Title: Parasite Eve
    Genre: Action Rpg
    Developer: Squaresoft
    # Of Players: 1

I was really looking forward to Parasite Eve, as I look forward to just about every game that Squaresoft releases. There's absolutely no doubt that Square is one of the premier game publishers today, producing some of the very best Rpg's ever made. Well, I definitely didn't get what I thought I was going to get in Parasite Eve, but perhaps that's not such a bad thing.

Parasite Eve was touted by Square as the "Cinematic Rpg". The point was to blend beautiful CG scenes with Resident Evil style gameplay to make an Rpg the likes of which hasn't been seen before. The graphics in Parasite Eve, to no surprise, are absolutely stunning. There's a gorgeous CG intro, and there's also CG scenes interspersed throughout the game. You control NYPD rookie officer Aya Brea, who discovers that an epidemic is about to hit New York City. Opera singer Melissa Pearce has aspired to play the lead role in an opera, and she finally gets her wish one Christmas Eve. However, that same night, while Aya is taking in the opera, Melissa suddenly mutates while up on stage and somehow manages to incinerate the entire audience. It turns out that the Mitochondria within Melissa, which are microorganisms that live inside of cells and are responsible for energy production, have evolved to such a level that they are capable of independent thought, and they've decided they're sick of living inside of humans. As Aya, your goal is simple. Track Eve down and take her out before she and the rebelling Mitochondria obliterate the citizens of New York. Along the way you'll run into an assortment of foes, many of which are quite a sight to behold, as well as many allies, such as your partner Daniel Donnis and Japanese scientist Kunihiko Maeda among others.

The gameplay in Parasite Eve isn't anything really special. If you've played Resident Evil or Resident Evil 2, you pretty much know what Parasite Eve looks and plays like. The main thing that distinguishes Parasite Eve from the Resident Evil games is the battle and magic system. Like many other Rpg's, Parasite Eve employs a system in which points are accumulated for enemy kills. After attaining a certain number of experience points, your level increases and you acquire magic spells and items. Again, this is fairly standard. However, you also acquire bonus points as your level increases which can be used to improve your weaponry, armor, or either of two character parameters. There are some nice features in Parasite Eve, and they're mainly found in the battle system. The first big plus is that there is plenty of weaponry and armor throughout the game. As you progress through the game you gain a myriad of guns covering a wide range of types. Shotguns, handguns, Uzi's, M-16's, and more. Each gun has a rating for attack, range, and bullets. You also gain a wide assortment of armor, which, like the guns, have ratings. This time the ratings are for defense, parasite energy, and critical, which determines the likelihood of receiving a critical hit from an enemy. Using tools and the occasional trading card you can upgrade any piece of weaponry or armor that you have in your possession. You also have parasite energy at your disposal, which essentially amounts to the same thing as magic points. Each time you use one of your magic spells, your parasite energy is depleted according to the power of the spell. There are other features such as the system, item, and sort icon screens, but I figure no one wants to read what amounts to a regurgitation of the instruction manual.

As I fully expected, the music in Parasite Eve is marvelous. It fits the game perfectly, and it's a joy to listen to. I think there should've been more music in the game than there is, but the music is of such a high quality that I really don't think I can complain too much. Square also scored bigtime by including a loaded demo disk entitled "1998 Collector's CD vol. 1", which has movies and playable demos of some of their upcoming titles with Parasite Eve. There's an awesome playable demo of the futuristic Rpg Xenogears on the CD, and there are cool movies of Bushido Blade 2, Brave Fencer Musashi, and Final Fantasy VIII.

Unfortunately, despite the fact the fact that Parasite Eve has stunning graphics, great music, and comes packed with an awesome demo disk, it falls a bit short. For one, it's only twelve hours from beginning to end, and that's just way too short. Secondly, the story just isn't gripping enough. It's not that it's bad, it just didn't grab me like most storylines in Square Rpg's do. Had Parasite Eve come out from most any other company, I don't think it would seem as lackluster as it does, but it's a Squaresoft title, and therefore it's held to a much higher standard. If you can trade for Parasite Eve, or buy it used I'd say don't hesitate for a second, but this one just isn't quite good to enough to warrant purchasing brand new.

    Title: NFL Blitz
    Genre: Sports
    Developer: Midway
    # Of Players: 1-8

Football season has arrived, and that means so have the slew of football video games. There are so many to choose from it's hard to really know which to go with. However, the one thing that can be said regarding all of the football titles on the market is that they're all simulations for the most part. Their focus is on being as true to the real thing as possible, and there's definitely something to be said for that. I've loved playing the various incarnations of the Madden series, and I think NFL Gameday has been a decent series as well. The problem is, sometimes I've been in the mood for a football game that has a more arcade feel to it, and there just hasn't been one, until now. NFL Blitz first came out in arcades across the country about a year or so ago, and now it's made it's way to the Playstation.

I had played Blitz a few times at one of my local arcades, but beyond that I never really paid it much attention. It was wildly successful, so I suppose I should've guessed that a Playstation conversion would be coming down the pike eventually. In any event, I cranked up Blitz, watched the nice FMV intro, and then I got to the main menu. The first thing I noticed was the three modes of play. You can choose from Arcade, Season Play, and Tournament Modes. The Arcade Mode is essentially an identical version of the arcade Blitz. Season Play Mode allows you to play through an entire season; playoffs, Superbowl, and all, and Tournament Mode is an all out brawl for three to eight players. There's also an Option Mode of course, and then there's the increasingly common Theater Mode, which lets you view various FMV snippets from the intro and other parts of the game. I'm sure many of you have never played Blitz in any form, so let me explain a little about the actual gameplay before I go into an in-depth explanation of the different modes of play.

Blitz is a very fast paced, offensive minded game. You can play defensively, but the game is really geared towards big plays and lots of scoring, which is great by me. Each team has seven players, and you have eighteen offensive and nine defensive plays to choose from. So far, this seems pretty standard. Well, after that the differences between Blitz and other football games start to become glaringly apparent. In most football games, and in real football, you have four downs, or chances, to gain ten yards in order to get another first down. In Blitz you have four downs to get thirty yards in order to get another first down. I didn't like this at first, but it's really not a problem at all. Another fantastic feature in Blitz is the ability to lay hits on your opponent at any time. If your opponent scores a touchdown, you can drop him like a bad habit while he's celebrating, or you can blindside the quarterback after a play when he's not looking. There's even a pro wrestling element as you can nail a downed opponent with a leg drop or an elbow smash. Sadistic, yes, but lots of fun. There's also a commentator, and surprisingly enough, he's not annoying like most are. In fact, he's quite funny. If you level someone after a play you'll hear one of many phrases like, "That was totally uncalled for, but fun to watch!" or "Call in the National Guard, this is getting ugly!" Blitz also employs some of the same features and extras found in the popular NBA Jam series. Before you can start your game, you have to enter a name and four-digit code which the game uses for record keeping via a memory card. Each time you start a new game, you input your name and code and your record is retrieved. All your stats are kept track of, which is nice, as is who you've beaten and who you haven't. Blitz also has a slew of secret characters that you can access by entering a name and a code just as you do for yourself. Among the secret characters are Shinok and Raiden from Mortal Kombat as well as several of the programmers of Blitz. Also worthy of mention is the code feature, which is very similar to the Kombat Kode feature found in Mortal Kombat. At the title screen before each game, you'll see your team's logo and your opponent's logo as well as three little icons in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. By changing these icons around you can achieve different effects such as huge heads for your players or a miniaturized Smurf like team. I also like the Turbo Gauge, which lets you give your character a little extra boost when running. It isn't infinite of course, but it's good for evading those big linebackers, and it does regenerate once it runs out. Blitz is completely licensed by the NFL too, so you've got all the real NFL teams and players, and the rosters are totally up to date. Very cool indeed.

Graphically, Blitz is beautiful. The players are polygonal, but they look really smooth, and the uniforms for each team look exactly as they should. The ball seems bigger than it should be, but that's not really anything significant. The other minor graphic touches really make the game look great. From the hurdling animation, to the tackling animations, to the various touchdown celebration animations, Blitz really makes you feel like you're looking at real NFL players. As mentioned earlier, the announcer sounds really good, but the music is also very nice. There isn't too much of it, but what there is sounds good. Oh, the sound effects are also great. The groaning, grunting, and body crunching sounds are all there and all done wonderfully. You even have player taunts after a tackle or a sack. The control is also very responsive, and I think that's partly due to the fact that Blitz supports both the Analog and Dual Shock functions of many of the newer controllers.

Now, as promised, here are the specifics about each mode of play. Arcade Mode, as I mentioned, is basically identical to the arcade version of Blitz. It's you versus the computer in a game of smash mouth football. The Season Play Mode is essentially a season simulation. You take the team of your choice all the way through the regular season, and assuming your record is good enough, you'll go to the playoffs and hopefully the Superbowl. I also really like the fact that you can view your stats for the season, your schedule, and the standings for every division. Tournament Mode is a three to eight team tournament between you and some friends. Pretty simple. The Options Mode allows you to adjust difficulty, quarter length, and sound level. You can also configure your controller, fiddle with some memory card settings, and turn various menus off to expedite loading times.

Blitz does have a few shortcomings, but they're all very minor and can easily be fixed in future versions. First off, several things are sacrificed in terms of the game in order to keep it as fast and furious as it is. For one, there's pretty much no special team play aside from returning punts or blocking field goals. You don't get to control kickoffs and you can't kick extra points after a touchdown. Extra points are in the game, but they're selected much like a play and are automatic. You simply click on extra point and you get an extra point. I would've liked to have been able to kick the extra point myself, as well as having the chance to block it when the opposing team is going for it. I was also displeased at the fact that the halftime stats screen automatically vanishes after a certain time. It's nice to be able to look over the halftime stats at your own pace, and since the screen automatically disappears after a certain time you can't do that. Also, the playbook could've been a lot bigger, especially the defensive plays, and I would've really liked to have a perspective control option so that I could change the view of the field. Lastly, as I mentioned, Blitz does support the vibrating Dual Shock feature that is now found in many controllers, but the problem is the rumbling just isn't strong enough. You can barely feel it, and I definitely think it should've been a lot stronger. Aside from those minor qualms, there's really not much to complain about.

If you're a football fan or sports fan in general, and you want a sports title that's a blast to play, NFL Blitz is for you. I've had an incredible time playing Blitz and I know it's one of those games I'll be playing for a long time to come. Forget all the rest and buy the best, NFL Blitz.

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Copyright © 1998 Ian Johnston

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