Have you ever felt like you were being followed? Well, in Resident Evil 3, you are all the
time by one big mutated madman aptly named: Nemesis. Jill Valentine is
the one being stalked in the third chapter of the RE series, RE3 starts
out in a zombie ravaged Raccoon City. At first, the wide open area of
the city made the game feel like it was lacking the claustrophobia that
made the first two so tense. Luckily the later areas in the game include
a genuinely creepy clock tower and hospital. Also, the camera angles are
so well done that an overwhelming freakiness rings through, even when
there's nothing there.
The game is more difficult thanks to the speedy
yet powerful Nemesis, but there is an abundance of ammo for Jill to deal
with any upcoming monsters that happen to pop into the area. The puzzles
are great in RE3, and make players think back to where new items could
be used in previous locations. The new gun powder system for creating
your own ammo also creates a bit more strategy. All different kinds of
ammo can be made from different gun powder combinations and creating the
right types of ammo will make it easier to get through the game.
Halfway into the game you will be able to play as Carlos Oliveira, a soldier
from the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. Playing as Carlos is
a good change of pace in the game, and gives you a good chance to use a
machine gun on anything that gets in your way.
RE3 has several points that allows you to decide what course of action Jill should take under
certain circumstances. For example, the Nemesis will show up and you can
choose to fight him and run into the police station. No matter what
decision you choose the story doesn't change, but you can wind up
getting some extra weapon parts depending on your choice. Gameplay
remains classic RE with the addition of the 180 degree turn found in
Dino Crisis and being able to dodge attacks. Both have to be used
heavily in the game. The dodge comes in handy when you have to defeat
the Nemesis, who can be pretty cheap at times. Jill can also shoot
flammable objects in your environment that can take out monsters with
one big explosion.
Eerie environmental sounds have become a staple in the
RE series and it's no different in RE3. There are howling winds that
compliment the flapping of crows waiting to peck you to death, and the
occasional boom of sound that'll have you jump out of your seat. The
character models and rendered backgrounds are excellent. Jill and
friends are seamless and textured nicely. And the Nemesis is pretty
disgusting with his flapping tentacles and sewed up head. Detail seems
to be the key to making RE3 the most visually impressive chapter in the
series. Rendered backgrounds are detailed down to the tiny glass
particles of shattered windows, and the fire effects give a cool light
sourced glow to any character walking past it.
So what's missing from the game? Story. Both RE1 and RE2 had stories that uncovered much more
on the Umbrella corporation, and the short in-game cinemas in RE3 just
don't do the job. Even the back story of the Nemesis is covered in one
or two memos, and by that time you can already guess why he's in town.
The game winds up relying on memos left by the dead to tell the story,
but it isn't enough to keep you interested through the game. Another
disappointment was the lack of different monsters. There are two new
non-boss creatures in the game. One is a nasty bug type monster that can
stand on its hind legs and attack, and the other is a big gray monster
that can decapitate. The decapitating monster from RE1 also shows up in
the game, but this time he's blue.
Don't let the number 3 fool you.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis is a sequel only in number and plays more like a
side story than anything. But the improvements to the strategy and
gameplay make this game a fun outing. There are very few games that can
create the fear that the Resident Evil series has done so well, and if
you're a fan the series or just plain like being scared, RE3 doesn't
miss.
-- Marcus Lai
