Resident Evil 3 Remake had a hell of a lot to live up to following on from the masterful RE2, and unfortunately, like my aim, it misses far more than lands.
You pick up the action in Raccoon City, as zombie hordes swarm the streets killing all in their wake.
Jill Valentine is the main protagonist and is a fantastic lead, very much on the same level to RE2‘s, Leon and Claire.
The story follows Jill -mostly- as she tries to find a way out of Racoon City, all the while being hunted by the NEMESIS. She’s joined at points by Carlos, a mercenary of sorts employed by the mysterious Umbrella Corp.
Premise of Promise
As the game develops the relation changes from one of mistrust, to a heavy reliance on each other to survive.
However, that doesn’t stop Jill from putting the boot into Carlos at certain points. Her almost cynical put-downs towards Carlos – who does save her from the virus – are deliciously well-timed.
You’ll also be happy to know that the stereotypical accent that Carlos had in the original has been replaced by a realistic one.
The story shifts from one of Jill and Carlos trying to get the subway back online to they can get out of the city, to try to stop it from being turned to dust from a nuclear bomb.
During that, let’s say ‘adventure’, you will come into contact with Nemesis but the encounters lack depth when compared to Mr X.
Unfortunately, the intense chase that you experience in RE2 is non-existent as most of the encounters with Nemesis, controls are taken out of your hands with quick-time events.
Even in the final encounter with Nemesis, there are 3 quick time events that just don’t need to be there.
Inescapable
What made RE2 such an exhilarating game was the unnerving thud of footsteps of Mr X getting closer and closer.
Now that’s gone, Replaced by pretty meaningless action scenes that add nothing to the experience.
Mr X didn’t even have a weapon and he was terrifying. Nemesis carries this ludicrous flamethrower monstrosity and adds nothing.
The combat definitely is more action-focused than the slow and steady RE2 with a dodge button being added so that you don’t have to waste precious bullets.
If you time it correctly you do get an opening to land a shot on a weak point of the enemy.
But, now back to the positives. Resident Evil 3 is an incredibly beautiful game. Yet again, the RE Engine has bared its teeth and produced a visually stunning game even on standard PS4.
I’m sure the combat will split the fanbase given that many were not in favour of the series turning towards action with Resident Evil 4 back in the day.
A special mention to the mop of hair on Carlos’ head. It’s truly magnificent in the Racoon City moonlight.
Action-Horror
The weapons you get access to are far more powerful and completely change the gameplay style from horror survival to action movie.
Carlos starts with an assault rifle, while Jill gets a shotgun soon after starting, as well as an assault rifle.
Then there’s the grenade launcher. This is mostly used during your many many many encounters with Nemesis. in fact, one of the biggest challenges is finding room in your satchel for all the weapons.
It comes in very handy when running away from Nemesis. Electric generators are also dotted throughout the city and are very useful in taking down multiple zombies.
It is a very short game though, more so than RE2, especially considering there’s no second character playthrough.
In total, my playthrough lasted a little over five and a half hours. For a game that cost €59.99 at launch, that’s not really good enough. In fact, it would be better if it was an add-on DLC to RE2 instead of a fully-fledged game.