Resident Evil 3 Review Thread
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I think RE3 Remake keeps with the spirit of the original game but isn't really a faithful remake like RE2R was. It's also a very guided, straightfoward ordeal that trades exploration and tense encounters with dramatic setpieces and a scripted Nemesis. The production values also seem slightly less from environmental and lighting detail to the zombies to even the lyp synching being off. The cinematics are very good though. I still think the design of Nemesis is fucking awesome but it's second form loses the ominous presence and the boss fight also feels like it came straight from RE6. I did however enjoy the story and characters more than I thought I would. I would put RE3 Remake more in a league of a title like RE Revelations than the brilliant RE2 Remake.
I must say I did enjoy every minute of it though and that is mostly b/c of it's pacing that has zero padding or tedious busywork. The game starts and never loses steam. Even if the zombies aren't as detailed as in RE2R the particle effects and sheer number on screen this time makes this one of the most fun action games I've played in a long time. I would love to see Code Veronica next or RE4 in the RE engine *drool*
I must say I did enjoy every minute of it though and that is mostly b/c of it's pacing that has zero padding or tedious busywork. The game starts and never loses steam. Even if the zombies aren't as detailed as in RE2R the particle effects and sheer number on screen this time makes this one of the most fun action games I've played in a long time. I would love to see Code Veronica next or RE4 in the RE engine *drool*
3Remake does gives us better characterization for Jill, Carlos, and the other UBCS mercs. So that is definitely a plus. I admit, some sections could have been a little longer, but overall, the game is great. The game has a more consistent dodge compared to the original. Though it can be iffy, even if you know what your doing. I know that if dodge from the side of zombies, you will almost always get a perfect/counter dodge.Hawki said:
The Hospital I found creepy as fuck. Especially with the Hunter Betas running around. The only thing I hate abouth them are the stupid, one hit kills. They got me once with Carlos. NEST 2, the beginning anyway, was kinda creepy. It sucks, the dead factory got removed, but the finale more than makes up for it.
I disagree. There still plenty of horror. The hospital freaked me out. The original and remake had the right amount of action-horror.dscross said:
Yeah, the hospital was terrific. The diary entries about a mysterious illness and supplies running out also really set the tone. The realistic graphics and better story also made the remake a lot meaner.CoCage said:
I also loved how in one of the diary entries in Nest 2 they appear to link Nemesis to RE4. Speaking of diaries those haven't been as good since ''itchy, scratchy'' RE1 Remake. They really helped make the environments more sinister.
That's a tiny bit of the game. I would have much preferred they kept the uptown and downtown areas tweaked in the same way they kept the police station in re2 so you could get to know the area and do some backtracking. Then clock tower with the hospital and park. They were much better survival horror locations. You could have STILL had the new hospital! They could have easily made this longer.CoCage said:
Can't comment on RE6, but am I the only one who saw Nemy's second form and was reminded of the xenomorph?stroopwafel said:
Or...make a new game? Or how about remaking something like Survivour or Dead Aim? Convert them into the new game format and polish them up.
That aside, Capcom would probably get diminishing returns from remaking post-3 mainline games. The graphics haven't aged as much for one thing, and RE4 was the one who pioneered the over-the-shoulder system in the first place.
Eh...maybe?CoCage said:
You can see earlier on in the thread how I feel about the changes.
That's itchy, tasty.stroopwafel said:
Peh, some fan you are.
But on the flipside, are we really holding that diary entry up as an example of stellar writing? The thing became a meme, and probably not for the reasons the writers intended.
Maybe that's true, but I was never among them. I played RE1 not too long after it came out, and even as a kid, I found it humorous. I remember a friend of mine imitating the "itchy, tasty" thing as a joke, and I joined in.CoCage said:
It's not that the game couldn't write impactful files. There's the Researcher's Will file, and in the remake, the writings of George and Lisa Trevor. These files were far more impactful (to me) than the itchy, tasty one.
Note how I said RE1, and not Remake. Remake has great ones too, but itchy, tasty eclipses them (for most people).Hawki said:
This is a big problem with the game; areas feel very small and over in a sneeze. Resident Evil 4 is way more of an action game than RE3 Remake, but it still made you feel its locations through length and partial backtracking. When you say goodbye to the village section in that game you really feel like you've been there for an appropriate length of time.dscross said:
Original RE3 already had issues with the streets being too cramped and sectioned off to truly feel like a city, and with RE3 Remake Capcom had the benefit of current technology to really expand on this. Not make it open-world, but give it a larger breath so it doesn't feel like the city is comprised of just 5 or 6 streets boarded off by rubble. But instead Raccoon City in RE3 Remake is relagated pretty much to just the promenade from the demo. And I'm not counting all the scripted sequences or that short walk to the second Boss fight.
Jill, Carlos, and Nicholai were terrific here, but they really deserved a better game.
I think the games have pros and cons in this. The original had a wider area, but most of the streets were narrow. You can make the argument that Jill is sticking to side streets, and there's clearly some streets wide enough for two lanes, but the width is compressed. In contrast, what we do see of the streets in the remake feel more in keeping with a city, but we just don't see enough of them.Casual Shinji said:
So, been playing some more.
Let me say at this point - screw Resistance. It's some unholy union of Umbrella Corps (where undead literally spawn out of the ground), and Outbreak (group of survivours). Only it has less story than Umbrella Corps (and saying that had a story is like saying there's a pebble in dirt - mostly academic to the feeling of dirt), and the maps aren't large enough or dynamic enough to get close to Outbreak. And it doesn't help that the connections are terrible, with regular lag. I've seen it suggested that Resistance was bundled in with RE3 to help sell the game (RE3), but I'm beginning to think it's because Capcom realized that Resistance could never succeed on its own. I'll give you a ranking once I'm done with RE3, but right now, it's lurking in the territory of Umbrella Corps.
On the other hand, RE3 itself continues to impress. I've made it through the hospital up to the point where I've retaken control of Jill (a pointless dream sequence aside), and it's kind of like a pick your poison thing. Like, we've lost the clock tower, but got a better hopsital setup, so go figure. Better in the sense that it's more creepy than the original, and the Hunter Betas. Y'know, those things that you beat in the original by standing and shooting, while now can take a full clip and not blink, and dodge shots, and will still swipe their claws if you use a flash grenade? THOSE THINGS?!
Also, minor point, but the emergency broadcast thing? It's not really a plot hole, but I have to question some of the rationale behind it. Government declares that they can't contain the infection, so they tell anyone still in the city to get out...possibly further spreading the infection...that you said you can't contain...um, okay...
Oh, and if the team ever implements the mercenaries mode, make Tyrell playable. He's gone from a character in one scene in the original to a guy who can fight his way across the city to link up with Carlos. And that was after Carlos apparently did the same thing. Train cars? Peh, who needs them?
Let me say at this point - screw Resistance. It's some unholy union of Umbrella Corps (where undead literally spawn out of the ground), and Outbreak (group of survivours). Only it has less story than Umbrella Corps (and saying that had a story is like saying there's a pebble in dirt - mostly academic to the feeling of dirt), and the maps aren't large enough or dynamic enough to get close to Outbreak. And it doesn't help that the connections are terrible, with regular lag. I've seen it suggested that Resistance was bundled in with RE3 to help sell the game (RE3), but I'm beginning to think it's because Capcom realized that Resistance could never succeed on its own. I'll give you a ranking once I'm done with RE3, but right now, it's lurking in the territory of Umbrella Corps.
On the other hand, RE3 itself continues to impress. I've made it through the hospital up to the point where I've retaken control of Jill (a pointless dream sequence aside), and it's kind of like a pick your poison thing. Like, we've lost the clock tower, but got a better hopsital setup, so go figure. Better in the sense that it's more creepy than the original, and the Hunter Betas. Y'know, those things that you beat in the original by standing and shooting, while now can take a full clip and not blink, and dodge shots, and will still swipe their claws if you use a flash grenade? THOSE THINGS?!
Also, minor point, but the emergency broadcast thing? It's not really a plot hole, but I have to question some of the rationale behind it. Government declares that they can't contain the infection, so they tell anyone still in the city to get out...possibly further spreading the infection...that you said you can't contain...um, okay...
Oh, and if the team ever implements the mercenaries mode, make Tyrell playable. He's gone from a character in one scene in the original to a guy who can fight his way across the city to link up with Carlos. And that was after Carlos apparently did the same thing. Train cars? Peh, who needs them?
Finished it today. took me a hair under 10 hours to complete on hardcore, cutscenes included... but it *cannot* be understated what a slow, methodical player I am, so a normal person would likely get it done a couple hours faster than I did. Concerns about its length are justified, and I don't fault anyone who waits on a sale for that reason alone, but if you're a fan of the franchise I can safely recommend this.
I loved the game, basically felt like more of RE2, and since RE2 was basically a drug for me last year, that's all I could have asked for. I did notice some things that were changed for the worse, though, which I'll highlight below:
-This likely is an issue only for me and people like me, since the game is likely designed with more powerful machines like PC, or the PS4pro, to run, but on my vanilla PS4, when zombies are at a distance, there's some weird texture over them that causes them to blur a bit. One let's player put it best with "They kinda look like GIFs from 90s websites". The issue is only in zombies at a wide distance though.
-zombies have strictly set patrol zones they reside in, and have a set "default" point they return to when you leave that set patrol zone. This makes them very easy to cheese by finding the boundary of their patrol zone, stepping into range and attacking them, waiting for them to get close, then stepping out so they turn around and return to their default point, at which point you can get free shots at their back with minimal risk.
-Jill's knife animation isn't as useful as the RE2 gangs, or Carlos', since she stabs straight forward and randomly jukes backward when you touch the analogue stick while attacking, which can give zombies extra seconds to stand up again if you do it by accident while trying to permakill a downed enemy.
There were also a few adjustments I liked, though. namely:
- Zombies can double-lunge now, likely to make the dodge mechanic marginally less broken as a defense. If you don't realize they can do this, it's easy to overestimate their reach, so it helps to keep you on your toes.
- They can also lunge while rising and quick-turn if you're close to them, now. This erases one of the cheese strategies of RE2 where you just knife the crap out of them while they're prone. That's still the best way to permakill them, of course, but now you have to be mindful of where you are in relation to them before you get stabby.
Overall I had a blast, and recommend it to anyone who can get past the pricepoint-to-length ratio. It's not quite as good or as polished as RE2, but it's still very good. The changes to the story were mostly for the better... especially with Carlos, who became my favorite thing about this game... and given how... tolerable I found him in the original, that's no small praise. I love how he and Jill contrast each other. Jill was done with this shit yesterday, and just wants to get this over with and take a shower, where Carlos is more chill and jovial.
Tyrell was fun, too. It's nice to have a character who notices how weird everyone else in a narrative is. I only wish Nicholai had more time to develop.
I loved the game, basically felt like more of RE2, and since RE2 was basically a drug for me last year, that's all I could have asked for. I did notice some things that were changed for the worse, though, which I'll highlight below:
-This likely is an issue only for me and people like me, since the game is likely designed with more powerful machines like PC, or the PS4pro, to run, but on my vanilla PS4, when zombies are at a distance, there's some weird texture over them that causes them to blur a bit. One let's player put it best with "They kinda look like GIFs from 90s websites". The issue is only in zombies at a wide distance though.
-zombies have strictly set patrol zones they reside in, and have a set "default" point they return to when you leave that set patrol zone. This makes them very easy to cheese by finding the boundary of their patrol zone, stepping into range and attacking them, waiting for them to get close, then stepping out so they turn around and return to their default point, at which point you can get free shots at their back with minimal risk.
-Jill's knife animation isn't as useful as the RE2 gangs, or Carlos', since she stabs straight forward and randomly jukes backward when you touch the analogue stick while attacking, which can give zombies extra seconds to stand up again if you do it by accident while trying to permakill a downed enemy.
There were also a few adjustments I liked, though. namely:
- Zombies can double-lunge now, likely to make the dodge mechanic marginally less broken as a defense. If you don't realize they can do this, it's easy to overestimate their reach, so it helps to keep you on your toes.
- They can also lunge while rising and quick-turn if you're close to them, now. This erases one of the cheese strategies of RE2 where you just knife the crap out of them while they're prone. That's still the best way to permakill them, of course, but now you have to be mindful of where you are in relation to them before you get stabby.
Overall I had a blast, and recommend it to anyone who can get past the pricepoint-to-length ratio. It's not quite as good or as polished as RE2, but it's still very good. The changes to the story were mostly for the better... especially with Carlos, who became my favorite thing about this game... and given how... tolerable I found him in the original, that's no small praise. I love how he and Jill contrast each other. Jill was done with this shit yesterday, and just wants to get this over with and take a shower, where Carlos is more chill and jovial.
Tyrell was fun, too. It's nice to have a character who notices how weird everyone else in a narrative is. I only wish Nicholai had more time to develop.
It's not just you, I had the same issue. Heck, I had the same issue in RE2 as well. And this is me playing on an Xbox One (the base model).balladbird said:
I've noticed that as well, but in a bad sense. There was a point where in the construction building there's two flights of stairs. I tried luring the zombies down one flight so I could dodge past them on the other flight. However, they went down a bit, then lumbered back up. Perturbed, I tried again, and got the same result. It occurred to me that either the zombies aren't as brain dead as you think, or more likely, they had the zone factor you described. It was minor, but immersion breaking - if I can see how I can use the environment to my advantage, I shouldn't be gimped for it.
And insert line about how Jill won't be having that shower alone...
Or likely will, since this is Resident Evil, and none of the characters are ever paired up by the writers.
From what I've played so far, I don't recall that. Carlos, though, I did notice. He comments on the weirdness of the RPD, and complains about the voice code for Bard's office. He's basically every player who's ever asked why there's so many puzzles in the series.
I'm playing it on Nightmare difficulty now, and it's caused a slightly more positive shift in my opinion on the game. This feels like an actual hardcore difficulty. Enemy and item positions are remixed forcing the player to approach enemy encounters a lot more cautiously than they would on the lower difficulties. On Hardcore I was blasting and dodging my way through most encounters, but on Nightmare I need to actually think and strategize so as not to waste all my bullets and health items. The ability to save as often as you want is still a pretty big safety net though.
Do you mean at the end of the hospital with Carlos? I've had a go on the game now (on hard) but I gave up on it late last night because I died a few times as I was nearing the end of this part - I'll try again after work. This part reminds me A LOT of Leon's campaign from RE6. The sewers did as well. And there are parts that remind me of Jake's campaign too. I'm finding the boss fights painfully boring, which also reminds me of certain parts of RE6.Casual Shinji said:
I liked the downtown area a lot though near the start. Some great moments, and they used nemesis well in those parts. I wish they would have made the game more centered around that and expanded the uptown area etc.
Miss ink ribbons and lack of ammo. I'll try it on nightmare afterwards, although I won't look forward to the bosses having to take EVEN MORE damage.
On my standard playthrough, I was able to get it on the first try. On my hardcore run, (which I'm finishing up later after work) I had reload my save 3 times. Carlos punch rush is easier to pull of than Jill's dodge surprisingly. What was a huge pain is that you have 2 Hunters spawn after different times, and both of them spawn with a parasitic zombie. The first spawn you get a drop on with a grenade. The zombie I shot in the head before he got up and became a parasite. The 2nd spawn I just used a grenade when both happened to appear in the same spot at the 2nd window to the barricaded doors. Once you get past that huge hurdle, the defend gets easier. Nightmare and Inferno are a different matter from what I've seen in video guides.dscross said:
Well, that wasn't the best way to word it, it's more that he's the straight man of the ensemble, who is well aware that he seems to be surrounded by action heroes. XDHawki said:
One other change I noticed that I forgot to mention... whether it's a change for the better or the worse depends on your perspective, I guess: In RE2 you could use your knife to gimp any corpses you come across, which had a tactical advantage for the player... sometimes when you entered a room for the first time there would be corpses that wouldn't animate when you first went through, instead the game saves them for an ambush after you progress past a certain point or obtain a certain item... if you knew this, you could cut off the corpses' arms/legs to ensure they posed minimal threat when the game decided to activate them.
RE3 has circumvented this in two ways. First, the way Jill knifes enemies makes targeting/severing limbs with the knife basically impossible to do, and second, until the instant a corpse is activated as a zombie assailant, you can't cause it meaningful damage in any way.
I kind of get what you mean, but I can only see it if I view it from the perspective of the gamer. As in, I know the original RE3 story and tropes to know that Tyrell ain't making it out of this game alive. But even then, Tyrell appears to be able to hold his own. I mean, he fights his way on foot from the RPD to the hospital, and if they needed to take a subway train for that, that must be quite a distance. Yeah, he doesn't escape unscathed, unlike Carlos, but that's probably a better job than what most people would manage.balladbird said:
Edit: On that note, is it just me, or does noticing infection come and go as the plot demands? Mikhail's been bitten, but shows no symptoms of it bar the physical pain, and no-one raises the issue that he's a potential walking time bomb. Jill insists that Brad might not necessarily be screwed after being bitten, but then looks at Murphy (or is implied to) that "yeah, you're screwed, kid," even if she protests to Nikolai. Then, Tyrell arrives at the hospital, clearly infected (though not showing any bites), but no-one mentions this, not even "hey, there's a vaccine supply, there might be hope for you." There's also the question as to how naieve Jill seems to be as to what's happening in Raccoon City pre-28th. Yes, she's under practical house arrest, but she still has the news. The T-virus leaked into the sewers on the morning of the 23rd, zombies were filling the streets by the 24th (according to Outbreak, though its canon status seems to be in question now), and yet, 4 days later, she's caught offguard. I mean, she clearly has a TV that works, and she's watching the same reports the player is.
When I look at the remakes together, it's a weird compromise. In RE2, I found myself wishing that I could roll aside, at least during boss fights. "Oh no, Birkin is swinging his huge claw at me, let me continue to jog along." On the flip side, RE3 gives us a dodge (and not a dodge that is so 'elite' that only ubers like Jill and Carlos can do it), but removes the defensive weapons system. My guess is that the developers of both games might have felt that having both would have made things too easy, but I dunno. The defensive weapons helped in RE2, but they did add a layer of strategy in that if you wanted the knife back, you'd have to expend ammo to get it, plus, using it as a weapon would reduce its durability, hence a health vs. durability choice.
That aside, I don't mind the swiping stuff here. I mean, it is a step back from RE2 in that the dismemberment function isn't there, but in RE2, you're spending a lot more time in the one area (the RPD), whereas RE3 has you going from area to area in succession. So, the lack of being able to use the knife defensively is more annoying for me than the inability to slice and dice with it.
Yeah, that's the one. Carlos doesn't have a weapon with blow back, so fighting those Hunters requires you being able to perform his shoulder rush well enough or having a couple of grenades on hand.dscross said:
A lot of really fucking annoying bits in the game became a lot more manageable my second time around. Still some fucking terrible design decisions though, like the Drain Deimos area. 'Hey, let's make a little maze area with bug enemies that spawn indefinitely, are the same texture as the floor, walls, and ceiling. And what the hell, let's also make it dark and have the camera zoomed in really close to the playable character so you can barely see the ceiling at all. Oh, and less we forget, we MUST make sure to have these bugs hone in on you when you're holding down the button to activate the breakers. And poison ofcourse, let's not forget the poison.'