Resident Evil 3: Nemesis Review

On behalf of all the critics reviewing Resident Evil 3, I apologize for all the references to COVID-19 that you’ll hear today. In our defense, can you blame us? With all of the discussions regarding healthcare, the coronavirus, and how we handle quarantines, it’s practically impossible to separate that from the game. When a game starts with the CDC quarantining the midwest of the United States, it’s difficult to not view the RE3 remake with our current anxieties.

I almost feel bad for Capcom, I don’t know how anyone would want to play in a zombie apocalypse during the month of April in the year of our lord 2020. Since a critic’s job is lonely by its nature, I can’t use social distance as an excuse. So let’s dive back into Racoon City, try to ignore the current pandemic, and figure out if the remake makes going back to Nemesis worth it.

Resident Evil 3 stars Jill Valentine during the Racoon City outbreak seen in Resident Evil 2. Besides the general displeasure of dealing with a zombie pandemic, she’s also facing something extra: a hulking bioweapon with a one track goal of killing every member of S.T.A.R.S. Forced in an unlikely partnership with a mercenary from the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service named Carlos, it’s going to be a lot harder to escape the city. It’s not the most unique narrative, there’s only so much you can do to a remake’s story. But it tells it with enough B-flick confidence that it won’t bore you.

The RE3make knows to not fix what isn’t broken, and gives us the same gameplay as Resident Evil 2’s remake. You’ve got your third person survival horror that juggles scarce resources with inventory management and puzzle solving. Hell, you could just reread the review we did on RE2 and you’ll have the gameplay loop downpat. If you liked the way the previous one played, here’s more of that. On top of that is the greater focus on Carlos Oliveira, who receives greater screentime here compared to the original. His sections are more action-y in comparison to Jill’s stuff, and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to the stricter ammo management she deals with.

A lot of hushed excitement was had over remaking the game’s titular antagonist: Nemesis. He’s big, brutal, and has a singular goal of taking you out. That should be terrifying, however, that’s not the case. The issue with Nemesis is one of linearity. You most frequently deal with him in set piece chase scenes or boss battles. Thus, it’s not as shocking to face him when the game has an autosave function. There will be times when he surprises you at the start, but his appearances are few and far between. That should, in theory, make his appearances more scary. Yet, all the moments that are panic-inducing are at the start and they peter away after that. This is especially true in regards to the game’s boss battles. Since Nemesis takes bullets like a champ, boss fights are drawn out even on the easiest setting. The one exception to this is the final battle against him. No spoilers here, but it was incredibly cathartic and a fitting end to the game.

A single playthrough can be rather short, around 5 hours on Assisted. This is a game made to be replayed to beat the game as efficiently as possible. Winning challenges, like never using the item box or finishing the game in under two hours, unlock points that can be used to buy extra goods like alternate costumes and extra inventory slots. This might only appeal to completionists, but it does give the campaign some extra buzz after you play through it once. For what it is, it’s a fun game with a couple of good gross-out scares. Just don’t expect anything grandiose.

Since the campaign is somewhat short, alongside the main campaign is a new multiplayer mode called Resident Evil: Resistance. The mode is asymmetrical, having four players play Survivors while one plays the Mastermind. Survivors are meant to escape an Umbrella faculty in the third person gameplay you’re accustomed to while the Mastermind does everything in their power to stop the group. This is done by watching the survivors through cameras on the map and using mobs and traps to slow them down. It’s a neat design, with the Mastermind having a voyeuristic approach that’s not as explored as it should be in asymmetric titles. Like every other multiplayer mode out there, you level up from completing games. This can then unlock new Masterminds and Survivor perks to try out new loadouts.

While it is definitely a unique multiplayer concept, it’s difficult to tell whether or not it will have enough of a community to fully realize it. This concern is heightened with the game’s RP system: a currency that allows players to unlock chests that can grant cosmetic rewards. While the RP or chests cannot be purchased with real money, RP boosters will have the option to purchase them outright. It might not be as predatory as other games, but the fact that the option is there is somewhat discomforting.

Performance & Graphics

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Minimum System Requirements:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

• OS: WINDOWS® 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4460 or AMD FX™-6300 or better

• Memory: 8 GB RAM

• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 760 or AMD Radeon™ R7 260x with 2GB Video RAM

• DirectX: Version 11

• Network: Broadband Internet connection

• Storage: 45 GB available space

Recommended System Requirements

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

• OS: WINDOWS® 10 (64-BIT Required)

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3770 or AMD FX™-9590 or better

• Memory: 8 GB RAM

• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon™ RX 480 with 3GB VRAM

• DirectX: Version 12

• Network: Broadband Internet connection

• Storage: 45 GB available space

Much like Resident Evil 2, RE3 looks wonderful. The amount of detail in the game is outstanding, and its updates to these beloved characters are designed well. Nemesis might not have been as scary as he could be, yet the amount of care put into his look is clear and brilliant. The latter transformations in the game prove that. This is also true with Jill. It might be a bit controversial to purists, but her new look is a lot more reasonable than the original tube top and miniskirt. The biggest glow up goes to Carlos’s redesign however, who looks a lot more distinct than his original counterpart. I won’t go as far as calling him “daddy”, but it’s close. But what matters more than Carlos’ hotness is the game’s optimization. Thanks to the game’s numerous graphical options, it ran very smoothly with minor graphical hiccups. Resistance had some issues with lag, but that can be easily explained by poor internet instead of the game. If you could run RE2, you’ll run RE3 with no problem.