And just as Cloud can increase his abilities with Materia in FFVII, Aya soon learns to manipulate the Mitochondria (or 'Parasite Energy' as it's referred to in the game) within her own system. Although the system used is fundamentally the same-with Active-Time bars filling up as you prepare for each attack-Aya can move around the battleground in real time to avoid taking damage. Control of the combat has evolved quite significantly since FFVII, too. Starting the game with an automatic handgun, she later picks up more powerful weapons. As the game progresses, Eve's parasite sets up a 'nest' in the Central Park Zoo, and before long snakes, bears, birds and monkeys all get horribly mutated, as Eve continues to rampage through the city.Р”Р‡ortunately though, with all of these mutations hell-bent on destroying the world, Aya is armed with a fair amount of weaponry. Once absorbed by the mutated Mitochondria, a living being is broken down completely into a slimy goo before being rebuilt as a more powerful creature-often a combination of numerous animals or even plants that are instilled with Eve's malevolent intent.

As this parasitic energy absorbs life energy, it transforms Eve into a superbeing that can switch between solid and liquid form, while also destroying living matter simply by looking at it. It soon becomes apparent that Eve's Mitochondria has mutated to the point of sentience, and through her it's attempting to annihilate all inferior life-forms. Upon further investigation, Aya discovers that Mitochondria is the organic matter contained within all living cells responsible for producing energy. Amidst the confusion, the apparent perpetrator (the eponymous Eve) reveals herself as she announces the ascension of a new order, that of the Mitochondria. The game begins on Christmas Eve and sees Aya and her boyfriend at an opera that's thrown into turmoil as the actors on stage spontaneously combust. Centered on the experiences of Aya Brea, a rookie NYPD cop, it deals with her investigations into the spread of a freak of nature that is gradually laying siege to the city. Set in New York, the game is based on a novel by acclaimed lapanese sci-fi author Hideaki Sena that was published 18 months ago in Japan. PE makes use of a modified version of the FFVII game engine so, once again, we find beautifully rendered backgrounds overlaid with polygon-generated characters. To say that it has a lot in common with lapanese sci-fi anime such as Akira or even (in places) some of the Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend stories wouldn't be too far from the truth. Yet Square's next big thing, Parasite Eve, is actually a very different game from its predecessor the traditional swords-'n'-sorcery themes have been entirely eschewed in favor of something with more of a science-fiction flavor.

Parasite in city sprites