Editorial | Why you should be excited for the Resident Evil 3 Remake.

By Sam Coles:

Capcom have been on a bit of a comeback for the past 3 years, after their somewhat bad streak since Resident Evil 6. Since 2017 Capcom went back to the drawing board and produced games that what made them great, we had a soft reboot of the Resident Evil series with 7^th entry, the resurgence of Mega Man, Devil May Cry returning with the white haired demon hunter and of course the remake of Resident Evil 2 in 2019. Now they are bringing back the somewhat underappreciated third mainline entry, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. I want to talk about the original game, and why you should be excited for the remake that is coming out in April of 2020.

Resident Evil 3 takes place on the streets of Raccoon City, where it both takes places before and after the events of Resident Evil 2. This time we step back into the boots of Jill Valentine, where she is sitting in her apartment when the viral outbreak happens where she has nothing more than her pistol and casual attire to help her get through the night. It’s not long until she discovers that she is being stalked by a B.O.W (Bio Organic Weapon) called Nemesis, who has been tasked to hunt down the remaining members of the S.T.A.R.S unit who were involved the Mansion incident of the first game. The story was actually more involved with this game, but that doesn’t help the dreadful voice acting that was still present in the series at this point.

The gameplay took the familiarity of Resident Evil 2, but it put more of an action spin on it as you were against all odds in the scenario presented to you. The zombie count on screen was turned up to eleven, while at the same time you were constantly stalked by the titular Nemesis as he could break through walls at any point of the game or just randomly turn up in alley ways or offices in the police station. There was more of an emphasises on fighting than running away in this game as you had more ammunition compared to the first two games, yeah sure the camera was still fixed and you had to managed your inventory but combat was put the forefront especially with the Nemesis encounters which will get into now.

Throughout the game you will be pitted against the terrifying hulk that is Nemesis, where it will give the option to either fight or flee. Most players at the start of the game will understandably flee, however if you choose to fight the high risk and reward situation is great as you will be given gun parts for high powered weapons. This incentivises for players to get their hands dirty and face what seems to be an opposing foe right off the bat, the rewards for doing so are worth the player’s time.

What helped was Jill’s increased movement speed and mobility, now this may sound like a trivial addition these days but the addition of a quick 180 turn made combat feel less of a chore plus made the Nemesis fights more bearable. Not only that she had an extra dodge ability so you could move out of the way of zombies, but it was a bit temperamental as it was eerily precise to execute.  

You would think that the ramp up to action would sacrifice genuine scares; you would be wrong as you have this overhanging anxiety of when Nemesis is going to burst through the wall. There are moments where all you can hear are your footsteps, and then you hear the hulking the monster mutter “Stars” and he suddenly comes crashing through a wall. You then have this sudden panic wondering how the controls work as you struggle to fight or run away, and it is glorious as the tension goes through the roof.

Resident Evil 3 is a game that was a different take on the series, and it makes me very excited about the upcoming remakes with how they are going to take the current gameplay methods and amplify them. If you can I would recommend playing the original Resident Evil 3 before hopping into the new game, as it will give you a better outlook of the remake when it arrives in April.