This time the developers have decided to go almost all out on the adventuring front, almost ditching the original's RPG aspect altogether. Set three years after its predecessor, Parasite Eve 2 tells the story of the re-appearance of the mitochondria creatures that featured in the first game. The story starts with FBI agent Aya Brea being informed that the police have lost contact with a SWAT team they had sent into a Los Angeles skyscraper. As she enters the building and surveys the scene she quickly realises that only the mitochondria could have caused the carnage laid out before her.

After playing the game for a few minutes it is easy to decide that this is yet another in that popular genre now entitled "Survival Horror." Instead of battles occurring in separate combat screens, Square have gone for a straight, real-time combat system (as used in the Resident Evil series). The odd explosive barrel or dangerous prop now and then increases the interactivity of the surrounding areas where fights take place, and you can even take cover behind scenery as a defensive posture. If the going gets too tough you can also flee from an adversary, but this lowers your bounty point rating (which can be used for upgrading weapons).

One thing most gamers will be immediately pleased with are the graphics. Square have opted for pre-rendered backgrounds (as used in the first three Resident Evil titles). Early on in the game they have utilised the FMV spooling technique pioneered in Final Fantasy VII (and later perfected in FFVIII and the Oddworld games) in which the background will often move along with the main character, creating a very cinematic feel. This is very impressive, so it's unfortunate that only the beginning of the game uses it (although, to Square's credit, the rest of the backdrops are drop-dead gorgeous).

Aya can't go into battle without her usual arsenal, of course. While she starts off with her regular handgun, she later obtains a grenade launcher as well as the traditional shotgun. As in the first game the power of these weapons can be increased by combining bits and pieces (a bit like how Vagrant Story allows players to create new weapons by taking their old ones apart). Power can also be taken from enemy creatures to create parasite energy, which can be used as an offensive weapon in itself, or it can be used to heal Aya. A small radar shows the player where some enemies are lurking, which takes away some of the potential surprise when encountering them, but does not detract too much from the overall gameplay.

A nice feature, which was only sparsely touched upon in the Resident Evil games, is the ability to have an NPC character running alongside of you in support. While this only takes place twice in the game, this character has pretty good AI (although his reactions are a little slow at times). There is really only one NPC to team with throughout the game, so we were left wishing the designers could have done more with this idea. Unique to this game is its wide selection of spells that the player can learn, which is one of the few RPG features that have been retained from the first game.

With the new combat system the developers have resolved some of the biggest control problems that plagued the original. Control of your character will now remain consistent when entering combat, instead of changing against the angle of play as your screen position changed. You will always know when a battle is about to start, as the screen will flash black and white to warn you that something big is coming (a bit like how the screen flashed in the third Resident Evil game just before a boss battle started).