhelming that's it.

Gameplay: now going from one installment to the next has you playing with the same gameplay as the previous game albeit its updated in PE2 case pick up everything you learned from the first game and throw it away no resemblance of the gameplay from 1 AT ALL there is no more turn based combat no decision making of whether you should shoot now or run or cast a spell nope just run a bit aim kill and that's it and cast a spell or 2 on occasion what made the first game stand out that is being a hybrid of RPG elements with survival horror GONE you don't gain PE energy from being in battle you gain it after a fight and spells? There is 8 2 for each element fully upgrade an element you unlock a third spell spells are one of few things good about the game there is no levels there is no "bonus points" that you could invest to modify weapons they could have built and expanded the bonus points system 1 had limited choice of stats that can be modified for each weapon they could have done way more in this regard instead of replacing an already good reward system if i have to describe gameplay in 1 word it's "DRRR" what's DRRR you ask? It's the sound of guns shooting "are we speaking kindergarten language now" yes the gameplay is a worse version of RE gameplay and a gameplay that looks like shit compared to the 1 gameplay instead of fixing the issues of the already existing gameplay like expanding the battle arena adding more spells way more customization options instead you get this disappointment of a gunplay

Story: bad just bad full of RE tropes a shady research facility the discount version of the S.T.A.R.S you get a bunch of uninteresting characters that you get little to no time to spend with to start liking them NOPE my heart nearly dropped when Daniel threw himself from the chopper nothing like this in 2 i didn't feel anything about the agent or anyone else getting hurt like there is no attachment no characters worth mentioning , the only person that is memroable is you literally you the player character aya no one else is better ending if you save Pierce but i was like "aya lives = good" the antagonist is somewhere? didn't realize N9 is the antagonist underwhelming story

sound design: 1 had an excellent library of soundtrack 2 has none of this the monsters have the most funny and goofy of sounds like the dudes you fight in the tower sound like those demons from diablo 2 they sound hella funny and don't pose a threat at ALL music isn't memorable

Graphics: one of the few aspects that are better than 1 are the graphics it's notable that aya gained some weight since PE1 no longer is she one skinni girl all characters are quite more detailed look way better than 1 and in regards to FMVs they are more smooth than 1 FMVs but hold less weight and have no substance whatsoever when compared to 1 scenes

Horror: just LMAO this game tries hard to be a horror game and it fails every time they try to spook you with constant jumpscares with off shoot lickers guess what? This shitty version of the licker can go invisible and still manages to not be scary i criticized monster design of 1 and square instead of making monsters look scary made them look and sound goofy they just needed to pump the horror up a bit but nope this is what you get horses with human faces I'm gonna be generous and say some monsters look uncanny there is no tension in the air the battle transition of the first game was essential to the experience it was an intense moment of waiting to see what new enemy we will face only time the game startled me is getting ambushed by this guy

wasn't expecting it

other time was a monster jumping me in the jungle and that's it one problem i had with 1 is abundance of ammo this game has lots of ammo given to me made easy to access by money that you get from killing monsters

Conclusion:huge letdown and a bad attempt from square to try and replicate the success of resident evil people didn't lie when they said this game leaned too much into the RE style but square didn't replicate anything they didn't design a good RPG nor a good survival horror only things i liked is aya walk speed being finally fast enough meaning i don't have to run everywhere and the quick spell menu by pressing a button you bring up spells instead of how 1 did it the little chat when saving the game was pretty nice addition and some puzzles were fun other than that it's bad you can't go anywhere you like there I no HQ Iike 1 a safe place of sorts where you chat with some team members like 1 , and EVE that you present to me in the final hour of the game and expect me to care about her like who in his right mind decided to shove the Claire story from RE2 in the final minute when making the game??? A shitty antagonist a weak cast of characters an overly simplified gameplay and horses with human heads

Spoiler: Images

getting my ass kicked by goofy horse boss

getting thrown around

Goofy boss phase 2

Getting rammed by horse boss the yellow visual effect caused by physical attacks which are reduced by the spell "antibody" which increases defense

Block puzzle that i solved and still don't know how i did it i just arranged the red blocks like the red line seem to have made things work

Me looking at Kyle and wondering how this brain dead sack of meat is a government agent who can't go up the stairs

Shooting at enemies notice the pink aura surrounding me it's a spell that increases damage

Purging cyborgs

Our antagonist his face is meme worthy

Engaging water monster called "fatties"

4/10

 

[Inkingsama]

The worst part is that this game was setting up the mithocondrial creatures as weapons of war but we never got the payoff because the third game decided to be something completely different.

I wouldn't say its a bad game but it really doesn't reach the level of quality that PE1 had. I think what hurts the most is the music. No tunes to vibe to while shooting enemies and walking through dryfield. The only thing i really liked about the sounds is the laugh that some of the enemies do,it sounds straight out of a shitpost.

 

[Deleted member 526220]

It's very similar to Resident Evil, I like it.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Yeah, i don't like PE2 either, PE1 is still the best in the series.

The combat system of PE1 alone, puts it leagues above the sequel.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

I'd still rather play it than Third Birthday. Everything was a bullet sponge in that game and the story is crap.

 

[UnDubious]

4/10 is insane lol, it's a great game. I like it better than the first even, it's one of the best survival horror games of its generation. Every Parasite Eve is significantly different from the last, but there's a constant progression towards more action and less RPG, with The 3rd Birthday being a full-on shooter. But all three are good. That makes the sequels harder to accept for some who want more of the same. I couldn't get into it at the time; I had to give it another shot a few years ago and then I really enjoyed it.

By the way the writer is the same guy as Resident Evil 1, so if the writing feels similar that's why. IMO the story is more interesting here ultimately.

 

[Deleted member 257420]

Nah

 

[Zerohour2k12]

It has it's good points but I'd still prefer the first one.

 

[DukeRed]

I like it.

But yes, if you like final fantasy style RPG. You will not like the resident evil style of the second. PE 1 defintely styles itself after traditional RPGs.

But I am a Resident evil fan. PE2 is a great combination of RPG and survival horror style. I love the survival horror style backgrounds and graphics. I would have loved more in this style.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

I had to trim some of thread cuz "muh 10k limit"

In terms of horror i could add on the fact that square CAN'T craft a horror game their monster design isn't fit for a horror game they make RPGs and that's what they are good at making a survival horror was bad idea the only REAL monster that has any sort of horror or scare is the white and big monster encountered at the shelter entrance it's scary both in looks and gameplay wise as it can demolish you pretty fast and has a 1000 HP died 3-4 times escaped it and killed it later when i teched into energy shot.



In terms of Graphic i wanted to say why is aya hair not light blonde? She looks like she has corn on her head instead of hair who the hell made the model? You can't just make her have light blonde hair in an FMV and one moment later she has quite a golden blonde hair color , +no death animations like those in RE like if you want to copy RE at least copy the parts actually work you can make good animations square as proven by FF8 you can really go crazy with the death animation more than Capcom ever did.

In terms of sound design not only is the soundtrack lacking and the monsters sound more funny and like the guy said "out of a shitpost" like that's the PROBLEM I'm not SCARED i want to be spooked it's a HORROR game just to give you an example of how good RE2 sound design for monsters was all it took to scare me was hearing the licker breathing that made me go fight or flight mode NOTHING was able to make me do this in PE2 sound is essential in fact it's so important to a horror game half of the time silent hill scared me was because of the radio sound not the monsters themselves , the town itself felt alive and was watching me combined with everything else and an absolute masterpiece of horror nothing like this is found in PE2 i was laughing when off shoot lickers popped up.

Oh and i beaten the game using the M4 the final boss killed using the revolver without using maeda bullets imagine this trope could have became a stable in the series using maeda bullets just like escaping from a facility that will blow up in RE or using an RPG to kill the final boss nope..... didn't use shotguns or grenade launchers just go tech heavy on earth and healing and fire aoe spell and you are good to go.

I have many names to call this game

Spoiler: The names

1-Resident evil: square edition

2-i don't know how to make a horror game the game

3-parasite DRRRRR

4-resident evil expect it's from ali papa

I forgot the rest

Spoiler: More images

They put an option button in the menu and it has this only.

I don't understand this puzzle or what this means same for this

burning a cyborg

combating cyborgs

 

[Inkingsama]

I had to trim some of thread cuz "muh 10k limit"

In terms of horror i could add on the fact that square CAN'T craft a horror game their monster design isn't fit for a horror game they make RPGs and that's what they are good at making a survival horror was bad idea the only REAL monster that has any sort of horror or scare is the white and big monster encountered at the shelter entrance it's scary both in looks and gameplay wise as it can demolish you pretty fast and has a 1000 HP died 3-4 times escaped it and killed it later when i teched into energy shot.



In terms of Graphic i wanted to say why is aya hair not light blonde? She looks like she has corn on her head instead of hair who the hell made the model? You can't just make her have light blonde hair in an FMV and one moment later she has quite a golden blonde hair color , +no death animations like those in RE like if you want to copy RE at least copy the parts actually work you can make good animations square as proven by FF8 you can really go crazy with the death animation more than Capcom ever did.

In terms of sound design not only is the soundtrack lacking and the monsters sound more funny and like the guy said "out of a shitpost" like that's the PROBLEM I'm not SCARED i want to be spooked it's a HORROR game just to give you an example of how good RE2 sound design for monsters was all it took to scare me was hearing the licker breathing that made me go fight or flight mode NOTHING was able to make me do this in PE2 sound is essential in fact it's so important to a horror game half of the time silent hill scared me was because of the radio sound not the monsters themselves , the town itself felt alive and was watching me combined with everything else and an absolute masterpiece of horror nothing like this is found in PE2 i was laughing when off shoot lickers popped up.

Oh and i beaten the game using the M4 the final boss killed using the revolver without using maeda bullets imagine this trope could have became a stable in the series using maeda bullets just like escaping from a facility that will blow up in RE or using an RPG to kill the final boss nope..... didn't use shotguns or grenade launchers just go tech heavy on earth and healing and fire aoe spell and you are good to go.

I have many names to call this game

Spoiler: The names

1-Resident evil: square edition

2-i don't know how to make a horror game the game

3-parasite DRRRRR

4-resident evil expect it's from ali papa

I forgot the rest

Spoiler: More images

View attachment 63890
They put an option button in the menu and it has this only.

View attachment 63889
I don't understand this puzzle or what this means same for this
View attachment 63893

View attachment 63891burning a cyborg

View attachment 63892combating cyborgs
View attachment 63894

I'd say the problem with the monsters is not that the designs aren't scary or intimidating, the problem is technical limitations. The polygons couldn't do justice to the artwork of the enemies, which is true for PE1 too. The dog monsters in the PD i PE1 have a upside-down face on their head but you really can't see that detail because the camera is zoomed out and those bastards won't stop moving.

To be fair, in PE1 we have a few FMV where we see the creatures undergoing a transformation and we can see in detail how they really look like, so it doesn't matter that they are low poly in normal gameplay, the player can imagine an aproximation of their actual looks. Furthermore, not all PE2 designs are good, even in the artwork.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

I'd say the problem with the monsters is not that the designs aren't scary or intimidating, the problem is technical limitations. The polygons couldn't do justice to the artwork of the enemies, which is true for PE1 too. The dog monsters in the PD i PE1 have a upside-down face on their head but you really can't see that detail because the camera is zoomed out and those bastards won't stop moving.

To be fair, in PE1 we have a few FMV where we see the creatures undergoing a transformation and we can see in detail how they really look like, so it doesn't matter that they are low poly in normal gameplay, the player can imagine an aproximation of their actual looks. Furthermore, not all PE2 designs are good, even in the artwork.

That's interesting.... You know a solution to this is going like the RTS games with not overly detailed units cuz they take into consideration that you will play the game from a zoomed out view instead of hyper focusing on a single unit which is why details are quite simple and units made easy to recognize at least in good RTS games.

The monsters in silent hill aren't super detailed yet manage to be scary especially rombers now that you brought it up it might be the case that Capcom/konami actually considered the camera thing when creating models , in this case then new technology would help the game by a lot if it was technicalities that stopped it from fully achieving its vision and design goals.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

The worst part is that this game was setting up the mithocondrial creatures as weapons of war but we never got the payoff because the third game decided to be something completely different.

Well thats one of my problems with the whole story the mitochondria rebelling against us humans and wanting a world of its own and becoming sentient is very intruging concept but to turn it into "another shitty version of umbrella manufacturing bio weapons" is fkn lame , first game felt like facing an anomaly something we can't normally deal with it's alien it's strange to make it so that mitochondria mutations are occurring daily removes all the mystery screw the entire NMC thing man.

It's very similar to Resident Evil, I like it.

Thats also a problem the first game carved out a name for itself being unique from RE having deeper gameplay using square excellent skills in making RPG and implementing these little RPG things into the game , i too am a resident evil fan but i don't want other games to try and be something they aren't.

4/10 is insane lol, it's a great game. I like it better than the first even, it's one of the best survival horror games of its generation. Every Parasite Eve is significantly different from the last, but there's a constant progression towards more action and less RPG, with The 3rd Birthday being a full-on shooter. But all three are good. That makes the sequels harder to accept for some who want more of the same. I couldn't get into it at the time; I had to give it another shot a few years ago and then I really enjoyed it.

By the way the writer is the same guy as Resident Evil 1, so if the writing feels similar that's why. IMO the story is more interesting here ultimately.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense why so many things feel like they belong to a resident evil game , well if 4/10 is insane then what should it be? Hell after playing this game i rate the first game 7.5/10 instead of 7/10

 

[Inkingsama]

Well thats one of my problems with the whole story the mitochondria rebelling against us humans and wanting a world of its own and becoming sentient is very intruging concept but to turn it into "another shitty version of umbrella manufacturing bio weapons" is fkn lame , first game felt like facing an anomaly something we can't normally deal with it's alien it's strange to make it so that mitochondria mutations are occurring daily removes all the mystery screw the entire NMC thing man.

One of the things i liked about the 3rd birthday was the war against the twisted. I think that would work for the mithocondrial creatures too, without needing a shady group pulling the strings behind the scene. Just make humanity face the mithocondria at a larger scale but still make it a losing battle for humans. I think that's one of the few things that can be salvaged from T3B.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

One of the things i liked about the 3rd birthday was the war against the twisted. I think that would work for the mithocondrial creatures too, without needing a shady group pulling the strings behind the scene. Just make humanity face the mithocondria at a larger scale but still make it a losing battle for humans. I think that's one of the few things that can be salvaged from T3B.

That's indeed more preferable than another umbrella i don't get why everyone especially indie horror games keep trying to make a shady company be behind stuff like stop trying to make shitty version of umbrella... Humanity vs mitochondria is much more interesting than whatever PE2 does i will give the third birthday a try as soon as possible sounds worth it.

 

[Michael Frank]

The first one is the best, but damn i would lie to myself if i said those soldiers and cyborgs looked SICK as fuck, honestly great design.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

The first one is the best, but damn i would lie to myself if i said those soldiers and cyborgs looked SICK as fuck, honestly great design.
View attachment 65210

The scene with them and the military is kinda cool and that's one of the only good plot points the military being useful for once in a non-RTS game oh and if they introduced mini aya or eve much earlier it would have had way waaaay better story

 

[Trillid Tetraoxide]

This game is definitely not bad, BUT
With the loss of PE combat system, "cinematic vibe" (for that time) and with the goal of creating just another Resident Evil clone, the game lost all of its uniqueness, aesthetics, and atmosphere.
It's sm better than 3rd birthday tho...

 

[_Lorenzo_]

PE2 was a lot of fun for me, especially the fights against those completely idiotic mutant horses with their funny grunts. The horse boss then is the apotheosis of fun. But more seriously, besides the plot and the remarkable graphical aspect of the game the bosses (except the one mentioned above) are huge, composed of various limbs and really impressive.

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

Yes, it is. I think far too many people can't just separate two things from one another. I understand that it could be a bit more difficult to separate two games in the same series, but PE1 was going for an RPG while PE2 is going for a more traditional survival horror game. The only question I feel that needs to be asked is if PE2 plays good for what it's trying to do. For me, it's a yes.

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

no

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

This game is definitely not bad, BUT
With the loss of PE combat system, "cinematic vibe" (for that time) and with the goal of creating just another Resident Evil clone, the game lost all of its uniqueness, aesthetics, and atmosphere.
It's sm better than 3rd birthday tho...

Not a terrible game but the controls compared to the first game are atrocious , yup that's right it lost what made PE unique.

Yes, it is. I think far too many people can't just separate two things from one another. I understand that it could be a bit more difficult to separate two games in the same series, but PE1 was going for an RPG while PE2 is going for a more traditional survival horror game. The only question I feel that needs to be asked is if PE2 plays good for what it's trying to do. For me, it's a yes.

No problem going with another direction but keeping the core gameplay would have served their vision better , does PE2 play good? Well actually no , the survival horror aspect is non existent you still get tons of ammo and can tank many hits like crazy so Nope it fails in being a survival horror cuz unlike RE it doesn't limit your resources as much.

PE2 was a lot of fun for me, especially the fights against those completely idiotic mutant horses with their funny grunts. The horse boss then is the apotheosis of fun. But more seriously, besides the plot and the remarkable graphical aspect of the game the bosses (except the one mentioned above) are huge, composed of various limbs and really impressive.

The monster design is hilarious and would say works pretty well for a comedic setting way better than what PE2 sets out to do , the bosses aren't necessarily bad per say but with the removal of the combat system from 1 bosses felt a lot easier to fight.

 

[DeadVoivod]

Sorry, bit off topic, what about Galerians: Ash, I only played 1 hour or such, long time ago, anyone played it and like it? Reviews are between 30-80%, they quite differ from each other.

Post automatically merged: May 9, 2025

The first one is the best, but damn i would lie to myself if i said those soldiers and cyborgs looked SICK as fuck, honestly great design.
View attachment 65210

Could definitely be in Fist of the North Star

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Sorry, bit off topic, what about Galerians: Ash, I only played 1 hour or such, long time ago, anyone played it and like it? Reviews are between 30-80%, they quite differ from each other.

Had i played it i would have mini reviewed it can't do full review since I'm not a member of the writers guild , if you feel conflicted well why not just continue to play it yourself and come to a conclusion? I quite frankly never look up metacritic or whatever when it comes to games , since a game can offer vastly different experience from one player to another.

 

[MajesticSiN]

Yes