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In spite of its incredibly tight gameplay and strong level design, Resident Evil 3 (2020) falls back on bad habits, invoking the likes of Resident Evil 6 more than it should. This is a game absolutely worth playing and an excellent reimagining of the PlayStation original, but Resident Evil 3 is no Resident Evil 2. Or 1.
10 Loved: Jill Valentine
Chris Redfield may be the closest thing Resident Evil has to a main character, but it’s hard to deny that Jill is anything but the face of the franchise. She’s always been very likable across her multiple incarnations, but the remake does a great job at making Jill not only feel like a real human being, but her trauma over the events of the first game make her all the more compelling.
She’s a bit of a potty mouth like Leon and Claire before her, but this is a character surviving a zombie outbreak in 1998. A couple of F-bombs are forgivable. Jill’s hostility towards Umbrella is also earned and adds an appreciated edge to her character.
9 Don’t: No Clock Tower Or Park
Resident Evil 2 (2019) wasn’t the most faithful remake, nor did it adapt every area present in the original game, but it did a great job at modernizing the spirit of RE2 and offering some suitable replacements. That said, Resident Evil 2 also didn’t remove its most iconic areas like Resident Evil 3 does.
The Clock Tower is easily one of the best parts in Resident Evil 3, as is the Park. They’re creepy, well designed areas that are unlike anything else in Resident Evil. Fans of the original were naturally excited to see the remake give the Clock Tower and Park the Resident Evil 2 treatment. Unfortunately, said treatment pertained to cuts.
8 Loved: Carlos Oliveira
Carlos was likable enough in the original Resident Evil 3, but he doesn’t have much in the way of character development nor is he all that present in the plot. His brief moment to shine in the hospital is fun enough, but he’s definitely the least memorable supporting character in the PS1 games. Thankfully, the remake does him some massive favors.
Not only does Carlos have an actual arc where he realizes the truth behind Umbrella and turns on his employee, his chemistry with Jill is far stronger and his goofy, action hero personality is very endearing while surprisingly grounded. His presence even gives Jill’s arc further weight. Carlos went from an afterthought to one of RE’s better characters.
7 Don’t: Next To No Puzzles
The original Resident Evil 3 was always the most action-centric of the PlayStation 1 games. All the same, it still featured a consistent amount of puzzles from start to finish– some of them among the most memorable in the series. The Clock Tower alone is home to a key puzzle in the original. Unfortunately, the remake does away with almost every single puzzle.
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Being generous, there’s one mandatory puzzle a handful of minor, optional puzzles that frankly don’t make players go out of their way or think all too critically. Considering Resident Evil 2 (2019) made an active effort to actually feature original puzzles, RE3 is a bit of a let down.
6 Loved: The Shop
A and B scenarios were Resident Evil 2’s way of encouraging replay value, but the remake’s approach to multiple playthroughs wasn’t nearly as graceful or enticing as the original’s Zapping system. Resident Evil 3 (2020) doesn’t offer multiple playthroughs– featuring one statis campaign that juggles control between Jill and Carlos– but it includes the Shop.
By completing challenges in-game, players can earn Points which they can then spend at the Shop. The Shop is filled with a ton of great goodies: a new costume for Jill, new weapons, infinite ammo, coins that buff JIll’s stats, and a manual that makes dodging easier will keep playing coming back to the Shop over and over again.
5 Don’t: Too Short
Most Resident Evil games are short. It wasn’t until Code Veronica that the campaigns started hitting double digits, and even that’s being a bit generous. Resident Evil 4 was the first truly long RE game, but the franchise has always been rooted in short, very replayable campaigns. All the same, Resident Evil 3 (2020) still feels too short.
It’s as if there is always one area missing. The Raccoon City Streets would have benefitted from one more big hub, the Sewers are pitifully small, and NEST 2 was basically begging to absorb the Dead Factory within it. What’s present is good and well designed, but the campaign feels short even by RE standards.
4 Loved: Replay Value
In spite of the unfortunately short campaign, Resident Evil 3 (2020) is immensely replayable. Perhaps not as replayable as the original Resident Evil 3– which used Live Scenarios and RNG based enemy placement to incentivize replaying the game– but strong level design, great weapon variety, and challenges make replaying the remake easy.
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Better yet, Resident Evil 3 (2020) takes a page out of Devil May Cry’s book when it comes to difficulty. With the inclusion of Nightmare and Inferno, enemy placement is changed, enemies become more aggressive, and Nemesis even gains new attacks in his boss fights. Resident Evil 3 (2020) is at its best on the harder difficulties.
3 Don’t: Nemesis
Nemesis isn’t nearly as present in the original Resident Evil 3 as fans seem to recall, but that only speaks to the impact of his character. Nemesis was a point of constant anxiety. Due to Jill’s limited mobility, he was also a genuine threat. It was hard to know when Nemesis was going to appear, and he fundamentally changed how the game was played at any given moment.
That’s not the case in the remake. Not only can Nemesis be reliably routed around in his stalker phase at the start of the game (to the point where you never need to explore with him on Jill’s tail,) Nemesis’ telegraphs are quite blatant and almost always take control away from the player– removing the inherent terror that came from needing to flee in gameplay instead of watching Jill escape via cutscenes.
2 Loved: Core Gameplay
For all of its faults, Resident Evil 3 (2020) is an incredibly fun game to play and has some of the tightest core mechanics in any of the games. The fact there isn’t a Mercenaries mode to capitalize on Jill’s dodging, Carlos’ punching, and smooth gunplay is a shame, but the main campaign is well designed.
Even if it’s too short, even if there are next to no puzzles, and even if Nemesis is not that scary, Resident Evil 3 (2020) is fun in the way Resident Evil 4 was fun. Which isn’t to say the remake is anywhere near as good as one of the most revolutionary games of all time, but it’s certainly one of the better entries in the franchise.
1 Don’t: Too Much Ammo
One of the best qualities about Resident Evil 2 (2019) was how restrained it was when it came to ammo. To put into perspective how big of a deal this is, the franchise’s ammo problems arguably began with the very first sequel, the original Resident Evil 2. While the original Resident Evil 3 was always action oriented, fans still expected some restraint from RE3.
And fans got none! Resident Evil 3 is littered with ammo from start to finish. Players can very comfortably kill everything in their path on a first playthrough and have more than enough ammo to handle all the Nemesis boss fights. Survival Horror this is not.
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