resident evil 3 remake + resident evil resistance
developer: capcom
genre: survival horror
multiplayer/co-op: no
release date: april 3rd, 2020
price: $46.79 (pre-order)
msrp: $59.99
platforms: pc, playstation, xbox
reviewed on: pc
- visual: 9/10
- audio: 7/10
- gameplay: 9/10
- narrative: 8/10
- challenge: 9/10
- replayability: 7/10
- value: 7/10
- personal grade: 8/10
total score: 8/10
buy at full price, sale, never: sale
hours spent on the game: 40 hours
platinumed? yes
To preface this review: I never played the original game (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis) released in 1999 for the Playstation. As such, I played this game for what it is as a standalone, not in comparison to what it was back in 1999 nor to the Resident Evil 2 Remake from 2019.
The Resident Evil franchise is known to have coined the genre “survival horror”, which is known for its maze-like maps, puzzles, inventory management, and ominous ambience. Players are crippled through limited ammunition, health, or speed to add to the players lack of control. However, the game does introduce some new gameplay elements, perhaps inspired from games of the Dark Souls genre, such as performing perfect dodges that reward players with a window to counter attack.
The narrative of the game ties in with those of the rest of the games in the franchise and fits the classic zombie movie trope. Raccoon City is infected by the outbreak of the T-virus, which turns everyone into zombies. You switch between playing as one of the two main protagonists of the game – Jill Valentine, who is part of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (STARS) and Carlos Oliveira, who is part of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (UBCS) – as they try to survive and find the vaccine for the virus. You aim to defeat the pharmaceutical conglomerate Umbrella, who is responsible for creating and releasing the virus. At the beginning of the game, you are immediately thrown into action as you are pursued by the biological weapon of which this game is known for: Nemesis.
Character development is also very well executed. Jill is put in imminent danger and beaten down so many times, a sign that despite being the main character, she is still human. Carlos flirts with Jill quite a handful of times and shows that he actually cares for her. Carlos’ comments on how weird the doors are in the subway station and mentioning how our tax dollars are used to pay for art further pushes the idea that our main protagonists are human just like us.
The thing that I immediately noticed was how visually stunning the graphics were. The game provides no shortage of scenes that make you feel like you are watching a movie rather than playing a game. One thing I really respect and appreciate is Capcom’s attention to detail. You can zoom in on a wall and observe its textures or focus in on a book and read the text legibly. I noticed that they put more care into every character’s expressions. There are also many scripts and books scattered throughout the game that you can read to gain further information on the lore.
To cater to players of all demographics, new players and veterans alike, the game offers five modes: Assisted, Standard, Hardcore, Nightmare, and Inferno. On Assisted mode, you get an extra assault rifle with auto aim and health regeneration. You will only unlock Nightmare mode after you beat Hardcore mode and Inferno mode after you beat Nightmare mode. In Inferno mode, everything is altered. All the enemy and item location from previous modes will be changed, so you cannot depend on clearing it off memorization of past playthroughs. There are less save points, no auto checkpoints, less ammo/healing items, and you will die after 1-2 hits from enemies. This emphasizes the need to learn how to perfect dodge. These five different modes greatly increase replayability. Resident Evil games were never “long” games to begin with, as players are encouraged to speed run through playthroughs, learning which items are essential and which routes are optimal.
This game is hard, but fair, and I appreciate that. There will be times in the game where you forgot to pick up an item, exhausted too many bullets, or were low on healing items. There will always be enough ammunition and healing items scattered throughout a boss arena to progress you through the game. It is Capcom’s attention to these gameplay details that have drawn me to play more of them!
Albeit a “short” game with a single playthrough of around 5 hours, this game gave me around 40 total hours worth of play, including the time it took to complete the hardest difficulty with S rank and to achieve a Platinum trophy for the game. After your initial playthrough, you will unlock an item shop in which you can complete challenges to unlock points for purchasing additional in-game items, such as an Infinite Ammo Rocket Launcher. With the introduction of these gameplay elements, this promotes more replayability and flexibility to different play styles and strategies.
Now for a few gripes that I do have with the game. Although the Resident Evil series is meant to be replayed as well as speed run, the replayability aspect does get dry very fast. With each subsequent playthrough, the game definitely gets less and less exciting and fun as you mostly know what to expect and do. Unless you are a hardcore gamer trying to achieve a record-speed run time, you would probably cease to play through this game after two or three runs. The boss fights in this game are also somewhat underwhelming, with very scripted and expected appearances, which takes away from the survival horror aspect of the game. The price for this game on release, $60 msrp, is also a very steep price for the amount of content you get, even though you do get the online multiplayer game: Resident Evil Resistance included as well. At the end of the day, I still had a lot of fun playing this game and am looking forward to the next game in the series :D!