Resident Evil 3 Review (》 Insanity ✔)
Resident Evil 3 is another amazing remaster from Capcom. Racoon City looks incredibly detailed with plently of realistically looking abandoned spaces, lovely in-game advertising and devastating environmental storytelling. A very enjoyable experience again with a thrilling atmosphere and some of the best background I've ever heard in any game. It takes place at roughly the same time as RE 2, this time from the perspective of S.T.A.R.S. Officer Jill Valentine and the U.B.C.S. mercenary Carlos Oliveira, who called her to help save the remaining residents of a devastated Racoon City from the chaos caused by the outbreak of the T-Virus.
Once again working with the RE Engine, CapCom has done an incredible job with the small details: From the in-universe advertising, to the detritus left by citizens who had to escape in a hurry, to RE 2-related Easter eggs and just generally very compelling in-game notes and journalists giving background context to people's tragic last moments before their eventual death thus revealing a code for a safe lots of times.
Some spaces feel abandoned, while others feel up-until-recently very inhabited full of details and supplies, which makes you want to explore every inch in this game. The broader environments are not left out though. Smashed cars are piled up outside of flickering neon signs, ablaze stores and broad industrial spaces are just eerily empty. The atmosphere around you just everything in its power to make you feel small, weak and vulnerable.
Just like in other game of this series, every single part of Resident Evil 3 feels deliberately put together. Every single room contains useful items or secrets and all enemies have a purpose and is not just randomly thrown in, which is something very notable. What I love about this series is that not every accessible building is next to another one and not accessible from just the front door. No, some areas are can only be discovered when you start solving issues in other houses which then lead you into the other houses, whilst trying to search for a clue in order to solve a problem in the other house. For instance when a fire obstructs one route, it can only be extinguised with the help of a tool hidden in a nearby building also housing a weapon that can't be accessed without another tool that's located past the areas obstructed by the fire, so you are basically "forced" to return to that specfic area in order to take the weapon with the tool, which was in accessible before due to the fire blocking the way to it.
Item micromanagement is part of RE 3 again meaning items are rare and very limited, so you need to be very cautious about not wasting to many of them. You might not be able to pick up certain items, so you need to either combine items or run back towards a storage chest to put them in there in order to make space for the items you just found, so you can finally pick them up. This also forces you to thoroughly explore every inch of the game possible, as I said before. As long as you do all of that and don't skip scavenging in certain areas or waste a unnecessarily amount of ammo in certain situations you will be fine.
Awareness is key to progress through this game, as you can easily be caught off guard by a number of deadly nasties. There's plently of enemy design here to keep things fresh and exciting ,with the spider-like Drain Deimos poisoning Jill with parasites, Pale Heads who can only be take out with extremely accurate blows to the head with your most lethal weaponry and additionaly things trying to eat your brains serving as just few examples.
Jill is way more nimble on her feet than Leon or Claire for RE 2, which gives RE 3 a more frantic- action-oriented feel than its predecessor. She's able to sidestep incoming attacks and when the timing is right you earn a sligh slow-motion effect helping you to escape. Just like in RE 2 the protagonist unlocks various weapons ranging from pistols, to shotguns, to grenade launches to simple hand grenades and flash bangs. Every gun was fun as hell to use, also thanks to upgrades to some of those weapons found by exploring every inch of the in-game world.
The player also gets to enjoy and play Carlos and his perspective. He's a little less nimble and agile than Jill with a very powerful assault rifle that can clear any room in the blink of an eye, at the cost of very limited and precious ammunition. His mission in the hospital to locate the vaccine and use it on Jill was very challening, atmosphering and enjoyable. Even though this game is mostly about Jill, the chapter of Carlos is very fun as well.
The central antagonist, Nemesis, is very powerful and moves like a giant and you need to be very careful about him crushing you to death. You need to time your doge perfectly in order to survive. The downside is that he only shows up in certain, pre-programmed boss fights, unlike Mr. X in Resident Evil 2, who roaming around the police station all the time, meaning you could never ever feel safe, no matter where you were at.
There is no New Game PLus after the Resident Evil 3 campaign, which I personally like, as they were simply short versions of the campaign themselves, so they were totally unnecessary. However, by completing certain in-game challenges a shop is unlocked where you can cash in your points on useful items, which can be used in future playthroughs. These items, such as coins, make your attacks more powerful and devastating.
Just like with Resident Evil 2 before, CapCom has done a stellar job with remaking Resident Evil 3 making it feel more polished and modern, which may spur the younger people on to give this series a shot.