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Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PlayStation) artwork

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PlayStation) review


"Only shooting S.T.A.R.S"

Resident Evil 2 had solidified RE as a franchise (a franchise player even) and busted open a well of opportunity for other developers and companies with this fresh new genre. Over a year later Resident Evil 3: Nemesis hit the store shelves and things were still looking up for the franchise. With some gameplay improvements that keep things fresh, a few minor touch ups, and some spiffy cut scenes, the third game remains one of the best in the series.

The presentation is slightly improved once more. The character menu is more detailed, another nice story is set in place and the cut scene videos look better than the ones in RE2.This game also starts off with a really nice intro with Jill explaining what she's going to do and then we see a CGI cut scene showing what caused Raccoon City to be so desolate and nasty looking to begin with. Also the story takes place before and shortly after RE2 so the RE3 storyline is actually a tad longer.

RE3 plays similarly to the games before it. Now comes the part where some real gameplay improvements finally step in and do their jobs. First off you can make your own ammo. That's right, Jill has this thing called a Reloading Tool and she makes ammunition for various guns using different gun powders. For example Gun Powder A creates Handgun Ammo, Gun Powder B creates Shotgun Shells, and Gun Powder C creates Grenade Rounds, the system is a little deeper than this but you find all that out in one of the games files that you start with.

There is also a new dodging system implemented along with a 180 degree turn. You simply press down and square in order to perform the turn which is very helpful instead of taking forever (seemingly forever…) to turn around and run away from something. The dodging system is divvied up in high and low attacks. To dodge a high attack you press up and the action button before the attack hits and Jill will either push a zombie back, or simply sidestep an attack, dodging a low attack is basically using the opposite direction when using the action button and Jill will usually step back or roll out of the way and sometimes she'll get in a kneeling position and you can return fire immediately after the roll depending on what weapon you're using. It's a pretty nifty and fun mechanic that was for some reason not used anymore after this game.

One more thing they put in was this decision system, where you make decisions in emergency situations that will sometimes alter the course of the game a bit. It was pretty neat but it's nothing that was really needed. I guess they just put that in to add a little variety, tension and something that would just not make the gameplay look a little old. One other thing was the addition of a boss like monster called the Nemesis, which tracks remaining STARS members down and kills them, will somewhat randomly appear throughout the game and sometimes you can't really get away from it. It will hunt you down and open doors, the first monster in RE that was able to do this. Because of all this RE3 has a little bit of a more action like feel to it, and somewhat faster paced and suspenseful gameplay.

There is quite a bit of replay to have, here. First off you have the unlockable costumes for Jill about five or six I believe and you unlock a number of them depending on your end grade of the game in Hard mode. Another note is that the Hard mode in RE3 is actually hard. Once you beat the game you'll unlock Mercenaries Mode, where you try to get to a point in Raccoon City before time runs out with one of three Mercenaries all part of Umbrella's UBCS Team in the game. You get a certain amount of money depending on how well you do, and with that money you can unlock an Assault Rifle, Gatling Gun, or Rocket Launcher with infinite ammo or you can unlock infinite ammo for all weapons in the game. You can also unlock all the Epilogues which shows what happens to nearly all the characters involved since RE1 to the end of RE3 continuing the storyline a bit.

Another thing that gives this game a little more longevity is that decision system. Like I said early sometimes it can change the course of the game a bit and if you want to do some things differently than you did in the last game, give it a shot. You still have your speed runs that you can attempt in any RE game if you care enough but besides all this, this is one of the most fun installments of the series.

Resident Evil 3 really lives up to the word “sequel” much like how RE2 did. The gameplay improvements they've made really helped this game along as well and managed to prevent it from becoming stale. It's a shame that they've ditched the dodging system however; I thought it was a pretty cool and exciting mechanic. They've also since scrapped the ammo creation and the decision system and there has never since really been a boss like the Nemesis. All of these factors make RE3 one of the most distinguishable and unique games of the franchise, and of the survival horror genre.


Project Horror 2016
Project Horror saw one (1) horror review submitted every day through the month of October. This review was part of that effort.











zork86's avatar
Community review by zork86 (October 06, 2016)

Sometimes, Zork reviews something other than Resident Evil games. And when he does, he gets the hose again.

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