Review of Resident Evil 3 Remake. Vacation with Nemesis / Overclockers.ua

On April 3, 2020, Capcom released Resident Evil 3 Remake, an updated version of the popular 1999 game Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. The project was expected to be a worthy continuation of RE2 Remake and follow the canons of the genre, but, like the original game, the remake was an unpleasant surprise for some and may disappoint fans with the liberties of the developers. At the same time, Resident Evil 3 Remake is unmissable and definitely worth playing. The reasons are in the review below.

Former STARS member Jill Valentine survives the events at the Spencer mansion and encounters the aftermath of the T-Virus. The girl left the police, and is investigating the affairs of the Umbrella Corporation from an apartment in Raccoon City.

Somehow, she misses the invasion of the city of zombies and comes to her senses when Nemesis bursts into the house – an immortal creature created by Umbrella to destroy witnesses to the company’s involvement in the development of the T-virus. The heroine can hardly carry her legs and, trying to escape from Raccoon City, gets acquainted with the current fighters of the STARS squad. They were sent to take the civilians out of the city and clean up the ghouls. Together, they try to complete an impossible task while fighting Nemesis along the way.

The Resident Evil game series has many controversial titles that some gamers love and others hate. The first part is a full-fledged survival game with elements of horror, like RE2 and RE7. But from the third to the sixth inclusive, the emphasis was on action, which caused outrage, although Resident Evil 4 is loved more than RE6.

The original RE3 in 1999 went almost unnoticed, because it repeated the ideas of the second part, but did not develop the survival horror genre, but took it towards entertainment and action. The fate of Resident Evil 3 Remake was similar – the game was created simultaneously with RE2 Remake and was supposed to be released in one bundle, but then got out of schedule and decided to wait. This did not play into the hands of the game, because the situation repeated itself – we have an identical time of development with the second part and the same RE Engine, but the novelty and wow effect from the difference between the original and the remake, as it was RE2, is gone.

But the creators allowed themselves to remove entire levels and types of monsters, reducing the game to 4-7 hours of passage, depending on the complexity and experience. Some saw this as a minus and have already called Resident Evil 3 Remake an addon to the second part. Others, on the contrary, get high. Let’s voice the pros and cons of both sides to be as objective as possible.

Resident Evil 3 Remake is not a meticulous copy of the original game, but rather a free, bold and high-quality interpretation of the new creators. The main plot was left untouched and even made better – they removed as many inaccuracies and pianos in the bushes, added screen time and humanity to the secondary characters, and created an adequate hero and a full-fledged second game character from the dumb-headed Carlos Oliveira. Jill and Carlos now have more joint actions, they like each other and there is a chemistry between them.

But the removed levels and the monsters living there will cause indignation of the fans, although they made it more spectacular. Resident Evil 3 Remake is not the standard of survival horror, so there is almost no need to suffer and be scared. But this is a peppy, sometimes frightening and bright action movie about zombies, in which the player is assigned the main role. That is why you always need to be on the alert: in rare closed and dumb locations, where a ghoul or a new generation of a virus is waiting around the corner. Or in the wide streets of Raccoon City, where they allow you to run away from opponents.

Nemesis was also unexpected. The trailers hinted at a more seasoned version of the Tyrant, but everything came out easier. Nemesis is visually cooler, with more moves and more pressure on the player. The creation of Umbrella does not follow the heroine everywhere like the Tyrant. From his steps behind you do not get goosebumps, and his hand does not reach out to turn off the console or PC, so as not to lay bricks.

Each appearance of the monster is a scripted action, which is diluted with calm locations, as well as moving Jill and her story forward. A couple of times Nemesis acts as a boss, but even in this role it is relatively easy to deal with him – the game requires you to stuff the creature with bullets, rockets and shot, closing Jill and the monster in a free location with a couple of obstacles. There are no tactics or levels of battle here.

The combat of the new game remained a copy of RE 2 Remake, but with some reservations. The zombies still stagger to the sides and it’s hard to hit them, but you don’t need to fire a couple of three rounds anymore – a few and a couple more are enough to finish off if the ghoul gets up. It’s better to kill him with a knife.

But there are more zombies, however, on the streets of Raccoon City they can be bypassed or evaded. On a successful dodge, Jill slows down her aim time and Carlos punches the enemy with his fist. Now you don’t have to save too much ammo, although there are no problems with them either. At the standard difficulty level, there is enough ammunition, because the game generously endows the gamer with boxes, medical sprays and grass, and Carlos was immediately handed a machine gun, on which an optical sight is then installed.

We also reduced backtracking, the number of puzzles and places where you need a key or a special map. All this will be, but many times less than the second part, which makes the game more cheerful on the one hand, but on the other hand, the same “Rezik” kills.

However, the atmosphere of Resident Evil 3 Remake does not hold. The developers made frightening dark maps, dangerous streets of a dying city, a bright but disturbing Umbrella laboratory and paid tribute to last year’s remake of colleagues – part of the game will take place in the police station from RE 2 Remake, where we will be shown the events that took place here before the arrival of Leon and Claire.

The graphics of Resident Evil 3 Remake are controversial and depend on locations. There is a lot of soap in dark places, but where everything is lighter, everything is fine. The cutscenes on the game engine have become brighter and more detailed, and the almost perfect faces of the characters are literally shoved into the camera, showing off the little things and elaboration.

But Resident Evil 3 Remake has a problem with hair. If everything is almost good in the videos, then in the game, the hairstyles of Jill and Carlos look like an old washcloth. At first I sinned on the console version, and then I looked at the walkthroughs on the PC and realized that it wasn’t much better there either.

Music is not remembered and does not ask for a player, but it fulfills its role of forcing the atmosphere and emphasizing action moments. There is no Russian voice acting in the game, and there was not even anything to complain about in English.

Resident Evil 3 Remake is one of those games that you like completely or do not go at all. This is already noticeable in the assessments of journalists and users, because there are either rave reviews or harsh criticism. And it’s all about the same belonging to less horror parts and an emphasis on entertainment, so fans of the classic survival series of the game, most likely, will not go. Although after the first passage, the “Nightmare” difficulty level opens up, which greatly moves the gameplay to the basics, and if you overcome it, then “Hell” appears, where even fans of that very survival horror movie from childhood can get high.

Resident Evil 3 Remake is perfect for fans of spectacular projects, with bright characters and cinematic storytelling. There are peppy levels and spectacular cutscenes, a short passage time, atmospheric locations, boss battles, a twisted plot, zombies and a beautiful heroine. All this is the right recipe for a game for a couple of evenings, which you can then replay and turn on increased difficulty in order to test yourself with something more serious.

Resident Evil 3 Remake is a self-contained but short game that definitely deserves attention. For a considerable price tag, the kit comes with a remake of another old multiplayer game, but this is already an amateur. Should I buy it at full price? Compared to the amount of content in the remake of the second part, then probably not. But such a meticulous, albeit free work is still worth buying, even if at a discount.