i used to be so down bad
i had this jill valentine poster from re3 in my room when i was younger that every time i got some victory in a game i would point at it and go “yeah baby” (i was like 12 leave me alone). my cousin was over for christmas one time. we were playing halo 3 and i kept beating him in 1v1s and kept doing my little victory routine after each win and that got him so mad that he yelled and started punching holes in the poster causing me to tackle him and start pummeling him with smacks across his face while tears rolled down my eyes. that day i felt a loss of innocence. good game.

Como escrevi em outra review, sou de 2004, sendo assim, não pude jogar a primeira fase da saga Resident Evil na integra.

Antes de ter jogado essa primeira versão, eu já tinha jogado o polêmico remake de RE 3 e outros jogos mais novos da franquia, e como tinha recentemente zerado a primeira versão de RE 2, eu fiquei curioso em saber como era a primeira versão de RE 3, e por incrível que pareça, eu gostei mais dessa primeira versão do que o seu remake.

Diferente de RE 2, que achei as versões do jogo (tanto a primeira versão, quanto o remake) muito bem feitos, no RE 3 eu achei a primeira versão feita com mais carinho comparado com o seu remake, e quando digo carinho, quero me referir aos detalhes que o jogo lhe dá, a primeira versão de RE 3 tem muito mais conteúdo do que o remake em si, parece que o remake foi cortado e remodelado para ser um jogo mais de ação do que um survival horror, não que isso seja ruim, mas o problema é que... Não é só de ação que vive o Residente Evil...

Enfim, queria finalizar escrevendo que a única coisa que envelheceu mal nessa primeira versão do jogo foram as atuações dos personagens, mas isso eu relevo, já que o jogo foi feito no final dos anos noventa.

Para quem tem retroachievements, eu consegui organizar minha conta para funcionar no meu emulador, com isso consegui pegar algumas conquistas nesse jogo, quem quiser dar uma olhada vou deixar link do meu perfil aqui ao lado -> https://retroachievements.org/user/MisterRobot/progress

Resident Evil 3 continues the series' gradual evolution, sporting noticeably better graphics and drastically better voice acting than the previous entries. It also leans further towards action-game elements, with more threatening enemies appearing in larger groups (even zombies are more of a threat given their newfound ability to lunge at considerable speed). Thankfully the game gives the player more tools to match the faster-paced gameplay, with plenty of healing items, a dodge function (clumsy, but the intent is appreciated), and the game-changing quick-turn which became a series staple from here on.

However, I also need to say that despite the little enhancements to the gameplay, the fixed camera angles simply don't translate well to the action-heavy style where you want to always have a sense of where you are in relation to your enemies. The camera angles seemed especially egregious in this installment, and I frequently found myself getting stuck on corners trying to escape from enemies, running left and right against a wall trying to enter a door, or even having the change in camera angle be so jarring that I ended up going backwards without realizing it! Full disclosure: I have a terrible sense of direction and spatial awareness in general so it's possible I just suck at this game. But given that I rarely faced these problems in Resident Evil 2, it reflects a slightly unpolished rough edge to this game I can't entirely give it a free pass for.
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I also wanted to take a bit of a tangent to talk about how this game felt slightly unfocused to me. After some thought I think I hit on why, and it has to do with this game's two most unique selling points:

- The titular Nemesis. Terrifying both onscreen and offscreen, and his speed, stature, moveset (and bloody rocket launcher) making you feel hopelessly outmatched the first few times you see him. He was a big part of ensuring that my first playthrough was ultra tense all the way through.

- Its short length combined with its host of unlockables. It's the shortest of the three mainline games on the PSX, and my first playthrough (where I played like a scared chicken and got a D rank) nevertheless was enough to earn me a new minigame and several new costumes. Evidently, the devs wanted to encourage the players to complete the game several times, getting better as they did so. In this respect, it was rather effective, as my second playthrough shaved off about 2 hours of time from my first and I even managed to defeat Nemesis on a couple of the optional encounters to earn a pretty sweet upgraded handgun.

Now the problem is this: the two unique selling points cancel each other out. On my first playthrough, I was scared shitless of the Nemesis but I was also equally scared that I would get screwed by the wonky camera angles or get stuck in a corner and consequently buried in a zombie dogpile. On my subsequent playthroughs, I got better at playing the game (partly due to actually getting better skills-wise, partly due to knowing what to expect), but this neutered the 'magic' of Nemesis, knowing that his Big Damn Villain moments were all scripted and knowing when to expect him to appear. Without the Nemesis' magic this is still a very decent replayable action title... but Resident Evil 4 does a much better job of playing that role anyway.

This is a good conclusion to the PSX trilogy of RE games and I'll forever be grateful to it for introducing the quick-turn, but I'd also say this game is Resident Evil in its slightly-awkward braces-wearing phase.

was really blown away by how amazing this game was...even tho this is my first time playing through the resident evil series, i do know about the behind the scenes stuff on this game. it was apparently supposed to be a spin-off but changed it to a main entry midway through & it had a limited development time & limited resources.
i have massive respect for developers who can put out a quality product despite these type of limitations.

i feel like this starting off as a spin-off but changed to a main entry was the best case scenario...it probably explains why this game seems to be really experimental...new mechanics like in depth ammo crafting, the choice system, dodging & applying all that in a game with an already established main character (which i'm guessing was the result of the change of the game being main entry) & an improved mr x type enemy really made everything come together perfectly for this game.

the remakes of resident evil 2 & 3 have a high bar to surpass...can't wait to see if they can cross it.

A game about getting the fuck out.

A pretty good take on the gameplay of RE1 and RE2; it's cool how despite the game being basically just as full of corridors and solitary rooms like it's older siblings, it still, with the help of the GOD level painted backgrounds and camera angles, evokes the feel of a large, sprawling and most of all, OPEN environment; the early part of the game is easily the best, when it feels like you're truly lost in the middle of a city where everything wants to kill you.

No surprise then that the latter half of the game, with it's use of a big Clock Tower and the required RE secret lab, is nowhere near as good as the city part, what with their way more limited and isolated feeling; I'm sure that's the point, but it's still lame. Some of the more tedious puzzles in that half too.

The star (or uhhhh s.t.a.r lol) of the show is of course Mr. Nemesis, who's primary role as a very persistent random boss is absolutely legendary. The fact that more games don't use the idea of a stalker to the extent RE3 used it is fucking stupid; there's realass palpable tension in every single room because you don't truly know if Nemmy will pop in - even when I'm pretty good at playing this game (robbing a lot of the tension), hearing Nemesis' theme and his droning speech is still a potent way to get some adrenaline flowing.

Jill Valentine created the concept of hot girl summer in this game.

A very anxiety inducing trip throughout what remains of Raccoon City.

Jill Valentine best girl.
Nemesis scary.
I enjoyed it.

"Farewell to my life, farewell to my home. This is my last chance at survival, this is my last escape."

no self imposed challenges or other foolishness with this one for me. i've always been a bit of a flop with this one (3 has been the hardest of the original trilogy for me by a large margin) so i just went for an A rank.

i somehow made it to the clock tower boss fight without using any healing of any kind and had a huge stockpile of herbs in my inventory chest which gave me wiggle room to save and rush less. the grave digger as always is a giant asshole and i almost died in the very last fight but i made it. i never thought this would be within my abilities so i'm really pleased.

maybe someday i can knife only or no save this game or get better at CVX or something.

yearly playthrough, not much to say.

this was my first time going out of my way to try to down nemesis as many times as possible without having any prior unlocks. in the past i had wished for a medium/normal difficulty option as easy was way too easy and hard gave me problems but it wasn't as bad as i had thought. ammo is nowhere near as tight at the very least seeing as i downed nemesis 7 times, not even counting the mandatory boss fights and still had ammo to go around.

while this is still probably my favorite of the PS1 trilogy, i do have moments where the cracks show through a bit. most of it comes down to the enemy designs (drain deimos in particular can rot in hell) but at large it feels like this style of RE stretched to its limits with all the good and bad that comes with it.

capcom can give us modern ports of the classic REs any fucking day now...

Three-fourths of the maps here, including the ones in which the boss fights take place, are tight little corridors, presumably an attempt on Capcom's part to encourage the use of the marginally functional dodge mechanic. Combined with the lurching two-second pauses between perspective transitions, Nemesis is often too clumsy to offer any of the lizard-brain satisfaction that this franchise trafficks in. The encounter and level design really hit the skids at the clock tower, which is where they most needed to take off, and the hospital in particular is unbelievably bad; fuck Carlos and fuck getting one-shotted repeatedly by the eight hunters in a row that the game throws at you.

Getting a closer look at Raccoon City is fun, but otherwise it has almost no new ideas about the franchise, its themes, or its aesthetic. As a dry run for Code Veronica and thus RE4, however, it does what it needs to.

didn't really talk much about the combat in my last few classic RE reviews because so much of it boils down to pressing aim and shooting until the zombie goes down; the main appeal is the resource consumption, where every shot counts and evading enemies is often preferable. on its face re3's combat focus seems to violate this core appeal, as the increase in enemy counts across the board comes with a corresponding increase in heavy weaponry. shotgun shells weren't even sparse in re2, and in re3 you might as well just use your shotgun as your daily driver given how lush the ammo haul is. between this, chokepoints with explosive barrels, the contextual dodge, the wealth of gunpowders, and the grace pushdowns you get if you've previously been bitten in a room, it really feels like jill is nigh invincible in most regular encounters. with the more claustrophobic corridor design and increased enemy limit in rooms, there are certainly more times that the game pushes you into one of these options instead of going for straight evasion, but at the same time the core conceit is still the same: click aim, click shoot. a lot of mechanics to defray what is still relatively rudimentary gameplay.

however, the devs went out of their way to keep the routing intact. the addition of nemesis as a mr. X replacement so thoroughly trumps its predecessor that it feels a bit shocking they didn't get it this right the first time. mr. X was a effectively an ammo conversion spot; this lumbering beast you could pump full of cheaper ammo to get drops of the nicer stuff. nemesis completely flips this on its head by offering a real challenge between all of his different mutations, with attacks such as full-screen lunges, tentacle whips, and a rocket launcher. tackling him requires a much stronger focus on positioning and dodge acumen than mr. X (or even many other early RE bosses), and fittingly in return for choosing to fight you get parts for specialized weapons. granted, actually mastering the dodge in these fights plays up the issues with its seemingly random outcomes and directions, but at the same time tanking hits or controlling his speed with the freeze grenades gives much-needed leeway in what is probably the hardest boss up to this point in the series. unfortunately, killing him in optional encounters doesn't seem to influence rank at all, and I never got a sense that these optional kills help make his later obligatory fights easier, but his presence still gives the benefit of influencing your ammo route. killing nemesis isn't cheap, so if you're interested in his weapons, the regular fights that are so easily trivialized by the bounty of grenades you receive becomes moments for you to tighten your belt and conserve ammo.

small variations to the campaign are also more prevalent in this entry, from randomized enemy layouts and different item locations to subtle route-dependent event trigger alterations. the least interesting of these are timed binary choices that are occasionally given to you during cutscenes, which generally are nothing more than knowledge checks, especially when you can get a free nemesis kill out of it like in the restaurant or on the bell tower. occasionally these actually affect routing, as on the bridge prior to the dead factory, but more often than not the difference seemed either negligible or not a real tradeoff. the rest of these do affect routing in meaningful ways, from things as minor as changing a room from hunters to brain suckers to major changes such as the magnum and the grenade launcher getting swapped in the stars office. this plus the plentiful ammo fosters a nice "go with the flow" atmosphere where reloading a save and getting thrown into different circumstances is often a worse choice than just limping along through mistakes. on the flip-side, the actual effects of this feels like it would be most relevant between many separate runs, so I really haven't played around with really planning a route for this one as much as I would have liked. it already took me a year to play through this short game lol, hopefully next year once I'm done teaching I'll come back to this one.

with that in mind, the real thing that elevated this for me over re2 was the area design. re3 sticks with general design thrust of the first two -- bigger early areas, smaller later areas -- but it moves away from interconnected inner loops and major-key gating of the mansion or the police station in favor of something more akin to spokes coming out from a wheel, where each spoke has its own little setpiece and order of exploration feels more loose. the best example of this is easily downtown, which implements an item collection challenge similar to chess plugs or medals puzzles from previous games (get supplies to fix a cable car). each primary location in this section is a building, whether a sub station or a press office, all connected via alleys and streets with interactables strewn along the way. does a good job both corralling the player into fighting enemies in narrow spaces as well as providing many separated nodes with their own little sparks of action and intrigue. not really as genius as the mansion's taut, intertwined room layout, but it's cool to see them try something a little different. the later game devolves into mini-puzzle areas on par with the guardhouse (or even smaller in the case of the park or the hospital), but these are a significantly improvement over the undercooked sewer from re2. the puzzles themselves are pretty fun too; I like spatial puzzles more than riddles, and they lean into that more here with stuff like the water purification check near the end of the game.

Unfortunately, this game for me is the worst of the original trilogy of Resident Evil games on the PlayStation. It truly feels like a spinoff side game that was converted over to a main line entry with the bare minimum substance. It has its moments but if it weren't for Nemesis, this game would have been quite boring. I understand that they were trying to capture the chaotic nature of a burning, apocalyptic city run down by zombies, however it really isn't executed well and it just becomes a pretty linear, claustrophobic experience. Action is good, about as good as Resident Evil 2 in terms of core mechanics, but due to the map design in Resident Evil 2, it feels better in Resident Evil 2 than it does here. Nemesis is the best aspect of this game by far. If Nemesis wasn't in this game it would have been a far worse game. Nemesis is infinitely more threatening than Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 as he can tank through just about anything you throw at him. He is a great challenge and makes this game so much more terrifying. "Starssss" will forever be stuck in my head. His design is so raw and his intelligence makes him such a terrifying creation. The rest of the game is your typical Resident Evil game, good soundtrack and questionable voice acting. Wish the remake would have improved upon this game but unfortunately it ends up somehow being worse than this game. Overall, not a bad game but a disappointing end to the original trilogy.

The fullest realization of Playstation era Resident Evil.

Replaying this in 2019 and still discovering variances in enemy spawns or other behaviors in the game is an amazing feeling. Absolutely love the level design (the varying paths and whatnot), soundtrack, and slick feeling gameplay in this one. Navigating through rooms of enemies is so satisfying here, the movement is really smooth.

Mild points are lost for me as a result of the dodge function. In theory this is great and a welcome addition to the series but in execution it's kinda wack. The move feels like it gets set off randomly with no rhyme or reason and in areas with multiple enemies at once it can get messy. The one tight hospital hallway with two hunters in it ended up being a dance of death with me dodging multiple attacks and rolling around in circles until I ended up getting cornered and stunlocked to death. Good thing I saved.

This was sadly a pretty big disappointment for me. The formula of Survival Horror is still really comforting for me to play, I love getting into the flow state, so I think I overall enjoyed my time. But man oh man is this game overhyped. Much like RE2 I wanted to get an opinion on this after playing 3 remake, and the conclusion I came to is that I wish RE3 remake was better. Not because the original was perfect, but because I think this game could have really flourished had it had some modern tweaks.

I think this game is ambitious, probably a little too ambitious. A lot of people cite RE4 as the turning point of this series from horror to action, but the devs of this game 100% wanted this to be that turning point. I mean, the first time we see anything in game is Jill doing a flip out of an exploding building. The issue here is the classic RE trilogy formula simply does not translate that well to action gameplay. The quick turn is easily the best feature added, every tank control game I play without quick turn now feels like its missing something. However other mechanics do not work quite as seamlessly. I think the biggest hurdle is the fixed camera angles. Fixed camera angles are wonderful in these games to build atmosphere, RE2 has some stellar ones that give the RPD a haunting atmosphere. RE3 has some great atmospheric bits too! I love the clock tower, revisiting the RPD is cool! But then when the game kicks into action mode, the angles start to fall apart. The biggest issue here is collision and the new dodge mechanic. Environments in this game are prerendered, which look wonderful, but also makes it difficult to tell what exactly is a thing you will bump into, or how far back an obstacle is. Combine that with the new dodge button which works like a parry in modern games, allowing Jill to do action movie dodge rolls out of the way of Nemesis’ tentacles or a leaping hunter. The issue with this move is you have (to my knowledge) no way to direct where you are dodging. Meaning I CONTANTLY would have Jill “dodge” an attack by rolling into a piece of the environment, meaning she did not actually get out of range of the attack. This made many boss fights much harder than they needed to be, especially the optional Nemesis encounters when going for the extra weapons. This was one of the last single player games I’ve played in years that I can remember being genuinely “mad” at. I constantly would be punished for correctly dodging purely because I was not standing in the perfect spot (which many arenas did not have).

Another major issue I had when coming back to this game was one that comes from the perspective of someone who heard complaints about the remake before playing the original, this being the “live selection system”. For years one of the biggest complaints, I’ve heard about the remake was the lack of live selections. For those unfamiliar, these are branching path options in the story. For example, when Nemesis enters a restaurant, you’re in, you can choose to explode a propane tank or hide in a cellar to avoid him. These choices seem cool on paper, but in action, they are rather pointless. I played through this game twice in full, both times picking the opposite options at every live selection. What I came to realize by doing this is that there are simply CORRECT OPTIONS. Remember the kitchen section I mentioned? There is no reason on any playthrough to hide in the cellar. Hiding in the cellar just means that Nemesis has spawned in the area you’re in and will be in his stalker mode for that chunk of the story. Shooting the propane tank “kills” Nemesis as if you had beaten one of the optional Nemesis fights, netting you an extra gun part for free. Here’s the kicker, Nemesis still spawns as a stalker in this area if you choose this option, it just delays it by a bit. I found about 80% of live selections to have this design philosophy, meaning on a third playthrough, I don’t know why I wouldn’t pick the options to skip danger, the safe routes even offering a reward for taking them. I’m also mad the remake decided to drop these choice segments because they could have made the choices MEAN something.

Those were the two biggest things that irked me about this game so, I’ll leave little complaints and compliments here at the end. While it’s harder to memorize, and not as memorable as the RPD or Spencer mansion, getting to explore the streets of Raccoon City was awesome. Nemesis was more of a threat in this game than 3 remake. Playing it with a modern POV, he’s not AS always there as people remember him being, you quickly learn what screens he can’t chase you onto since you can abuse those, but a lot more fun of a villain than in remake. Clocktower was easily the best segment of this game, I’m now also extremely pissed it wasn’t in remake, such a cool location.

Overall, I think this game has a LOT of flaws. But Resident Evil and survival horror in general are such joys to me that I had a mostly good time. I figure it’s better to be angry about a game rather than to feel bored the entire time.

If you’re looking to check out the classic Resident Evils, check 2 or the 1 remake on GameCube out first. I think this game is worth playing, but definitely less than those two.

When I first started playing this, I couldn't help but feel like I was setting myself up for disappointment. Resident Evil 2 is one of my absolute favorite games of all time (despite me being terrible at survival horror). The initial hour or so I spent with this game was mostly very stressful and confusing. The city setting just wasn't as fun to navigate as the police station in 2; not to mention I was getting my ass handed to me constantly with the narrow alleyways and annoying enemy placements. I mean, it's certainly just a "git gud" moment, but even when I was learning the ropes with RE2, I was still having fun learning. Not here. And so, I shelved the game, hoping to come back to it later with a newfound sense of appreciation.

Fast forward a few months to June 2nd, 2022 - Sony's State of Play. Among the reveals, we got our first look at the RE4 remake. It was hype and exactly the motivation boost I needed to return to the series. I figured I should cross this one off the backlog before moving on to RE4 again (which I had shelved as well). I ended up going through the rest of the game in a single day.

Now, it needs to be said, I still have some gripes with this one. In particular, I think the city portion is still vastly inferior to the police station. I ended up enjoying it for the most part, but it's still the primary reason I'm not planning on replaying this anytime soon. It feels a bit too large. Backtracking is a given in these games, but it felt particularly grueling in these early sections. But the clock tower and factory? Those were really fun.

As for Nemesis, there is one fight with him in particular that is just straight up broken. If ya know, ya know. Aside from that, I was dreading the random encounters with him. I don't mind the tank controls of these early RE games, but when you are trying to haul ass in the opposite direction because you suddenly get jumped by disfigured Thanos wanting to erase your progress, it's slightly annoying and terrifying. Thankfully, it didn't happen as often as I expected, so I'll give it a pass.

While gameplay is nearly identical to the previous 2 games, there does seem to be less puzzle solving here, with some added combat experimentation through the ability of crafting special ammunition through various gunpowder combinations. I hoarded most of the ones I found until the endgame so I can tear ass in the final fight. And let me tell you, that was a deliciously satisfying time. Oh, and they added a dodge mechanic but, I can barely execute it when I try. Most of the time I do, it's on accident. Another "git gud" moment, for sure.

Overall, it's a fantastic game. One which I kind of lament not loving at first. But I have to admit that RE2 really spoiled me. I'm aware of this game's rushed development, and I have no doubt that this game could have been a masterpiece if they had just spent a while longer working on it.

While still being a great game and a solid conclusion to the PS1 trilogy of mainline RE games, I can't help but feel that RE3 didn't have the same impact on me on a second playthrough.

It's the most action packed of the PS1 games both in cutscene and gameplay. The combat here is more fun than ever thanks to some new additions like being able to craft ammo with the gunpowders, being able to turn 180 degrees instantly and being able to dodge enemy attacks which, while finnicky, is fun to pull off even if I only ever did it accidentally. These are all awesome additions that make combat much easier but they don't diminish the horror aspect of the game either. I'd actually say this is the scariest of the PS1 games for me because of Nemesis. On a first playthrough, the guy just feels relentless and I remember being really shook since I was never sure when he'd show up. He's got a fuckton of presence and an awesome design but my favourite thing about him is that you're not forced to run away from him and have the option to fight him which I always try to do. He's the only boss you'll ever fight outside of a pretty ok worm boss and the gun parts he drops are really worth it. With that said though, Nemesis might just be my least favourite boss in the PS1 trilogy, the guy chains grabs you constantly without letting you do anything about it which just gets frustrating really quick. Most of his hardest encounters are optional though and he's still easily the highlight of the game. When you replay it and know when to expect him to appear though, I think he's not nearly as effective at making the player feel uneasy and replayability in general is an area where RE3 is really lacking.

Jill is the only playable character here outside of an admittedly decent Carlos section and the game clocks in at only 6 hours. The game tries to have replayability in 2 ways. Firstly, there's an RNG factor as to what enemies and items an area may have. One room may be filled with hunters but if you die and reload that same room might be filled with zombies instead. It's a neat addition but extremely minor. The other way in which the game tries to warrant a replay is through the split-second decisions you have to make that can slightly affect story and alter how you tackle an area. Again, it's a cool idea I guess, but one option is usually better than the other so you end up crippling yourself if you try to see both options. I can cut the game some slack though since it wasn't even intended to be a mainline entry so the lack of replayability can somewhat be excused.

Instead of having one large building to explore like the prior games, here you'll be running through the narrow zombie-infested streets of Raccoon City. They're even more claustrophobic than the spencer mansion but the streets look very identical and end up blending into eachother so I had to constantly pull up the map. Learning the layout of RC just wasn't that satisfying but atleast the later areas like the Clock Tower and Hospital were decent enough and the game probably has my favourite selection of puzzles in the entire series. They strike a good balance between being able to be brute-forced while still requiring some thought.

While the game didn't do nearly as much for me this time around, it's still solid. The new gameplay additions help it stay fresh, the cutscenes are extremely memorable and simply badass and it created a survival horror icon. It's far from my favourite entry, but is still a good time.

This game is a perfect ending to a great trilogy, Jill Valentine is given more character this time around, and her image perfectly encapsulates the 90s.
The gameplay is more action-oriented in this game, but it works alongside the Nemesis chasing you. The Nemesis is by far the coolest villain before and since, hearing it say S.T.A.R.S. and relentlessly following you through the haunted streets of Raccoon City.

I have revisited this game multiple times throughout the years, and it’s never been more iconic.

since the resident evil 3 remake was to some people the worst shit to ever happen to the modern world i was really curious to know how the original would fare in comparison to that game

mmmmmmmmmmmm i guess haters were right this game really is a gem what the hell short and sweet people short and sweet

my experience with original resident evil games only encompasses re2 (that I didnt even finish lmao) so I was pretty curious what this game had to offer and I cannot overstate how incredible the atmosphere in this game is fucking incredible

PlayStation 1 games now feel like some relics of another culture and another generation and I can't believe how they managed to create such incredible environments and feels with the technical limitations of the medium of the time and I'm entirely sure that this game in 1999 was a sight to behold between some beautifully prerendered backgrounds and honestly competent models

the core of the game is still feeling pretty similar to the original 2 resident evil games it just kind of feels more action-y due to some gameplay tweaks that make the combat more slick and some more "open space" environments like the streets of racoon city and such although really retain the core feeling of resident evil as a whole and absolutely succeeds it

I cannot tell you enough how fundamental is the quick turn for this game i swear to fucking god

so yeah as I was saying the fundamentals of a classic RE experience are there you get to solve puzzles little ammo no chill a big huge bastard who chases you everywhere and a sexy girl wiggling her tits all game and thats what life is all about

carlos is still the biggest downgrade of this version because in the remake thats basically the main thing of why I liked it that much so like the fact that he's absolutely the fucking ugliest piece of shit ever was a turn off for my erotic times like "all the foxy ladies love my accent it drives them crazy" who are these ladies name and surname you ugly ass

star of the show here is definitely the nemesis who is this big ass bioweapon that chases you everywhere gives you anxiety stress sleep paralysis and everlasting traumas that will echo throughout your life when AND if you hear that fucking ost again (source: trust me bro) and you can see it slowly get into a fucking disgusting monster and ironically enough ? the final form is the sexiest one I know guys this is sick I understand

also this game has a great mechanic where you can choose some different paths in your playthrough giving it some variety and replayability forreal this shit is incredible I love this game

umh also theres something of a problem in my head where I don't use any ammo or anything like I really try not to use them so like I finished the game with every weapon with 30+ ammos and like 4 healing sprays and a lot of weeds I have no idea why I am so mentally ill I swear I need professional help asap brb

dodging is fun but it felt like a rhythm game I have no idea how patterns work and I will never thank you everyone

the fmvs are pretty cool tho and i was not expecting the music to be this good

Before I get to my review of the main game itself, I just want to get this out of the way real quick: actually trying to finish this game was an absolute nightmare in every way imaginable, though not all aspects were because of the game itself. I played this game via emulation and at first I started with dolphin but it had major sound issues and even instances of dialogue cutting out, so then I tried Duckstation. Setting up Duckstation was a huge hassle and on top of that Duckstation absolutely refused to recognize my controller so I had to ditch that entirely as well. I tried Redream and at first it worked like a charm and was easy to set up…until I realized the game didn’t actually save my progress and I had to restart the game twice, so then I finally looked into fixing the sound issues on dolphin and got the game running on it again. Eventually dolphin is what I settled on but that STILL had issues, mainly images in your inventory not showing up or being replaced with other item’s images altogether which made item management a bit more confusing. And even still I had to restart the entire game AGAIN due to getting softlocked a good chunk into the game, unable to access an earlier save and getting stuck in an unwinnable situation because I managed to miss one particular item and couldn’t go back for it. Needless to say that trying to finish this game was WAY more frustrating that it should’ve been, though of course not helping things is…the game itself, so let’s jump right in shall we?

Resident Evil 3 adds quite a lot to the core formula of the classic games. For one, well, the main one is Nemesis, the main antagonist of the game. He basically acts somewhat similar to how Mr X acts in the 2018 RE2 remake, though obviously not as extreme. Honestly though for something released in 1999 this was executed really well. It has its limitations of course but for what it’s worth when Nemesis shows up it gets pretty tense, especially since he can chase you through multiple rooms and loading screens. You basically always have to be on the run from him and I find that great, you even get some nice rewards if you manage to temporarily put him down. The game also sort of has this, what I can only describe as this “choose your own adventure” style feature where during specific events you get to choose options on how to react to certain events happening in a split second, and those actions end up impacting events later on in the campaign. I don’t think it adds a whole lot to the experience but it’s kinda fun seeing all the different situations you can choose. The game also gives you the ability to turn 180• in an instant. Executing it is awkward and not as fluid as how it works in the RE1 remake but it does the job it needs to and honestly I’m glad it’s there at all, makes turning around with clumsy tank controls a lot more manageable. Also new to the franchise is gunpowder management. Essentially you get to fumble together different types of gun powder to craft whatever ammo you want. This is a very nice feature but ammo is somewhat plentiful as is and having to manage all different types of gunpowder (none of which stack which, makes sense but still fills up inventory quick) as well as needing the mixing tool in your inventory to do any of this means a whole lot of back and forth from item boxes just to craft ammo, neutral on this option all around. The puzzles I feel aren’t as satisfying to solve as the ones in RE1 but they aren’t as braindead as the ones in RE2 either so they strike a good balance I feel.

So that’s it right? It’s another classic Resident Evil game with a few interesting spins to help separate and make it stand out from the others, all around well made game, right?

…right?

Wrong, sadly. Unfortunately this game manages to drag hardcore in so many other areas that my overall playthrough was an immensely frustrating slog. First off, the level design. It’s a confusing barrage of narrow hallways and tight corridors, no location is memorable and for your first playthrough you end up running around in circles figuring out where you’re supposed to go or what you’re supposed to do because the game isn’t clear about where to go next at all. The city is a chore to traverse through, it’s too big to comfortably get from point A to point B and there are a lot of instances where you need to go from one point of a lower area to another at a higher one, not fun at all. Second a lot of the enemies just plain suck. Hunters in particular can pin you into a corner and get tons of cheap hits repeatedly which really take a toll on your health, they’re immensely frustrating unless you always carry high power weaponry with you at all times. Shout outs in particular to the 2 Hunter Gamma in the hospital that flank you on both sides so that it’s near impossible to avoid taking damage. The game attempts to create a couple of mechanics to circumvent this but it all ends up falling flat.

Another mechanic alongside the 180• turn around is the ability to dodge incoming attacks and shove enemies off of you if they get too close. Here’s the thing though: they don’t work. At all. The mechanics are poorly explained and confusing but even when you ATTEMPT these actions they just sort of only work when they feel like it. It’s inconsistent and not reliable to pull off, but the issue is that it almost feels as if the game WANTS you to use it to avoid damage, as a ton of enemies (especially annoying high damage enemies later down the line) are just spammed all over the place later on in the game. It’s almost like the game wants to be an action game so badly but then conveniently forgets that it’s still trapped within the confines of a clunky slow claustrophobic horror game.

You want to talk about frustration incarnate though? Look no further than the Gravedigger boss encounter. You face this thing once early on in the game where you need to clumsily press switches and avoid his attacks to escape, but here you need to confront and kill it, and it is an absolutely abysmal fight. You’re confined within this cramped narrow U shaped area and you basically just need to pump a crap ton of damage into him while avoiding his attacks as he pops up from underground, and it was infuriating. Unless you have a ton of freeze or acid rounds on hand you aren’t putting a dent in this thing, and if he gets close you’re basically guaranteed to take damage because, again, the game expects you to avoid damage by using a broken badly designed mechanic. Oftentimes when he goes underground and pops up I’ve had him pop up behind and go under quickly, incentivizing me to quickly turn around and get behind him to run towards the area with more space, but then he just decides “nah lol” and pops up in front of me and cheap shots me anyway. It was easily the most frustrating thing I’ve had to deal with the entire game, by a long shot.

Despite being only 6 hours long or so, this game doesn’t really know when to end. Granted this is probably because of how long I’ve been playing with how much I’ve had to restart the game, and my final play time mounted up to be a little over 4 hours long, but this game FEELS much longer than it actually is. It starts off kind of ok but it ends up dropping the ball so hard further in and towards the end of the game that I got sick of it very fast. The tank controls only serve to make encounters and navigation more frustrating, the new mechanics added often don’t even work, the bosses are horrible, the enemies are annoying, the world is irritating and a chore to traverse through, and while Nemesis is a cool edition that adds a ton to this game’s personality, it’s not enough to save the game from feeling like an utter slog.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis? More like Resident Evil 3: Ne-ver play this game…esis. Yeah let’s go with that.

With its cacophonous city street designs and bold vibrant greens and reds, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is arguably the series' most plainly beautiful release. The claustrophobic, labyrinthine alleyways and avenues are clearly spawned from the minds of Japanese developers, and offer this American-set apocalypse a dream-like atmosphere to buoy the action elements and exciting horror fodder. Alongside the artistic vision, this scenario also habitually imbues the subtext with a sort of nationalist retort to pride; a significant American city on the eve of doomsday, a clocktower counting down the seconds till mass destruction, in the wake of a particularly capitalistic failure.

The zombies have never looked better up until this game, as they're reactive to combat and have a striking sense of physicality, as opposed to the target practice enemies which came before. Indeed, Nemesis pushes the PSX's technical capabilities to the edge, and each map, each room, each frame is a delight to the senses beside the delectable carnage.

The central gimmick here arrives in the form of the titular beast: an experiment in genetic warfare, created to destroy truth-seekers and cover up the inimitable Umbrella Corporation's vile, exploitative operations. Nemesis is prone to appear at any given moment, especially as the player progresses through the game, and depending on the difficulty setting can prove a formidable foe.

The recent Resident Evil 2 Remake's Mr. X doesn't hold a candle to this opponent, mainly due to level design working in favor of the rules governing Nemesis. Each door leads to a new area separated from the next, so being chased through a gauntlet of doorways and fixed cameras (not to mention puzzles) restrains perspective and limits adaptability. Mr. X can be vanquished and made a fool; Nemesis, aside from triggered cutscenes, is always an oppressive threat. It is a testament to the lasting power of old-school survival horror game design; if you're low on ammo, better get running.

A proper sequel, Nemesis builds on the core gameplay strengths of its predecessors without succumbing to fatigue. If Resident Evil 4 never happened, one might only guess as to the prospective future-present of tank controls and tactical combat, especially given how successfully RE3 builds layers over its series roots, like a thick coat of luscious, bloody paint. The story's conclusion is morbid and deceptively victorious, as Jill flies off into the sunset, leaving behind a ruptured piece of America left smoldering in flames, brought to ruin by its own hands. Citizens sacrificed for the sake of national security. There just polygons on a screen after all, right?

This was a really solid entry and I honestly think it's a better game than the original Resident Evil, but at points it also winds up feeling just like an expansion to Resident Evil 2 - where it raises the stakes and there's way more challenge in terms of just how relentless some of the action sequences are in this one. There's a bunch of nice touches here, and I like the situational multiple choice moments where you could, for example, either run away from the titular Nemesis or injure him with a gas explosion and then gun him down.

It's also kind of interesting how Code Veronica was intended as the direct sequel to Resident Evil 2, following Claire's storyline, but there's definitely something about that game that felt substantially different from 2 and 3. That, and I feel there's definitely some derivative elements with a giant monster that chases you throughout the game, which is basically Mr. X from the second game - but where clearly Nemesis is a far more interesting villain. That, and there's also a plotline involving a military unit hired by Umbrella to contain the outbreak in Racoon City - where of course it consists alternatively of well-meaning people being taken advantage of, and people with clear ulterior motives running with them.

There's also something to Nemesis which feels way more malevolent, in contrast with how Mr. X was this emotionless being in a trenchcoat, and there's small moments where you can clearly that he gets some amount of joy with playing cruel games with Jill and just screwing with her every step of the way. There's a great moment about half-way through the game where he just inflicts this string of misery on Jill that comes across as so inexplicable and shocking, and just about how throughout it reveals all these abilities he has when he figures out certain tactics aren't working.

Aside from that, there's a lot of strong aspects in this game, and I think Catherine Disher's performance as Jill Valentine especially stands out as one of the best in the series (really it's so much more textured and layered than the flat naive way she's presented in the first game.), and there's certainly a lot of strong aspects here. It's not as altogether as great and balanced as Resident Evil 2, but there's definitely a lot here that stands out.

RE3 sure is a game.

First things first the gameplay changes. RE3 is the game to finally introduce an 180 turn that can be pulled off in an instant and its a verg welcome addition, albeit a bit clunky but you get used to it same thing goes for the dodge. Theres now also ammo mixing which is a cool concept that I think is a bit too underwhelming since even without the gunpowder you'll still find a shit ton of ammo, but later on when you can start making enhanced ammo now that was some good stuff.

Moving on the map, I consider map designs important to an RE game cause the design of the mansion and the police building are what got me hooked to this franchise in the first place. Which makes me sad to say I was not a huge of a fan of the map, it's serviceable I guess, but the map has been stretched out so far wide so they can pull off the "going through all of Racoon City" aesthetic that it ends up being mostly linear pathways with not that much exploring being done.

And finally the main selling point of this game, Nemesis. He is a scary threat that will keep you on your toes, running and panicking on how to avoid him since he has the ability to follow you through doors...for the first 3-5 you encounter him after that you just run and he can't do anything to you so that was disappointing. Although I have to mention this cause wow that guy got a huge buff during the clock tower boss fight making for probably the toughest boss fight (and kind of annoying since I also felt like the tank controls were screwing me over just for this specific fight alone) I've experienced in a RE game so far (which isn't saying much but still).

Final Rating:
3 / 5