Welcome to a new edition of Retro Corner and I have another PS1 classic review with Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. If you didn’t know RE3 was one of my first PS1 titles along with Star Wars Episode I. Yes, Star Wars Episode I unfortunately was a game among my gifts on Christmas in 1999. I was better off receiving a lump of coal instead of that trash for Christmas. I remember when the game came out before the holiday and I watched my stepfather's younger cousins play it in their basement. At the time, the PS1 and the N64 got priced at $129.99 which is the sweet spot right next to $99.99 for any console. Resident Evil 3 released around the Fall of 1999 and showcased better graphics and gameplay with more improvements. It would also be ported to the other consoles in the following years such as the Dreamcast and the GameCube. In the third installment it is about Jill Valentine from the first game who tries to escape Raccoon City from the T-Virus outbreak. As Jill tries to escape, she would have a huge problem and that's dealing with Umbrella's Super Bio-weapon called Nemesis. Gameplay Out of all the PS1 Resident Evil titles, RE3 is the best one of the three thanks to its flexible gameplay. Moving around never felt so fluent as its obvious Capcom worked on the analog sticks for this game. The problem with RE1 and RE2’s dual shock editions is how the analogs sticks made the characters move loosely. They finally fixed the controls as Jill and Carlos don’t move in a cumbersome way. They didn’t stop there as the player can enable a 180-degree turn without having to resort to turning around manual. Probably the best feature is the dodge mechanics as you can invade the enemies including the bosses. There were many times this saved my ass from the stronger enemies especially from Nemesis’ one hit kill tentacle palm of death. It’s too bad these mechanics wouldn’t see improvements or featured again until RE4. We all know that RE4 is when Capcom took this concept further and expanded on it. The weapon selection has enough variety to go around and gives the players many options to choose from. Yes, RE2 had things like the Machine Gun, Flame Thrower and Electric shooter. However, RE3 had many ways to use the guns besides having options to pick from. My favorites are the STI Eagle handgun and the Custom Western Shotgun because of their swift firing. If those weapons won’t do it for you then switching to more traditional weapons like the shotgun and grenade launcher are still your options. That is what I always liked about Jill and she is the most versatile character next to Ada. You can wield multiple types of guns without being handicapped to certain weapons as seen from Claire. As mentioned, having opening areas often through the level design made it feel less like I was going through corridors. The large areas also made it feel like you were exploring a small town in a believable fashion. The puzzles actually require you to solve them by thinking and Clock Tower puzzles were evident of that as seen in the second image. The level design is once again the best of the three as it spans the town of Raccoon City. That’s something Capcom dropped the ball on in RE2 as there’s only one tiny section to the city. While the rest of the game took place in the RPD, the sewers and Umbrella’s lab. Even though the areas are still closed in, but they did a good job masking this with larger open places. The player still needs to find items or solve a puzzle and exchange them in specific spots to progress. There’s another big improvement over the last two entries and the studio improved the puzzles’ difficulty. No longer are you just pushing objects into obvious spots, but the player now must figure out how to solve them. I only came across one puzzle from the chemical factory that seemed impossible to solve. However, the puzzles from the fountain park, the electric plant and the Clock Tower were at the perfect difficulty. There is an exclusive feature to the challenges, and these are the live events that has you choose an option. Depending on what the player picks during these events can affect their play through later. Take Jill and Carlos arriving at the Clock Tower and just as the train is going to derail you choose between jumping out the window or hitting the breaks. If you picked enable the breaks on the train the battle with Nemesis later will be easier as he will get injured with no weapon. Now, if the player picked the other option than Nemesis will have his rocket launcher without being injured. The concept had the right idea as this played to the game being horror, but I can see why they never used it again. RE3's enemies had more variety to thanks to mutants like the Brain Suckers as seen in the first image. Yes, RE2 had the Lickers and the plant mutants but the difference is RE3 had these other enemies appear often and added to the challenge of their areas. Now Nemesis needs no introduction as he provided an extra layer of challenge compared to Mr. X and William. The point of his character is to always keep you guessing when he will appear when you least expect it. RE3 has the most variety of enemies the entire PS1 series had as Capcom added new mutants to the mix. There is your classic Zombies, Cerberuses, giant spiders’ and Hunters (that makes a return). However, with mutants like the Brain Suckers, Drain Deimos and Hunter Gammas adds variety that the last games failed to do. The bosses have similar challenges as Nemesis acts like the William and Mr. X of this game. The difference is Nemesis is faster and has a one hit kill along with a rocket launcher on hand. My only complaint comes from there not being a second scenario that we grew accustomed to from the last entries. I can’t understand why they didn’t program Carlos as the second scenario especially when he’s playable in one part. I doubt the RE2's N64 port or Dino Crisis's development were the reasons. They can’t sit there and tell me that Carlos isn’t a good choice for his own play through—Capcom has no good excuse as they made having two scenarios a standard for this genre. Rating: 9.0/10 Graphics/Presentation As developers work on a console through its life cycle, they also learn to improve the visuals further. RE3 does that in spades, and it’s among the best-looking games on the PS1 next to Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. That is why I like later released games on these consoles and they always showcase the true potential the system can put out. The environments got taken further especially through the town as it depicts a zombie apocalypse on a city scale—That is what RE2 should’ve been and you literally adventure through this small town as Jill gets to an extraction point. From crashed cars and people bodies strewn about to ruined structures Capcom nailed these designs perfectly. Even the RPD building gets explored again, and I love how they explained what happened after Leon and Clair left. The reports left from previous survivors explain why everything seems inaccessible except for some areas. My favorite part is the Clock Tower as it reminds me so much of the Spencer Manor especially its decor. Now, I saw no differences with the animation sequences between RE2 and RE3 except for adding dodging movements. Capcom has really modified the engine to make such effects possible which is common for developers to do. Nintendo did the same thing with Zelda: Majora’s Mask and took the Mario 64 engine beyond its capabilities. Even though the RPD getting a revisit for us was short this time but I still found it fun to see this area appear for the second time. If only Capcom didn't cut off half the building then they could've explored this a little about what happened after Leon and Clair left. Now, the second image of the Clock Tower's main hall obviously took inspiration from the Spencer Manor in many ways. Its the best area of the game bar none as even the other rooms are very reminiscent of the Spencer Manor. So far RE3 has better character model design as they really look smoothed out. None of them come off as having a polygonic appearance and as mentioned have a smooth look to them. Honestly, the only gripe I have is how Nemesis looks a lot smaller with his in-game model. Yet, in the CGI, Nemesis appears like he's almost eight feet tall when his in-game model makes him stand at six feet and five inches. The soundtrack sounded better this time and most of the tracks don’t have forced scary tones placed on them. Capcom were always good at producing soundtracks for these themes as even Demon’s Crest had a fantastic OST. The tracks such as City of Ruin and the City without Hope added how bad things have gotten for the town. Then we have the action-based music of The Doom City and Hellish Agony that provided the feeling of determination. Of course, I can't forget the songs that featured uncertainty as seen when Jill meets Brad Vickers or the Mercenaries. Even the Option Menu got its own song and it perfectly fits the theme of the game despite never playing in any scene. While the RPD building gets featured with those same songs from the previous title. Even Nemesis’ themes sounded creepy and none of them felt forced like when running into Mr.X. Its like when this played you knew Nemesis was coming for you off screen. The next track is the one that scared us the most and it’s called Feel the Tension. Its plays when entering the save room and he's outside or when entering a new area but he is still near. That's the beauty of this song and it makes one think I’m safe for now but as soon as I step outside, he will be waiting. The only issues that haven’t aged well, are the CGI cut scenes and the pre-rendered backgrounds. The CGI wasn’t as good compared to Final Fantasy VIII or IX but RE3 still tried to follow these standards. Yes, the characters in cheap 90s CGI looks fungi and downright bland even when surpassing its predecessor. Of course, for pre-rendered backgrounds, there is no way for me to spin this as any time these techniques are ever used makes the aging process so much worse. Rating: 8.4/10 Story The theme of Umbrella’s corrupt and the destruction they have caused as a result of their experimenting continues. However, what makes RE3 stand out from all four titles on PS1 is its continuation from a different point of view. Even though the backstory doesn’t get explained further like in RE2 however, the plot does a great job closing the Spencer Manor and Raccoon City saga. In a sense the story felt like it continued from RE1 since it involved Jill, the one who started in this mess. Jill’s personality came off stronger more than her role in RE1 and she is more determine. Both her military experience in STARS and from the Spencer Manor really strengthened her as a character. It made her situation of survival believable compared to Claire who seems to have gotten out because the story made that happen. Using Nemesis felt different from Mr. X as the previous tyrant got originally sent by Umbrella to retrieve the G-Virus. Now, Nemesis’ sole purpose was to kill the remaining STARS members because of the fact they investigated Umbrella further. I like how the plot continued in RE3 when in the previous story Chris highlights that in his dairy. Sending Nemesis to Raccoon City to kill the remaining STARS unit was Umbrella’s way of getting revenge and stopping their investigation. Jill's interaction with Nikolai and Carlos were better here compared to RE1 and the decent voice acting helped. Jill really took charge of the situation and has come a long way since her experience from the Spencer Manor. In the second image, Jill smacks some sense back into Carlos who thought it was hopeless to consider escaping when the former STARS member wasn't going let him slip. Throughout the plot Jill runs into the remaining mercenaries hired by Umbrella to try to control the viral outbreak. They include Carlos Oliveira, Mikhail Viktor and Nikolai Zinoviev who become the last of mercenaries. Each one did a good job filling in their roles especially Carlos who had a laid-back attitude but had enough experience to take charge of the situation. I did find it amusing how he attempts to flirt with Jill when they first meet however, that changes the more Carlos works with her. Of course, nothing romantic happens between them like it was with Leon and Ada. The best moment is when Jill slaps him in the Clock Tower to set him straight (the second image above) about what they must do to survive. Another one is when he tries to save Jill by retrieving a serum to cure her T-Virus infection from a Umbrella owned hospital. There isn’t much I could say about Mikhail as his personality is someone who hates sitting back when things continued to go wrong. Mikhail eventually sacrifices himself during a cut scene as he was willing to die a warrior’s death. Then we have Nikolai who acts firm and at times without any apathy except for making sure his missions are a success. He acts as a secondary villain with betraying his own men and abandoning them. Once again, I found him more interesting then Brian Irons or William since it’s revealed he is a Supervisor from Umbrella. It turns out Nikolai is one of the Supervisors who were ordered to oversee the mission to control the outbreak in the city. The fact he was more than willing to kill the other Supervisors—if this meant a bigger pay day—as seen in the hospital showed how calculative his actions came off. For any of the small things, I'll start with Dario the man Jill encounters at the start of the game. What was the point of him being there? So, Dario can play the role of the victim and die? He was also a far cry from Sherry and Ben in RE2 who seemed more interesting they he could compare. Now, we move to the Epilogues that reveals what happened to the characters after the Raccoon City Saga. These backstory elements really added to the closing of this trilogy because it tells us the story isn’t over yet. The Epilogues from Leon, Sherry, Claire, Barry and Chris set the events for Code Veronica and the next series of title. The other Epilogues from Jill and Ada were just downright vague as none of them didn't tell us if both took place before RE2 or after RE3. Rating: 8.5/10 Features/Content With every entry from Capcom, it's usually packed with content to play around with. It’s too bad RE3 is a little lite on the content and nothing compared to the stuff RE2 had like Extreme Battle. There is still enough features to play with including two difficulties and a battle mode to unlock. The difficulty feels about the same as in RE2 with the difference being stronger enemies replace the weaker ones. The thing I love about any play through is how the game changes the locations of some of the items. Those life Events can change these as well giving you multiple chances of finding those items in different locations. It's no wonder why there is no arrange mode since they choose to design a randomizer that's already programmed in the gameplay. Of course, there are extra costumes you get after completing the game and some are downright funny. I couldn’t imagine Jill wearing a woman’s police uniform with a dress skirt and heels—there is even a disco outfit in white including platform heel boots. Now, the best one is Ragina’s outfit from Dino Crisis as you got to love the crossover promotional stuff they add from the other titles. If you don’t know what Dino Crisis is, it’s a survivor horror title just like Resident Evil. However, the difference is instead of zombies and mutants the player faces off with dinosaurs brought back in a Jurassic Park manner. I found these challenges to get the costume much fairer compared to the previous entries—For once I don’t need to rush through the intro part and not pick anything up to retrieve the Boutique Key. The biggest feature is obviously The Mercenaries, a battle mode that has you play as Carlos, Mikhail and Nikolai. Just like Extreme Battle in RE2, each one has their own weapon choices. They also represented the difficulty of reaching the end with Mikhail being easy; Carlos being medium, and Nikolai was a hard setting. The goal is to reach the area Jill starts at within the warehouse and the player must overcome many enemies with multiple Nemesis' in both forms. As you keep killing enemies more time gets added and depending on who the player picks will determine the difficulty of keeping the timer high. The only thing good that comes from completing this mode is letting the player unlock powerful weapons like the Rocket Launcher for the main game. My biggest issue with this mode is how it’s a far cry from Extreme Battle. To this day, Extreme Battle is the best mode Capcom has ever made for the series. The fact the Mercenaries became the standard to use in later installments is really aggravating. I would rather have a sub adventure mode then be timed in a small area with the objective is to kill many enemies. I also hated how this studio made the Epilogues unlockable and why do we need to complete the game on hard mode eight times? They should’ve designed this by unlocking two instead of one because who has time to play the same game again. RE3 might have plenty of stuff to have fun with but it’s nothing compared to RE2's content. Rating: 8.1/10 Final Rating The third installment was a great way to close the trilogy and hits everything on a high note. The gameplay felt smooth to control and its where modern Resident Evil mechanics got its start from. To do 180 degree turns along with dodge mechanics really improved the gameplay in almost every category. The level design felt more opened and freshened out thanks to the large areas and a new set of enemies next to the established cast. The puzzles saw an improvement as instead of being obvious these had you use your head to figure them out. The graphics were the best the trilogy had to offer with smooth models, fluent animation and overall better presentation. Capcom even took the presentation a step further by having better voice overs and a great soundtrack to boot. The only downside is the pre-rendered backgrounds and CGI looks cheap today and hasn’t aged well. The story as mentioned continues mostly from RE1 as Jill tries to overcome many obstacles while dealing with a super zombie. Nothing from the backstory gets explained as we already learn those details from the last stories that showed how everything came to together. It was more of a closing for the STARS team as this eventually leads to conflicts in the next trilogy. RE3’s content didn’t share the same number of interesting features as its predecessor. There are no cheats, a second scenario or even an adventure style battle mode. The Mercenaries, the Epilogues and the extra costumes are fun features, but it's not even close to the enjoyment of RE2. Gameplay: 9.0/10 Graphics/Presentation: 8.4/10 Story: 8.5/10 Features/Content: 8.1/10 Final Rating: 8.5/10 Great
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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