| The 3rd Birthday | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | HexaDrive |
| Publisher(s) | Square Enix |
| Director(s) | Hajime Tabata |
| Producer(s) | Yoshinori Kitase |
| Programmer(s) | Kogi Sugimoto |
| Artist(s) | Isamu Kamikokuryo |
| Writer(s) | Toshimitsu Takeuchi Motomu Toriyama |
| Composer(s) | Mitsuto Suzuki Tsuyoshi Sekito Yoko Shimomura |
| Series | Parasite Eve |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter, role-playing shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The 3rd Birthday (Japanese: ザ・サード バースデイ, Hepburn: Za Sādo Bāsudei) is a role-playing shooter developed by HexaDrive and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in Japan in 2010 and in North America and Europe in 2011. The game is the third entry in the Parasite Eve video game series, based on the titular Japanese novel, and a spin-off, having only a loose connection to events from past games. The game features a third-person shooter-based combat system with role-playing mechanics. A key mechanic is the Overdive ability, which allows the player to possess pre-positioned human allies and inflict damage upon enemies.
The game takes place in 2013, a year after creatures known as the Twisted have appeared from beneath Manhattan and decimated the city. To fight back against the Twisted, an investigatory team called the Counter Twisted Investigation (CTI) is formed. Among their number is series protagonist Aya Brea, who was found unconscious and suffering amnesia two years before the game's events. Using her Overdive ability, Aya travels into the past to alter the outcome of battles against the Twisted. At the same time, Aya attempts to find out the origin of the Twisted and regain her memories.
The 3rd Birthday was created as a conceptual rebirth for Aya's character, as well as a means of re-introducing her to the gaming community, with it being over a decade since the last game in the series. Among the staff were Hajime Tabata, Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama, Isamu Kamikokuryo, and Aya's original designer Tetsuya Nomura. Originally announced as an episodic title for mobile phones, the game was later changed into a PSP exclusive. Upon release, the game reached sixth place in Japanese sales charts, and was among the top five games in North American and UK sales charts during its opening months.
Reviews have been mixed; critics praised the presentation and several parts of the gameplay, while opinions were mixed about the story, and many cited difficulties with camera control and some of the shooter mechanics.