Resident Evil 3: Nemesis — The Last Escape

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was a game I
left unfinished back in the day, for quite a few reasons. It was released
during the transitional period between consoles, mere months after the
Dreamcast released in America. It was also perhaps the first signal that the infamous
Capcom
Sequel Stagnation was beginning to set in for the franchise, as this was
one of two mainline games being developed in tandem — that other one being Resident Evil Code: Veronica for
Dreamcast. And to think, there were almost three! Keep in mind Devil
May Cry was originally being developed as an RE game.

 

But I
figured this was a good time to try the game again. Resident Evil has pretty
much transformed from being a survival/horror franchise to one focusing on
survival/action, so it’s nice to take a look back and see the foundations the
old games were built upon. These had much less of a focus on action and more on
adventure and exploration, even though each sequel in the franchise gave
characters more and more ammo to mow down zombies and other creatures. There
are also plenty of gameplay design decisions the development teams behind the
newer games could learn from this.

Yeah, this game sure isn’t a looker these days.

Fans of
Capcom were well aware of the company’s tendency for releasing retreads, and
were skeptical that RE3 could fit that description; and that’s very easy to
conclude from the way it starts. Its beginning hours are awfully similar to Resident Evil 2’s. Both games start you
off right in the middle of the action, with a zombie crisis breaking out in
Raccoon City. Immediately after the prologue, there’s a mad dash for any place
that’s free of a morass of zombies, though you’ll encounter some non-infected
humans along the way. Additionally, the first fairly large indoor place you’ll
explore is the Raccoon City Police Department, which is also the first location
you explore in RE2. Way to reuse those assets, guys.

 

Unlike RE2,
though, you don’t spend anywhere near as much time at the department. No, RE3
quickly diversifies itself from its predecessor and has you running around
various aspects of a dilapidated Raccoon City, looking for a way to escape the
chaos. The designers actually did a fantastic job of designing the city, giving
the illusion of freedom despite it being a mostly-linear experience. Some parts
of the game require backtracking to other locations to retrieve items or access
places you couldn’t before, but it’s designed well enough that it rarely gets
grating — mainly if you know how to manage your inventory well. If the demos
are a good indication, and a quick glance at reviews from both professionals
and general players suggests it is, this is something Resident Evil 6 does very wrong. Among other things.

 

RE3’s story
takes place both 24 hours before and after RE2’s. Though the first two games
introduced new characters, Jill Valentine returns as the star for this one.
(Fun fact: not a single game after the first two titles has starred a new
character. Newly-introduced characters only star as accomplices.) Though she’s
still a member of S.T.A.R.S. (for those of you just joining us, that’s Special
Tactics and Rescue Service), she’s ditched the battle uniform from the first
game for…a tube top, a short leather skirt, and boots with heels. She sure is
dressed for the occasion! The heels might
have made sense if there was a mechanic to stomp enemies, but there isn’t. That
didn’t come in until Resident
Evil 5, in fact.

Seriously! This is all she had to wear.

The
environmental designers placed a lot of emphasis on making the locations moody
and atmospheric, to convey that you’re in places where anything can creep out
at any time. The game does rely on a few jump scares to get you a little
trigger happy, but you’ll get used to it very quickly — especially if you’ve
played the previous games. The zombies aren’t too much of a threat when you’ve
figured out how to mow them down easily, or how to dodge them. This is the game
that added a dodge mechanic, that allows Jill (or whoever you’re playing) to
quickly dodge an incoming attack right before it lands. It’s easy enough to do
with zombies, but harder with faster enemies like dogs. But you’ll adjust to
it.

 

Just like
you’ll adjust to the game’s tank controls. I never liked these when I was
younger, but it wasn’t until I’d aged that I understood why the decision to use
them was made. They actually fit within the context of the game. With the RE
games fitting within the survival/horror genre, they’re adventure games in a
way. And you’ll really get this feeling when you rummage through thrashed
buildings and offices looking for information from diaries and reports about
how this disaster started. This isn’t an action game, and it’s mechanically
adjusted like this to give the player this knowledge immediately. The “hindrance”
is a natural addition.

“S.T.A.R.S.!”

But this
game’s real challenge comes in this
game’s title character: Nemesis. Here we have a creature hell bent on chasing
S.T.A.R.S. members, precisely what Jill just so happens to be. And that “chasing”
should be taken literally in the game’s context, meaning if you run to the next
room, he’ll come barging through the door. Needless to say, this guy is the real reason why the dodge mechanic was
implemented. You can either keep running until he gives up chasing you, or do
your best to kill him — the latter of which requires pumping a lot of bullets into him, and you’re
probably going to need more than a pistol.  Whether he drops anything depends on what
difficulty you have the game set on.

 

Speaking of
that, though the difficulties never get too imbalanced during the game, the
initial choices certainly are. There are only two upon booting the game up for
the first time, Easy and Hard. A Normal difficulty, for some reason, is MIA.
Playing on Hard will give you one of the most challenging RE games around, and
you probably won’t have enough ammo to mow everything down, especially when you
only start off with a pistol. On Easy? Well, the game starts you off with an assault
rifle and a plethora of ammo, along with three First Aid canisters to
completely restore your health. And once you get to your inventory, you’ll find
a shotgun and a magnum, both with plenty of ammo. That’s enough to get by
through at least half the game! But
there really needed to be a middle ground between these two difficulties.

Well, given the fire, maybe she is dressed for the occasion.

The majority
of RE3’s music is there to provide atmosphere, but that doesn’t mean many
tracks aren’t melodic. The soundtrack actually strikes a good balance between
being an authentic video game soundtrack and an ambient one, something a lot of
games get wrong these days. The voice acting isn’t as bad as you’d expect from
a late-90s game. Jill is voiced by Catherine Disher, who was also the voice of
Jean Grey in the early-to-mid 90s X-Men
cartoon. This is immediately recognizable, because she’s using the same tone of
voice.

 

I’m glad I
decided to replay RE3 after dropping it years ago, after enjoying it so much
this time. Though it’s short (it took me a tad over eight hours), it’s worth
revisiting for the feeling of nostalgia it emanates; something mainly due to
the industry’s disturbing trend towards homogeneity these days. Just don’t let
the game’s early, sequelitis-esque elements deceive you.