Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PSX) - Video Game Review

It's been a while since I got a video game review out, so I thought I'd find something appropriate for this October by continuing my trend of Resident Evil games (see my review for Resident Evil 2 here). I have been playing other games, but I'm undecided on what I'm going to actually review. My addiction to Crusader Kings 3 has been real, but I'm finally coming off the high, so I might get a review of that out at some point. I just started Resident Evil 4 as well though, so there's plenty of review material coming down the pipe!

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Where You Can Find It: I played this on my PS Vita, but it was originally available for the original PlayStation and can be found on Steam, the PlayStation Store, and several other platforms.

General Information
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is a survival-horror game that serves as the third installment in the Resident Evil franchise. It is the last numbered entry of the Resident Evil series that takes place in Raccoon City. It was originally released on 22 September 1999 for the PlayStation (it is now widely available on most consoles and systems). This one was also produced by Shinji Mikami under Capcom. The game received wide acclaim from most critics, and it retains a 79 Metascore on Metacritic.

There's a ton of stories on how this game came to be as it wasn't originally supposed to have Jill as the main protagonist, while many at Capcom genuinely viewed Resident Evil: Code Veronica to be the true sequel to Resident Evil 2. Without getting too deep into the weeds, Capcom essentially owed Sony one more Resident Evil game for the PlayStation, so they moved resources to this one and cranked it out. Although I think they did a fantastic job, this game's length stands as the only red flag as to seeing how this game was rushed. The game was remade on 3 April 2020 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. 

The Story
The game takes place both before and after the events in Resident Evil 2 with Jill Valentine attempting to escape Raccoon City as it's ravaged by the T-Virus. For some reason, Jill has decided a tube top and mini skirt were the ideal garments for fending off the undead, but zombies will be the least of her problems once Nemesis comes knocking. Nemesis is one-part terminator and one-part hentai-nightmare as he hunts Jill down throughout the game. Nothing seems to stop him, but at least Jill isn't alone. Much of the story revolves around Jill's relationship with Umbrella mercenary, Carlos Oliveira. The two will have to team up to escape the city as the odds are increasingly stacked against them.

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Jill and Carlos have a unique relationship

From purely a story-perspective, not much happens in this game and it's quite short. We don't really learn anything new that we didn't already know from Resident Evil 2. Despite that, there's tons of subtle world-building that goes into this game. Like the previous installments, the game is peppered with notes that build out how Raccoon City has reacted to the T-Virus outbreak, while various locations show  signs of unseen battles between survivors and the undead.

The introduction of Nemesis is by far the story's crowning achievement (from both a gameplay and story perspective) as the player constantly feels hunted, which really adds to the tension. The fact that Carlos and his fellow mercenaries are technically employed by Umbrella only further adds a sense of paranoia as you're never quite sure that you can trust anyone for very long.

The Gameplay
For the most part, this game retains the classic tank-controls used in the previous two installments, however this control-scheme has been added to. Ammunition can not only be found, but can also be crafted from cans of gunpowder. The crafting system is surprisingly deep too, as Jill develops experience from crafting ammo, which enables her to make more bullets, as well as eventually being able to make enhanced ammunition. Movement-wise, Jill can dodge and push away enemies (if timed right), which really helps deal with the sluggish response to quick enemies that this series is notorious for. I was never perfect at pulling off consecutive dodges, but it really helped in the fights with Nemesis.

Speaking of Nemesis, he lives up to his name as he'll chase Jill throughout the entire game. Whereas Mr. X also followed Claire/Leon around in Resident Evil 2, Mr. X only showed up at pre-designated locations and times. Nemesis takes that idea and runs with it as he shows up randomly at times and will chase Jill from area to area. The dread precipitating Nemesis is no joke either as Nemesis is incredibly powerful and very quick. He has a ton of health, comes equipped with a rocket launcher, and can sprint faster than Jill can. Despite all of that, Nemesis can be beaten in every fight he shows up in if the player has the weaponry and the skill. The first time I played through, I was barely able to beat Nemesis even once (I got very familiar with the Game Over screen), but by my third play-through I was able to beat him every time he showed up.

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Nemesis is no joke

If I had an issue with this game, it would be the difficulty. When a player starts a new game, they only have a choice between "Easy" and "Hard" difficulties. "Easy" starts Jill out with a machine gun and tons of healing items, which makes the game incredibly accessible for nearly everyone, while "Hard" essentially starts her with a handgun and little else. It would've been nice to have a middle ground for new players to challenge themselves without having to dip into either extreme. This criticism is relatively minor though as I got used to "Hard" relatively quickly.

Audio/Visual
It's insane that this game was made with the same engine as the original Resident Evil as it's quite pretty to behold. Character models look detailed and agile (for the PlayStation One at least), while the pre-rendered backgrounds still look fantastic today. Not only does this game offer better looking enemies, but it offers more of them at the same time too. Unlike in the previous games, Jill will actually encounter zombie hordes this time, which makes this game a bit more action-oriented.

From a sound perspective, the music for the game is just as fantastic as Resident Evil 2 with the save room theme being one of the better tracks (the end-credits song is great too). Beyond music though, I'd say that this game is the first of the series to have fairly decent voice acting and dialogue. It's still cheesy, but characters don't sound as stilted or hilariously terrible as they did in the previous installments.

Replayability
Although this game doesn't have two parallel stories to play through, there's a ton of replayability. Throughout the story, scenes will be paused and flash in black and white. These segments will provide the player with choices as to how to proceed. These choices can impact where items appear, as well as affect the overall ending of the game. There's quite a few situations in which this happens too, so the player has plenty of chances to experiment.

Beyond playing through the main story, this game offers Mercenaries Mode, which let's the player run gauntlets through enemy-filled zones as characters from the main campaign. The player has to race against the clock while also managing their inventory. There are items that can be unlocked for the main campaign, which will make fighting the Nemesis much easier.

Lastly, beating the main game with a high ranking will unlock weapons as well. Simply beating the game unlocks a key to a boutique, which will allow Jill to change outfits (Jill can dress up as Regina from Dino Crisis too). There are epilogue entries that can be unlocked with every play-through too, so players should always get something if they finish a campaign.

The Best of the Best: Duking it out with the Nemesis.

The Worst of the Worst: The incredibly short campaign.

Calhooey Score: 8/10 - Great

Would I Recommend?
If it weren't for its incredibly short campaign, I'd say this one is better than Resident Evil 2. Despite that, this game is still a blast to play and is definitely worth checking out. People might ask if this is worth playing after the Resident Evil 3 Remake came out and I'd say that this game still has its own place. There are a lot of difference between this game and the remake, from both a story and gameplay perspective, which makes this a timeless classic.

Recommended Let's Play Channel:

I've been a fan of Alonzorion for years, and his run through this game is a blast. Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------Spoiler Comments--------------------------------------------------

• Is it just me, or was Nicholai more of a troll than an actual threat? He would blow stuff up and occasionally show up somewhere and refuse to help, but he was rarely an actual antagonist to Jill or Carlos.
• It's a shame we never see Carlos again in the series. I guess he's off to join Billy in the forest of forgotten characters.
• Something I like about this game is that we never really learn much about the origins of Nemesis. I think we read a little bit about how he was developed in an Umbrella lab in Paris, but we never discover who he originally was or who from Umbrella sent him in to kill all the S.T.A.R.S. members.
• I guess it's a good thing Carlos randomly assembled a vaccine against the virus for Jill. Good thing the components were just laying around the hospital.

----------------------------------------------------References--------------------------------------------------

*Ebay. (n.d.). Resident Evil 3: Nemesis game cover image. Retrieved from: https://www.ebay.com/p/1541.
**SeLaMeT Silsoserly. (2019, March 31). Jill slapping Carlos gif. Steam Community. Retrieved from: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1699855846. 

***Ternyon. (2012, August 29). Nemesis shooting at Jill gif. Deviant Art. Retrieved from: https://www.deviantart.com/ternyon/art/Resident-Fail-Rocket-in-da-face-324086865.