Parasite Eve 2 is nearly as different from the original as Parasite Eve was from any other game at the time of its release. The game takes on an even more Resident Evil like style and feels as much like an action game as an RPG.

Our heroine Aya Brea is back, but she's no longer a member of the NYPD. Aya's now a member of a special FBI unit that hunts down Neo-Mitochondria Creatures, and she's been assigned to check on a sudden outbreak . The monsters she finds here are unlike anything she's ever seen, and she begins an investigation to find the source of these new creatures. There really isn't a whole lot more to the story than that. The whole time Aya is trying to solve the mystery of these creatures and little else happens. Aya is as cool as ever, but the remaining cast isn't even up to the standards of the original (which was already pretty sparse on development). Neither Daniel or Maeda had a whole lot of development in the first game, but the new cast is just plain boring. Parasite Eve 2 also lacks a great villian like Eve that the original had. The whole game takes place in just a few days so you really can't expect a whole lot of depth, but overall the story is rather weak and doesn't seem to provide a lot of closure.

The gameplay in Parasite Eve 2 is basically an improved version of the Resident Evil games, and it's one of my favorite parts of the game. Aya walks around picking up ammo, unlocking doors and solving tedious puzzles. When she comes into contact with a monster she just pulls her weapon and enters combat mode. Your gun will automatically lock onto your target, which is why I say it's improved over Resident Evil, and battles are in real time. Aya also has learned new abilities in Parasite Eve 2 and can now do everything from heal to shoot flames from her hands. At the end of battles you accumulate BP and EXP. BP can be used to buy new weapons and equiptment, and EXP is used to learn new levels of Parasite Energy. I found this method of leveling up both innovative and enjoyable. You can spend your EXP however you'd like to teach Aya whichever abilities you think are most important. I also enjoyed being able to buy some of my weapons so that I didn't have to walk around searching for everything. One aspect of the game that I disliked was the camera. Every single room seemed to have countless camera angles and one step to the left could screw up your view. Since you can lock on to your enemies it was never much of a problem in combat, but it was very annoying when searching for items. There was also a severly limited amount of items you could carry...and it was even more limited to how many of these items you could use during combat. But because of the fact that you have Parasite Energy to take place of items, and you can exchange BP for items when you need them, not being able to carry a lot isn't a big deal.

Parasite Eve 2 is graphically a worthy sequel to the original. This cinematic RPG is one of the prettiest games on the Playstation. The cinemas are beautiful and still hold their own against more modern cinemas, and the backgrounds and characters are also well done. Like the original, this game is full of cinemas so you'll have plenty of time to drool over the graphics. One thing I would have liked to seen was some voices to make it truly cinematic, but even without voices the sound is still pretty good and can make the game pretty creepy.

There's a significant amount of extras and replay value to Parasite Eve 2. There are all sorts of items that you can unlock through replay, such as a gunblade like in Final Fantasy VIII.There's also two different endings and multiple different replay modes. The whole game can be completed in around 15 hours, but if you enjoy the game there's a lot more you can do.

I played through Parasite Eve 2 the day after I finished Parasite Eve and I didn't really care for it at first. It's quite a bit different than the original and will take some time getting used to, just as the original Parasite Eve took some getting used to for RPG players. The game features a little bit for everyone and both RPG and action fans will enjoy it. Although I don't think it was quite as good as the original Parasite Eve, it's still an excellent game featuring innovative gameplay and stunning graphics. Other than some really annoying puzzles the game is really fun and easy to get addicted to. I enjoyed Parasite Eve 2 a lot and I highly recommend fans of Parasite Eve and anyone looking for an innovative game.