SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
While it ultimately proves inferior to its predecessor, the remake of Resident Evil 3 successfully shifts the series’ focus with an action-packed, if truncated campaign.
In my review of last year’s remake of Resident Evil 2, I opined that, of all the horror games out there, it was the one that made zombies scary again. With Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 3, my sentiments are very much the same. But more than that, if there was ever a game that made zombies fun again, then Resident Evil 3 is that game. Although it swaps the pure horror focus for extra action and punch, it loses so little of its predecessor’s tension and dread that the tradeoff is well worth it. There’s a powerful combination of past and present here that proves hard to hate and even harder to ignore.
A reboot of the original Resident Evil 3, this game was inevitable after Capcom struck gold last year by remaking its predecessor from the ground up. Set at around the same time the likes of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield were dodging a particularly persistent hatted menace, players step into the shoes of S.T.A.R.S officer Jill Valentine on her journey to escape from Raccoon City. Pursued by an intelligent bioweapon known as Nemesis, Jill quickly finds herself embroiled in a struggle against the zombie horde, and other human beings with shadowy ulterior motives.
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way early: in comparison to its predecessor, RE3 feels truncated. Once the credits rolled, the game revealed to me that I had clocked in at just under five hours and that, should I wish to improve upon my rank, I should aim for under two and a half. The implication is that time is well within reason. Unlike RE2 with its fairly lengthy story and B-sides, this simply isn’t a game you’ll be playing for ages. There’s some incentive to return: higher difficulties, challenge-locked gear and different character skins to name a few, but that largely depends on how you like to play your games. If you’re looking for a different kind of replay value, then you may be right in hesitating before you buy. It moves at a breakneck pace.
My concerns that the two games would be carbon copies of one another proved unfounded. The differences between them are subtle but numerous and important. RE3 plays differently: where its predecessor was pure horror, this one is about action too. Over the course of your playthrough, you’ll mostly be playing as Jill, although there are sections where you play as the mercenary Carlos Oliviera in the employ of the sinister Umbrella Corporation’s Biohazard Containment Service. Both characters live up to their respective reputations, and they play like it too. As player avatars, they’re stocky and far more proficient with the miniature arsenal the game gives you, with steadier aim hinting at the practiced hands of highly trained professionals. If you manage to pull off a carefully timed Perfect Dodge (or shove in Carlos’ case), time slows to a crawl, allowing them a golden opportunity to get in a few valuable shots or a good punch at close range.
These characters would hardly break a sweat against the scattering of enemies that RE2’s Leon and Claire have so much trouble with. Surrounding them is a refined plot that cuts the alternate endings and choices of the original game loose. Having never played it, I can’t say whether the remake suffers for it; in any case it remains pleasingly self-aware and thoroughly camp B-movie material.
RE3 responds to these characters in kind by thrusting them both into the thick of the action. Where RE2’s protagonists might have faced a couple of undead at a time, bumping into four or five at once is a standard encounter for Jill and Carlos. The game provides more ammunition, healing herbs and crafting ingredients, while retaining a pleasingly punishing inventory management system and pushing you into encounters where you’ll need everything you find, if not more. It dials up the tension and thrills by dumping you on the zombie-infested streets to complete your objectives while retaining the optional backtracking and exploration for those players either ballsy or desperate enough to undertake a search for resources. I hated every moment, but in the best way. The environment design is top-notch. Raccoon City is a metropolis in its death throes: a cluttered labyrinthine warren where body bags, abandoned ambulances and police cars blockade the streets and undead bash angrily against flimsy makeshift barriers. Whether you’re outdoors or indoors, the game’s levels hide gruesome sights and terrifying mutant monstrosities.
Every corner feels like it’s hiding something new, often accompanied by unpleasant surprises. However none are quite as unpleasant as Nemesis. In its pursuit of Jill, it keeps coming back for more, so much so in fact that it’s genuinely flabbergasting. The creature’s appearances are unfortunately scripted, which strips it of the fear that results from unpredictability; it’s only on your tail in clearly delineated sequences, rather than patrolling as a permanent presence. Paradoxically, that makes it less of a menace than RE2’s Mr X. However, in those sequences, it’s a horrifying unkillable force of nature that adds to its arsenal about as often as you add to your own. Jill’s only response is to duck, dive and run while attempting to outsmart it. Occasionally, Jill is forced to go head-to-head with the creature in knife-edge boss battles that, following the game’s new action ethos, end explosively. RE3 works because of the careful, measured way it blends the survival horror with action and thrills, ensuring that one never overwhelms the other.
In the process of shifting from pure horror to action horror, RE3 distinguishes itself from its predecessor and succeeds at bringing a beloved classic game back to life. While its relatively short length and reduced plot are a drawback, I found it was only a minor consideration in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps its greatest failure is its unwillingness to improve on the work that went into the remake of RE2, even though it easily takes on a different feel. As such, it’s neither a step forward nor a step back, and another remake would just feel trite if it followed similar patterns. But for now, Capcom is successfully two for two.
Our review for Resident Evil Project Resistance is available here.
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