On September 22, 1999 I leave EB Games with Resident Evil 3 Nemesis for Playstation eagerly excited to get home and play it. The original Resident Evil 2 on Playstation cemented the Resident Evil series as a force to be reckon with. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis continued with Resident Evil 2’s success by giving the consumer exactly what they wanted plus more. It was the success of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis that gave it reason to be ported to the other consoles just like Resident Evil 2 and of course I got them all because of the replay value. Going into the Resident Evil 3 remake 21 years later in 2020 I had high expectations. Coming off the highly successful Resident Evil 2 remake I anticipated Capcom would remake it with the same results. Unfortunately, Resident Evil 3 turned out to be a short and unfulfilling remake that just could not live up to the original Resident Evil 3 Nemesis.
Resident Evil 3 is fast paced to a point where it is actually disappointing. The fast-paced nature of Resident Evil 3 led to drastically reduced locations from the original as well as just not being in the remake entirely. Jill’s apartment in the original was briefly in the intro but in the remake that is where the fast-paced action begins for Nemesis. It’s not necessarily bad that it is fast-paced in the beginning because it can actually be entertaining but the fact that Nemesis shows up right away detracts from the fear that built-up in the original prior to his first appearance at the police station.
Raccoon (small) City
The city walkthrough is disappointing because of how little exploration you can do compared to the original. Granted the city walkthrough has its moments with the visually appealing toy store and the diner but it wasn’t enough to save this short area. As Jill you do not explore the police station at all which is very disappointing. She is a member of STARS and Capcom should have left that part in the remake. Sure, Carlos gets to go to the police station but is that what we really wanted?
Since Resident Evil 3 takes place before Resident Evil 2 we can get the opportunity to explain some things in the police station like those holes in the walls or at least that’s what we were assuming. For some unknown reason there was a random detonator already placed in the shower room and Carlos just blows it up. So that’s why there was a hole there! I thought it was Nemesis! Nemesis must have broken through the wall on the third floor because surely they would have explained that in Resident Evil 3. Nope. Capcom forgot to explain that third floor hole in the wall. At least we saw Brad Vickers at the police station and how Marvin was wounded which was the only saving-grace of this police station walkthrough.
No Action Command Options
The original had one of the most interesting options in all of the Resident Evil games and that is choosing what to do in a situation. For example, when Nemesis first appeared at the police station in the original you had two options to select: to fight him or to flee into the police station. In another option command you can choose to either flee second form Nemesis or push him off a bridge. Of course, I chose to push him off the bridge because it was just the best option. Resident Evil 3 had no such action option commands at all.
The Nemesis
The second form of Nemesis in the original occurred when part of his outfit and body was badly burned resulting in his tentacles to protrude out more. Nemesis then used his tentacles to throw you around or stab you much more than before. In Resident Evil 3 he does use his tentacles in his original form with the added new move of him creating what I call Nemesis zombies by injecting them with his virus strain turning their heads into a kind of parasite-like creature with a long tentacle attached to it. What is actually disappointing was his second form in the remake. It’s essentially a giant licker that runs around trying to jump on you. It’s not menacing or intimidating just sad.
His second form shows up in front of the clock tower in the original and becomes much more menacing than what the remake did to him. Visually the Nemesis in his first form and second form do look great but it is in their lack of suspense overall which helped contribute to this lackluster remake. It was enjoyable to see Nemesis use a flamethrower but he hardly used his rocket launcher which was disappointing because it was one of his greatest features in the original which made him more suspenseful.
No clock tower but hey a hospital
The clock tower in the original was my personal favorite location and I was excited to explore it in the remake. It was amazing and it saved the game entirely! I’m just kidding. Capcom left out the clock tower walkthrough entirely. The building was in the remake but Capcom just got lazy and decided to leave it out. After the clock tower walkthrough in the original you explore the hospital and thankfully Capcom left the hospital in the remake. However, the hospital walkthrough was just okay. The hunters were actually challenging and brought some needed horror to the so-far lackluster walkthrough. Toward the end of the hospital you have to fight off an invasion of zombies. When you kill a zombie during this invasion they go down and just…evaporate? Capcom didn’t want to leave zombie corpses among the invading zombies so they had them mysteriously evaporate which completely ruins that moment.
No cemetery, no worm, no park
In the original you get to go to a park where you fight giant frogs. It’s scarier than you think. In the remake the giant frogs were moved into the sewers but were so easy to kill they just became sad to watch. In the original you go to a cemetery where you actually had zombies coming out of the graves. Then, you fight a giant worm which became the only other boss besides Nemesis. In the remake there was no cemetery, no park, no worm and no factory where you encounter the Chimeras. The Chimeras in Resident Evil 3 were reworked into the Drain Deimos and relocated to the power plant. The power plant and the Drain Deimos was suspenseful but again underwhelming.
Finale is a dud
Finally, the final walkthrough is another underground laboratory because why not? It wasn’t in the original so let’s just make up another generic laboratory. The Pale Head zombies in the laboratory were a nice addition to the remake bringing more needed suspense in this underwhelming laboratory. Nemesis’ second form makes an appearance here in some kind of gladiator-like arena that is just a disappointment compared to the more suspenful battle in the original. The final boss is Nemesis in his final form which is him just really big with pimples all over that you shoot to temporarily stun him which then allows you to recharge your giant gun to use to kill him once and for all. You board the helicopter after a brief encounter with Nikolai and then depart Raccoon City. Oh yeah, the city was nuked which was entirely underwhelming.
Overall, Resident Evil 3 is visually appealing but falls flat with a short storyline combined with the unfortunate reduction of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis to what essentially feels more like a DLC for the Resident Evil 2 remake.
2 out of 5 cats
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