PSP Review: The Third Birthday

Aya Brea is back as Square Enix unleashes the horror of the PS1 series, Parasite Eve, onto the Sony PSP in a long overdue and eagerly awaited sequel, The 3rd Birthday.

Story

Manhattan is the focus of gruesome creatures and monsters wreaking havoc on the citizens and turning it into a supernatural battlezone. You play the role of Aya Brea working for the CTI or Counter Twisted Investigation team trying to unravel what exactly is the cause of all the mayhem and destruction.

Graphics

Let’s get this right out of the way…the best graphics I have ever seen on the PSP bar none. The environments have been beautifully rendered, the monsters look original and distinct and the heroine herself moves with a fluidity rarely afforded to a character on a handheld. The whole game has gothic overtures with its dark tones and gloomy settings and really paces the game along nicely. The Overdive System (more on this later) has been really well rendered with great zooming effects as you jump in and out of bodies. Great detail even on things in the distance, no matter how small the item is, they can always be made out without any problems. Sharp, crisp, fantastic colour palette and the right amount of light and dark contrasts help to balance this title. Top marks all round.

Sound

Another highlight here with the speakers getting a workout. Great thumping orchestral pieces when you’re in the midst of a battle and atmospheric music otherwise helped along by great chatter feedback from your base of operations and the talk of the other soldiers along with you in the field.

The monsters are suitably voiced with ferocious roars and shrieking screams that chill you. Never a dull moment with the sound, music or otherwise, this is a real stand out. With the boss battles, the music builds to a crescendo with every hit really getting under your skin, in a good way, and making those battles the more epic. The sound engineers have earned their bonuses in spades here.

Gameplay

It’s a real delight to play a game that has obviously had a ton research thrown into it and has been a labour of love for everyone involved. This games moves along like a nicely oiled machine and yes, it is pretty much on rails so you can’t go exploring wherever you want but thanks to the Overdive System, you can see parts of the game that aren’t always obvious.

The Overdive System involved the player hitting the Triangle button which homes in on the nearest NPC or AI controlled soldier. You’re then able to leap into his body giving you a new and different vantage point for the action or to see a new part of the level. At all times, you have a little on screen display that shows you the different men that are currently on screen at your disposal.

This system really comes into play when you’re close to death for example, you can quickly jump into the body of another friendly and continue the fight. Even if you’ve been dealt a death blow and you’re dying on the ground, as long as you can see a soldier, you can jump into their body giving you a second chance. As you’re blasting the monster back to where they came from, occasionally you’ll also be able to jump into their body meaning they literally explode from the inside out and also giving you a valuable “chip” which you can use to upgrade Aya’s abilities to help you through the game. Their is so much on screen sometimes that this will come in handy many times and despite all the frantic action on screen, I saw no slow down to talk of, very tightly optimised code.

Replay Value

Sadly not much I imagine once you’re done, maybe to try and collect all the upgrades you can but fans of the Parasite Eve series on PS1 will no doubt keep coming back to this one anyways if only to experience the game all over again which isn’t a bad thing. Games like this are rare so playing it more than once wouldn’t be hard to imagine. I think as gamers, we’ve all played one or more titles numerous times because we loved the ride so much, I believe this game will be one of those.

Conclusion

This game is right up there in my top games for the year and it’s only February. The only drawback is that I played an import Japanese version as the Australian release isn’t until April ’11 so still a few months off. I honestly hope that this games becomes successful enough for Square Enix to launch a new franchise on the PSP maybe even leading up to the NGP or PSP2. Make no mistake, this is a great game fit enough to wear the Survival Horror mantle and should be added to that genre as it will test your mettle as a gamer, give you thrills and scares and leave you more than a little breathless. This is a must buy.

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