The 3rd Birthday - Aya Brea's Return

After a long wait, Square Enix finally delivers the long-awaited sequel to Parasite Eve 2, The 3rd Birthday. The reason the game is not titled Parasite Eve 3 is because SE chose not to renew the licensing fee for the name "Parasite Eve;" the first game was originally a sequel to the novel Parasite Eve. The 3rd Birthday takes place in 2013, a year after monsters known as the "Twisted" appeared in New York City and started the end of civilization, eventually constructing large Twisted factories known as "Babels" in several countries around the world. At the start of the game, it is predicted that human civilization will cease in two years' time.

Fortunately for us, there lies a trump card: Aya Brea. Aya was found by an organization known as the CTI, an offshoot of the FBI, back in 2010 with total amnesia other than her name. Aya possesses the unique ability to "Overdive," the ability to transmit her psyche into people's minds at any point in the past. Using her ability to Overdive, the CTI launches a mission to save the present by saving the past.

Obviously, this ability to Overdive is derived from Aya's mutated mitochondria as shown in the first two Parasite Eve games. During the game's story, Aya remembers more about her past and is shown to be actively changing the past and leading to humanity being saved. The ending of the game is what really ruins Aya's return though. I won't spoil anything, but the game's story was just fine until the ending had to mess everything up. It won't stop a 4th Birthday from happening, but it just makes this game's story that much less valuable.

Story: 4/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Presentation: 8/10
Replay Value: 10/10

Average Score:      7.5/10


Despite the incredibly awful story, the game's gameplay is fantastic and easily the best third-person shooter for the PSP outside of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The graphics are pretty good too, but there's a little too much cartooniness and emphasis on Aya being half-Japanese by essentially just putting a blonde wig on a Japanese woman rather than actually taking the time to design a mixed-race person.

Half-Japanese, Half-Caucasian people tend to look like this.

This is an Asian face with a Caucasian nose and a blonde wig, not what a mixed person looks like.

As far as replay value, the game can easily be completed in a few hours after the first playthrough during a New Game +. The reason for this ease of difficulty is unlocking bonus features, including the ability to watch the cutscene of Aya showering whenever you want (*wink*wink*) after completing the game 50 times. The game has really good gameplay and is a really fun and easy game to play while traveling where save points are plentiful and you can repeat old missions as often as you'd like to upgrade your weapons and abilities.

Really, this game's only fault is it's incredibly stupid story and it really is a shame.