Resident Evil 3 Review

Continuing their train of remasters, remakes and returns to old franchises, Capcom follows up their Resident Evil trip with the 3rd game in the mainline series, featuring the ever prominent Nemesis. Hot off the heels from my Resident Evil 2 review, RE3r puts us into the shoes of STARS agent Jill Valentine, a fan favourite that was the master of unlocking back in RE1, whose current predicament sees her running from danger in the form of the undead, explosions and an explosive undead. With plenty of praise, coupled with plenty of complaints, can RE3r stand tall against the previous remakes?

The game starts off with Jill essentially isolating herself within her apartment, fitting due to the current crisis we face in the real world. As her uncovering of the Umbrella plot from the 1st game has put her at risk of being silenced, Jill is under threat even before the zombies roam the streets. It isn’t long until the tale of Racoon city begins, with the virus spreading throughout the streets and causing chaos. Chaos indeed comes for Jill, in the form of the new Nemesis, hot on her tail for some STARS murder.

Escaping from the tyrant, Jill finds herself on the long journey of escaping the city whilst trying to save as many people as she can. Alongside the Umbrella forces trying to mop up the streets of the undead, save civilians and make a quick buck at the same time, Jill will be tasked with turning on generators, flipping train lines and taking down or running from Nemesis at all corners.

RE3r hits most of the major points of the original game, though changes a few locations for new ones, as well as changing a bit of the story and how it progresses. While this could be done to help the story flow better, it has done a terrible job if that was the aim. The story feels very rushed, with changing scenery all too quick at times with very little expansion over the original’s maps.

The main story can be completed in around 4-5 hours if you’re on assisted or normal difficulties, with hardcore featuring the closest to original as possible and being much longer to boot. There isn’t as much replayability, as there are not optional scenarios, instead, you can now unlock new items and gear via points you earn from the challenges that were introduced in RE2r. Feeling familiar to the GRADE system of the Bandai Namco Tales series, this approach to replayability is quite a welcome change.

If you have played the remake of Resident Evil 2 last year, you will feel right at home with a large sense of déjà vu with RE3r. Taking almost all the gameplay, mechanics and assets of the previous game, RE3r feels more like an expansion than a new game. You aim and shoot your weapons, headshots sometimes offering critical hits that 1-shot foes, or attack arms and legs to impede zombies movement and attacks.

Gone are the blue herbs and defence boost, with nothing to replace them, only leaving green and red herbs or first aid sprays to heal your wounds. Green now acts as a pseudo blue herb to heal off the new parasitic enemies that will plant parasites inside of Jill’s stomach in an almost non-PG way. Green herbs will make her throw up these new status conditions and off on her way she goes.

Your inventory continues to be limited at the start until you find hip pouches to grant you 2 extra slots. Starting with 8 slots for items and ending off with over double that. Though, 2 of the hip pouches are hidden away in the points menu, requiring another playthrough to benefit from those. The same goes for Carlos who has his own inventory and hip pouches.

Talking about Carlos, you will swap between the much better protagonist of Jill to Carlos at times, taking on zombies with a much faster assault rifle and punches. It continues the progression of the original where you had some sections with Carlos, though he has turned the game into even more of an action experience with even a survival section to boot.

Sadly, the game lacks a lot in the way of puzzles, with only 2 of any note that requires you to select train stations that are still operational or levelling out values on a control panel. Some sporadic number codes and hidden collectables are still present, though it feels like they are slowly dying out as the games progress into 4 and beyond as the original series did.

The music of the remake sounds great if a bit underused at times. Nemesis chases or fights you with appropriately energetic tunes, whereas the save room as his iconic theme if a bit quiet and slow to start. Sound design is also wonderfully utilized with directional sound indicating where Nemesis is or where enemies are located.

While the game isn’t overly difficult, it does offer some higher modes of play and ones that can be unlocked even later. Standard mode is a tad too easy at points, with plenty of ammo on offer, dying only 9 times myself. With all the autosaves thrown in you’ll never lose much from death either, except your time. Returning fans should lay on hardcore mode if they want a proper experience, though standard is welcoming to newcomers.

This Resident Evil 3 remake is a blast to play, if only for a short time, with a bright light that ends far too short. With only 4 or so hours of story, it is dwarfed when compared to the previous game that at least tried to pad itself with 4 playthroughs of almost identical progression. The addition of the points mechanic is fun, and allows for some overpowered play, but will only bring in those diehard fans or min-maxers.

With all the reused content of RE2r, RE3r just seems like it should have been an expansion or DLC, with the time and effort put into it, the game is not worth the £50 asking price against the £35 of the previous that often goes on sale for £19. There is less content than RE2 and with all the reused assets and mechanics it does not feel worth playing both. Alongside the removal of the choice system, crafting experience, multiple endings (except for death) and other parts, this feels more like a new game than a remake of the original.

Overall, Resident Evil 3 gets a 6/10. It is a great action-packed, zombie game full of nods to the original. Fans will be disappointed to see it following the path of action over horror like the franchise did at this point. There are plenty of hidden items to find, paths to take and loot to find, though removes a bit too much of the original to be a great remake. Puzzles are non-memorable and too few alongside the atmosphere dying off towards the later sections.

Resident Evil 3 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC

This review is based on the PlayStation version of the game which can be purchased here for £49.99

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