Weapons are plentiful – and at various points in each stage, there are safe-rooms that allow for saving. This is, like both previous entries, a game built on RPG stat-tracking and upgrading – and you can't afford to simply charge into each level expect to live. It's therefore critical to spend a while tuning up your latent genetic abilities and armament. Thankfully, you can choose to 'ascend' back to the secret between-missions facility and tune up before choosing to dive back in time.

If you're not fleet-footed and master your dive-rolling and auto-cover abilities, you're smoked. It's at this point that mastering Overdive becomes essential. In fact, without mastering movement and working out individual strategies for each, expect to get punished. There are dozens of types – and not all are vulnerable to bullets. The Twisted are initially easy to dispatch, but after a couple of chapters, the skies fill with targets spraying toxic clouds, gigantic wriggling behemoths roll towards you from all angles and cover bring a fleeting reprieve. It also makes it harder for the enemy to pin you into one place. That means you can effectively guide your AI counterparts into different formations on the field, creating crossfire points. Overdive works like a quick-time event - a triangle indicator pops up when you've whittled down your target's health.īy inhabiting other humans, you immediately gain their health status, weapons and placement in the battlefield. It works simply, logically and fairly accurately. Overdiving creates a lightning-quick pace to the shooting and serious depth to the strategy that most shooters can't touch. This is, hands down, the coolest mechanic in The 3rd Birthday. 'Overdive', triggered by holding down the triangle button at any time, allows Aya to immediately teleport to and inhabit any human being nearby. The expanded universe of Parasite Eve now incorporates a strange new genetic threat – a gigantic infestation of heinous tentaclular beasts known as The Twisted – and Aya has a new ability at her disposal to stop them in their tracks - and no, it's not her ability to flash a lot of butt cheek. Aya, pulled from the rubble and now without memory, is tasked with travelling back in time to prevent the outbreak spreading. As the game-proper begins, we discover a year has passed and humanity is in a dire state. Aya Brea, hero of the original titles and Square Enix cult-favourite from the PSOne era, is back in the Big Apple, which has been torn apart in a terrific CG opening sequence.

Manhattan just can't catch a break these days.

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