Resident Evil 3 Nemesis review and discussion

By: Justin Hopkins

Words can’t begin to describe my excitement, for my return to the zombie packed streets of one Raccoon City. Following the success of the wildly fun and thrilling Resident Evil 2 Remake, we have Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. The popular entry that marked the end of Raccoon City, and one of the only ones that I didn’t play much of as a kid. Played a little and became well aware of the threat known as Nemesis, but not much more. Which hyped up my excitement that much more. To play through and kill him for a change. Was my luck better this time around? Let’s dive in and find out shall we.

I’m always big on a story, and loved not only the story, but the pacing of it. Nemesis hits you hard right from the jump and it’s just go from there.  Even when you don’t have Nemesis breathing down your neck, it still feel the game pushing you along. Worrying that he will either show up around the next bend or trying to get the Vaccine to cure Jill. Speaking of Carlos, his parts don’t feel to shoehorned in. Begining with him at the Police Station where he learns where the Doctor is, who knows how to make the vaccine. So, when Jill is infected, he knows where to go. Fact that it started with Carlos temporarily downing him with the rocket launcher was a nice touch. The Rocket Launcher being a big thing in Resident Evil games as the big finish. Even being the final K.O for Mr. X. Showing Nemesis brush it off upped the stakes.

Being that the events of this take place around the second game. This game had a lot of fun tie-ins with it. How the cop with the sliced up jaw and other hanging from the pipe ended up in their position, and pour Marv getting bitten by Brad. Even how the cop got into the locker and the hole in the showers. Could even save some time if you remembered the codes to the safe and lockers, which I did not. Now, I normally never catch the Easter Eggs. Astounded and amazed by others who have a keener eye, but when  spotted one that was right in plain view that hundred of others probably already caught it, but seeing Morrigan Aensland on the sandwich board got a chuckle out of me for finally not being blind for a change.

Jill looked fantastic in the game. Coming off as not only a champ throughout most of the game, but the voice acting was spectacular in the aspect where she came off as vulnerable at the same time. Feeling more and more bad for her with her cries of pain when she would get ragged dolled around and every time she smacked off the ground. She felt like human who had to dig down deep to overcome. Big props to Nicole Tompkins for her vocal works on the character.

Now, to the monsters and no better starting place than the one whose name is on the cover; Nemesis. Back when two came out, had no idea for a while that there was a group of people who hated how difficult Mr. X was because of how difficult he was. Got a little worried over them weakening Nemesis for it, and so glad that they certainly did no such thing. He made himself known right away as a legit threat, where running was not only not a guarantee from how fast he could move, leaping back into the fray, or just pulling you back to him. Yet, he never felt overpowered at the same time. Always something around to aide you or get to a safe place. In his later forms, when he was more dog, he truly felt overwhelming and genuinely satisfying when you finally beat him, and great ending with the FINGeR.

On the other hand, the other zombies and monsters are no pushovers either. The zombies actually come across as legit threats. Even the ones on the ground are back in your face with a grab. The dogs continue their legendary status, and my god the Hunter Betas made me want to die in real life. At times, wanted the Nemesis back, instead of one Hunter B. And than we got the weird spiders… which I actually liked. You always read about creepy things like that happening to the NPCs’ in their journals and notes. To have it actually happen to you was an interesting twist and prefered them over Grave Digger from the original. They just work better and the setting was creepy and and unnerving. Not wanting grabbed again, but if you don’t take care of them. Can quickly get outnumbered.

I don’t normally like to address other people’s negatives. Everyone is free to have their own opinions and I have plenty of unpopular opinions in my reviews on a regular basis but feel like I almost have to this time around. No, this is not a long game. Even an achievement if you can beat it under two hours and to get an S or an A, have to do it under two and a half, with no deaths, and under 5 saves. My argument here, is that first, Nemesis was never a long game. Now, there is a whole story as to why it came out that way and I am not going into all the details, but they made it short on purpose, and to be honest, works better that way. The game is all about moving forward. Very little backtracking, with a massive monster making sure you do just that. Even with Carlos. They make it feel like you have to keep going forward. Anything you add to it, would threaten to throw off the pacing or start to feel stale.

Now, an actual bring up a real negative and that is how much I despise the shop section. The first two, encouraged you to beat it in certain ways to unlock stuff like infinite ammo in certain guns and costumes. Which worked so much better than the point system they have in place of it here. It is a small gripe, but just doesn’t feel as rewarding.

Before we get to the end of this, we got to talk about the other game that dropped with Resident Evil 3. That being Resident Evil: Resistance, and have been having a blast with it so far. Still very much in the learning curve of it and been only really playing Mastermind and has been a real joy learning as I go along. Which is such a huge part of playing Mastermind. You are far from effective at the start, but when you really start to grasp what to do. It unlocks so much more fun elements and more fun cards to play. Just got to Daniel and can’t wait to get to Alex and Spencer. I needed a new online multiplayer and strongly suggest giving Resistance a shot.

Resident Evil 3 has been another absolute blast from Capcom, who takes great care when t comes to remaking their prized games. Keeping what made them so much fun and bringing back to the world. Next seems to be Resident Evil 8, which if the rumors are correct sounds like a crazy game, but once that is done. Hope they start on the remake of another great, Code Veronica. In the meantime, hope you enjoyed by review and as always…

Thank You For Reading.