Resident Evil 3
Playtime: 15.0 Hours
I have not played the original RE3. I cannot and will not be comparing the two in this review. It will be closer to say I am judging this as a sequel to Resident Evil 2 Remake, (which it is), and work from there.
Before you consider buying this one, I highly recommend you play Resident Evil 2 Remake. That is the better game of the two, and if you don't like that game, there is a very high chance you won't like this one.
A lot of what made Resident Evil 2 Remake great is in here. There's great combat and gameplay, but the game feels much more combat-focused than the previous game. It's fun fighting the regular enemies and getting from Point A to Point B all the while worrying about being attacked by enemies unknown. However, a huge problem with this game, is that it is not nearly as scary as Resident Evil 2 is.
So, it terms of atmosphere and layout, in Resident Evil 2, you are basically confined to 3 main areas. You are going to explore all these areas have to offer all the while running for your life from sewer monsters, plant monsters and the scariest of them all, Mr. X.
In Resident Evil 3, the closest enemy to Mr. X would be Nemesis. Nemesis is much more aggressive than Mr. X and much more intelligent. He has a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Rocket Launcher and sneak up on you before you even know it.
The problem with Mr X, is he can be beaten.
My first playthrough was on Hardcore mode, and I was shocked when the guy went down using a single grenade. In the scripted boss fights you can't run from, he is tougher to take down, but there are times where Nemesis is literally holding Jill, (the main character), and instead of killing her, throws her away so she can run from him and his flamethrower.
Matter of fact, nearly all of the boss fights in this game are just bad. Nemesis just continues to get bigger and bigger, but the bigger he gets, the less threatening he feels to fight. There's a difference between fighting someone that is like 3 meters tall and someone that is 15 meters tall. When you are fighting a dude 3 meters tall, he feels like a big bulky enemy that I need to run from at all times. When a boss becomes 15 meters tall, I am no longer running from that boss. If I'm stuck in a place where I have to fight this guy, it tells me with enough bullets I can take him down, and I believe the game suffers because of it.
Where Resident Evil 2 felt like there are three big areas to explore, Resident Evil 3 feels much more linear. While this normally wouldn't be a bad thing, the game is much too short for me to fully appreciate it like I did RE2.
It took me 15 hours to 100% this game. That was three playthroughs in total, which included an achievement which involves beating the game in UNDER TWO HOURS!!
Now, all this being said, it's not a bad game. It's a fun game to play like Resident Evil 2 Remake, but it's not as scary nor is it as long to play. That being said, I would only recommend this game if you are a fan of Resident Evil 2 Remake.
So, a lot of that makes the gameplay in RE2 great, is kept in RE3. But RE3 feels much more like a big expansion to Resident Evil 2 rather than it's own game. For those reasons, I wouldn't recommend the game on its' own merit.
