The way that Yoshinori Kitase refers to The 3rd Birthday as a “new series” at the start of our chat in Cologne, Germany, is interesting to me — and I make it a point to have him explain how he views it in relation to the Parasite Eve series as a whole. While he’s quick to state that Square Enix doesn’t have anything officially in the works beyond The 3rd Birthday just yet, he could very well see the Parasite Eve series continuing on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the future — in fact, you get the sense that he very much assumes it will. But for now, all of his attention is on Aya’s 3rd Birthday, as it’s called, which is the celebration of her return in a third game — because after such a hiatus, it’s significant enough to fans, and even to Square Enix, to see her back. What originally started as a small cell phone project two years ago has evolved into a full-blown PSP title, with many of Square’s biggest talents on the project, including Kitase himself (though now he serves as producer on many other titles as well).
Kitase demos the game for me, showing me some of the basics we’d seen in the past, and explaining to how this Parasite Eve game is far more action-oriented. This time, however, we take a deeper dive into the hijacking mechanic, which, if you hadn’t heard, is your ability to hack into other peoples’ minds and take over their bodies (huh, sounds a bit like another Square Enix game you might have heard of). But this is more than just some sort of combat gimmick, it actually sits at the core of the entire experience. The way the game works is that you’re always in a squad of CTI members (CTI, not to be confused with Jack Bauer’s CTU, is the name of the organization fighting the Twisted, the creatures that have been attacking New York city). And as Aya, you basically can hop between members of the squad by hacking into their minds (when you do this you also assume their bodies; the game then displays them as Aya). This obviously comes into play in a lot of ways — not only can you use this to your advantage tactically (such as by hacking into a squadmate and moving him into position to surround an enemy), but it can be used strategically in terms of using a specific member’s weapons or relying on their health
when another’s is low. As you make your way through levels, you’re actually not the real-life Aya — you’re constantly assuming other peoples’ bodies. In fact, Aya is never actually out on the battlefield herself — she’s safe within the confines of CTI — she’s controlling all of these squadmates remotely.
